New series: How I Learned Your Language

Many recent posts (especially this one and that one) made me think a lot about learning languages and how the process affects teaching. Many books have been written about SLA but I haven’t come across one written by a nonNEST discussing how he/she learned English.

That’s why I’ve decided to start my first series called ‘How I Learned your Language’.

Although my teaching experience is limited, I’ve been learning languages for more than 20 years. First came Russian, then English, French and Turkish. And there has always been Kashubian.

I have enough material for at least 5 posts but I’d love to hear your stories. If you want to share your experiences please contact me using the button in the top left hand corner or email me directly.

Here are a few things you might consider:

• is the language you have been learning similar to your mother tongue?
• how old were you when you started learning?
• did you learn it as EFL or ESL i.e. in a native speaking environment or not?
• was you teacher a native speaker or not?
• which methods did he/she use?
• what was the language of instruction?
• which coursebooks did you use (if any)?
• what was the most difficult/ easiest part of the language to master?
• what is your preferred learning style?

Now which language should I start with? Any suggestions?