My mother wanted me to use English. The full impact of my mother's action was only realized when I came to China. My mom had this knack on insisting that I talk in English, read English books, watch English movies, and write English journals. Once, I told her that my friends and I went to watch a movie. “What kind of movie?” she asked. It was an action movie about the exploits of a Philippine hero. “Was it in English?” she asked again. I said, “No”. She then said, “You didn't learn anything” and turned around continuing her chore. She was always happy when my action involves English. When I asked her to buy a book about the “Hardy Boys”, she willingly did. Even if during those times, it was very expensive.
The environment I grew up in used English. In my hometown, when you speak in English you are tagged as a social climber. My peers insisted on using the vernacular to avoid that label. Realizing that this is one of the reasons why students do not use English and knowing that it will be the Lingua Franca of the modern world, my school made it compulsory. In our classroom, anyone caught or heard talking in any Philippine dialect will be asked to pay a fine.
Most Filipinos grew up bi-lingual. They use English in government transactions, business transactions, school transactions, etc. Anything that is official, it is in English. In the streets and in most homes, they lapse into their vernacular.
The point is, in order to achieve fluency in a particular language; one must be exposed to it daily. Use it! Talk with it and think with it. Practice! As one advertisement says: “Just do it”.
n.b.
The following link is a page where a group of students learning the English language discussed “How to Achieve Fluency in English”. They have good suggestions and it is very good for them to be practicing. Please excuse their errors and focus on the idea.
http://www.englishbaby.com/forum/AskEnglish/thread/14082
1 comment:
People should read this.
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