My English Learning Experience

I started learning English when I was 6 years old. For 9 years I learned English by attending the English classes at my school in Jeddah. It was awfully ineffective. I did everything that the teachers told me to do: the homework assignments, everything. But I didn't get any impressive results. Still, reading English texts took me a long time, I made lots of mistakes when writing, and I could only speak English very slowly. Nine years of struggling, and these were the results.

In order to improve my English learning skills, my father enrolled me in different summer schools in England for two consecutive years. Each one had its own style of learning. During my time there, my English has improved and I gained confidence in speaking English with other people and my experience was extremely rewarding.

By the age 15, I started to study English by myself, because I really wanted to understand some songs, movies or books. I used to use a dictionary in order to find the meaning of each word in songs or in texts. I was very patient, and that was one strategy that helped me a lot in the process of learning English by myself. I started comparing patterns and observing the language structure, and trying to memorize rules. I used to make lists of words in order to memorize them and their meanings. Another thing that helped me a lot was the fact that I would spend hours studying and memorizing every rule I could notice, the uses, tenses, etc. of the words. After having a good vocabulary, I started working on pronunciation, which was the hardest part of the process.

In 1982, I got into the best high school in Riyadh city. My English teachers gave a lot of good advice, especially on pronunciation and vocabulary. My brilliant friends were fantastic English learners. I didn't want to be worse than them, so I studied harder, and my English improved. During my first year in high school, I started using English-English dictionaries, listening to recordings and English-language TV. The result was: I improved my pronunciation, I was no longer afraid to speak English, and I could understand spoken English quite well, too.

In my work field, job competencies encouraged me to read articles, reports and books in English. I started to add new words to my collection. I had to learn many words because it turned out that mispronounced them forced me to learn English regularly. Finally, I began to write reports and e-mail messages in English, which gave me a chance to fix new words and grammar structures and helped to improve my writing skills.

At some point I read my first whole book in English and what was it. That moment was a breakthrough in my life. I knew that I had broken a barrier, and i had entered a new world. I found that reading is much more exciting in English. When I read in English, I have not only the pleasure of reading, but also the pleasure of using English and the pleasure of learning English.

English has given me much satisfaction and pleasure, the ability to broaden my interests and my knowledge, and the feeling that I can communicate with other people all over the world. I am addicted to English. I love the language, and I love using it. I like writing English sentences, speaking English to native speakers, reading books, and watching movies. When I learn something new about English, I feel I'm getting better and more powerful. I could learn everything well, and I am ready to apply for any international university and start my Ph.D. program.