Learning English

8364100094_d6ca1a96bc_zJoselina began taking English language classes at a nearby college, and although it helped, she was not learning as fast as she wanted. She recalls “I would speak English for two hours [at school], the just go back home and speak Spanish”. One day, she decided that she was going to immerse herself in the language. She says “I decided that I was going to stop watching TV in Spanish, I’m going to stop having friends who speak Spanish, at least for a little while” and she did. All the television she watched was in English. She also started playing soccer on a team where she was the only Latina. She understood what her teammates were saying, but she was too self-conscious about her accent and making a mistake, that for the first few months, she would just smile and laugh. And although it was difficult, she now remembers that time as a funny memory. She says:

“[My teammates] were like ‘Give her beer, and then she’ll speak!’ and it worked!” “I didn’t have those filters anymore so I just went for it. It didn’t matter if it was wrong or right”.

That is how Joselina learned English. After living in the U.S. for five years, she decided that she was going to learn. She stopped speaking Spanish and focused completely on learning English. She is actually now trying to do the same thing in French by watching television and listening to music in French.