<doc.id=1081.a1>
<title> Evaluation: English, my English </title>
I have always seen myself as an average person when it comes to the English language. This opinion has not always been shared by my friends. I think the reason for that is my heritage, my grandmother and my father were born in Australia and I grew up with my grandparents after my parents divorce. Therefore I think my friends exaggerates my supposed knowledge of the language. I have my weaknesses just like everyone else.
	I started reading English in the fourth grade with my friends but when they were at home doing their homework I tended to be doing something else entirely. Therefore I was soon left behind and I admit that I am still trying to catch up with them.

	I would like to see myself as a rather fluent reader, because I started to read most of my books in English when I was still in seventh grade. This was not a conscious decision but more of a desperate choice. Reading mostly fantasybooks I am left at the whim/mercy of the editors of the major publishers, and the rather slow process of translating. It therefore fell naturally to read the books in English, rather than in Swedish. And now I consider myself as a fluent reader, due to all the practise I have had. 
	Reading has helped me enlarge my vocabulary in an unconscious way. I do not mean that I often use the new words daily, but in certain situations the knowledge valuable to have(no situation that comes to mind but...).
	I think that listening(to) and speaking English has a lot in common. To be able to follow and participate in a conversation you have to have both skills. Not being able to follow a discussion you can not contribute to it. Therefore listening and speaking English is equally important. I do not think that I am good at listening but mostly I can follow a dialog or an argumentation held on the television or the radio. Though I must admit that a conversation on the TV is easier for me to follow, due, I think, to the fact that you can se the persons speaking. And also speaking, mostly a mixture of English and Swedish, at home has helped. 
	My grandmother has never allowed me to speak pure American-English, which I tended to do during a short period. She partly helped me develop the accent I speak today, for which I am forever grateful. 
	In upper secondary school we had three different teachers. The first two disappeared fairly soon. The third was not a qualified teacher but he was the best one I had ever had, up till then. He spoke only English during lessons which I found to be a great way to learn the use of the language. I have found that constantly being exposed to a language does help you to learn it. Both the skill to speak and listen improves a lot. 
	As I mentioned at the beginning of this essay I have tried to catch up with my friends in the knowledge of English ever since we started. I feel that in most areas I have succeeded in doing this but not in the area, maybe most important to teachers, I am NOT good at spelling. If I would have written this essay by hand you would have found several misspellings in it. This is a problem that for me is not only restricted to English but it is also a problem I have in other languages, including Swedish. I have tried to improve my skill but no matter how many times I try to learn different words, they evade me. It is all kinds of words, not only the more complicated words but also the simpler ones, (for example: which often becomes wich).

	So as I come to the end of this paper I would like to say that I consider myself to be an average Swedish teenager with my strong points and my weak sides. Of course I try not to show the weak points but they usually show up anyway. The essay was to conclude how competent I feel and I think that I could survive in an English speaking environment but I feel that I can always get better.
</doc>