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I started studying English when I was ten years old. It was a sign of growing up; you were old enough to learn English. We started off with some simple words as "I, you, he and she" and as the time went by the words became complete sentences. My friends and I used to try to speak English with one and other in our spare time, in spite of the lack of words it was really fascinating to communicate in another language. A hole new world opened up for me. I remember the feeling when I understood some of the words they were saying on the telly: I could understand what Laura Ingalls said in "The little house on the prairie"! That was a satisfaction! Unfortunately the teachers I had in English weren't the best, the lessons were very traditional: listen to the tape, imitate, read the text and do the exercises. It grew quit boring after some years and my interest in English decreased. I wanted to learn from more authentic situations, like talking to each other, writing letters (to real people!) and watching movies without Swedish subtitles. 
	 When I was thirteen I went on a language travel, and it was then I started to appreciate the English language and see the opportunities in knowing the language. I didn't learn as much as I thought I would, but what I learned came from real situations and the greater part of my knowledge of English today is thanks to that trip. After my teacher exam I'm planning a new trip to the USA, to study or to work as an au pair. 
	 In school I've always been the typical average pupil in English. I've always got a grade "3", and I regret that I didn't spent more time to achieve better grades. I'm planning to change that during this English course.
My ability in listening to English is pretty good when I'm having a conversation with someone, I don't have difficulties in understanding the person. If I'm listening for a longer time, for example a lecture, it demands more concentration and it's easy to loose attention. One thing that I'm hoping to improve is the ability of catching what the lyrics are about in English songs, this is something I found really hard. My reading skills, I think, are good. It takes a little bit longer to read in English that in Swedish, of course, but that is something I can work on by reading more English books. I can't read in English when I'm very tired either, because then I would loose the context. I try not to hang up on difficult words when I read. You may discover that my writing isn't the best. My spelling has always been terrible. I hope to improve in spelling and get a stronger self-confidence in writing. My lack of words becomes apparent when I'm trying to express myself, as you may discover in this essay. Writing is something you should learn early in school, I think, to be better in expressing yourself in a more variant way. My speaking in English is okay, I think. To speak English is what I've been practising the most. Not in school but to talk to people when I'm abroad. The talking I did in school come from the book and didn't have very much to do with real life, conversations that didn't make any sense. My pronunciation really improved in my stay in England, though I today mix British English and American English. Maybe that's a sign of to much watching TV, but I think I've learned allot from American TV-programs.
	 Now, that I'm using the English language more than I used to, it comes to me how much I've lost during the years that have past since I studied English. I'm getting aware of how important it is to "up-date" your English all the time, because it still is "the Worlds language". It is a language that everyone should know and feel secured in.
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