Blog Post 8: Learning English in our times

 Firstly, the experience learning English at the University has been very positive and rewarding at the same time, since at the school, my learning process wasn't enough and I couldn't achieve the necessary skills. Most of the things I used to learn before going to the University were essentially self-taught. So, it has been a challenge for me to regain certain amount of knowledge as well as to be able to measure how much I know about English as a language. 

Regarding the use of blogs, I believe it has been very interesting to read other people's opinions about various topics, having people commenting to your posts and replying back has been also very enriching. I also think that I have improved my writing skills, since in the last course, I didn't have the chance to practice them too much.

One aspect of English that I need to improve, is the knowledge I have about grammar and the pronunciation of words. I think that an important change for me would be to travel abroad and have the opportunity to talk to native speakers, that way I could fade the fear of talking or nervousness when speaking in English. I also think that it would be nice to revisit some contents about grammar, so that I can write correctly the sentences or a full piece of text. 

Outside the class, I am currently surrounding myself with TV series in English, YouTube videos and video games, where I can see and hear people speaking everyday English and I can learn new words or phrases. I still need to practice my speaking skills, but I'm slowly getting better at it. 

To finish, I think something positive to the career itself has been the incorporation of new courses and programmes (at least in Architecture) in which the classes are taught entirely in English, even by teachers living in other parts of the world. This initiative could really help myself and other students specially in the sense of creating connection networks to other Universities and other perspectives.