Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas Facultad de Ciencias y Educacin Licenciatura en Educacin Bsica con nfasis en Ingls Seminario

VI Dielser Maestre

The most important event in my academic and personal life was the first time I had English class when I was going to the first grade in high school, in 2000 at Francisco Miranda School when I was in fifth grade I had my very first English class. That lasted only one hour. After that I never had English anymore, but it was the spark which ignited my interest in learning English because the way the teacher presented the topic was really attractive for me, she used a lot of pictures and vocabulary, she involved us into the that new world of language she brought English. Henceforth, my speech will focus on my second experience at La Amistad School where my vision of English and the world changed. It changed because it opened new perspectives about things, it showed me new opportunities and new things to learn, things that represented a challenge. Having started sixth grade at la Amistad school in 2000 I was eager to have English class, my expectations were really high and my previous experience had made me feel more and more interested in English. There were about forty students including me in the sixth grade, this group was led by English and the headroom teacher Edith de la Oz, it is important to say that she was a teacher who graduated from Universidad Distrital and had

an emphasis in English and education. She had been working there for about 20 years and she really liked working with starters. At that time my brother Jonathan was also getting involve in this world of English and languages, in fact this also would affect my process of learning English soon. At that time what was important to me about these two characters, was that they were engaging me even more into English language. They were not only the people who taught me English, but also taught me there was another world where I could walk on. Of course I had already known about other languages and countries because I heard of them, but the fact of bringing that world to my life, to my real context was the difference. As a result, these two people helped me to see and to understand the world differently. Since I started studying English at school I also started for my own to study. So I used to study some grammar books I had at home, I started translating System of a Downs songs (it is still a rock band), I used to participate a lot in English classes and I achieved a level that was not expected for my teacher Edith. Some days ago she told me she was surprise with my advance in English, she remember she had to take me out of the classroom when I was going to take an exam with my classmates, because she knew I would help them. So that, I became Ediths assistant in her English class. I started to be recognized for my effort and my progress. I even won a scholarship for an English institution at that time. So my motivation increased even more and more. At this point my motivation, in learning English, was no longer attached to my goals achieved nor my will, but it became more related with my thoughts, believes and my emotions (Zoltan Dornyei, Motivation in second and foreign language learning, July 1998, page 119).