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Introduction
I will start this evaluation by making a reflection of my childhood, because it was during my first years I learned much of my fundamental English, under the influence of my mother who is English. Then I will continue by trying to make an assessment of my strengths and weaknesses today.

Listening
My mother read a lot for me, mostly in English. She also taught me many English songs and nursery rhymes. My parents always talked to each other in English. I specially recall that when my father wanted to say some thing in public that he didn't want anybody else to understand he always spoke in English. Of cause I have listened to music, that often is in English, as a teenager my favourite band was the Beatles. I have no problems in listening to people talking. I understand them perfectly well, I understand them even if they have a different dialect. 

Reading
I got English subscriptions through my whole childhood. Every Christmas I got an extra thick book with many nice stories in. I have no difficulties reading English books. I have read English books, for my children but translated them directly into Swedish while reading. Just at the moment I have had a period of Ellis Peters, I like the historical background in combination with the crime solving thrill. When it comes to reading I feel rather comfortable, although I of course don't know the meaning of all words, so during this English course I hope to improve my English vocabulary. I am more used to reading older books, and the books you have chosen for lecture studies are all rather newly written, that will be a thing that will improve my vocabulary and the amount of books will increase my reading skills.

Speaking
As a little girl I spoke English, as being the first born. Sometimes my father tells me about how he tried to stop me from lisping, by practising when I was about three years old. When he said - säg flaska, I quickly replied - bottle. I strongly remember once when I was going to buy grapefruits, I was about nine years old and I stood in the fruit shop and couldn't remember the Swedish word for it, I was so ashamed I had to run home to ask. My sister and I once went to England to visit a aunt, I still remember when we were buying ice-cream at the ice-cream stall, we started to talk to some other children and told them we were from Sweden, they just laughed and asked use to say something, they got very surprised when we started talking Swedish to each other. Under a longer visit in Switzerland I made friends with a girl, who had been an au pair in England, we only talked English with each other. As I grew older I stopped talking English at home, even if my parents said some thing in English I replied in Swedish. Now I feel pressured by being expected to talk well because my mother is English, so I don't dare to try. I know I can make people understand what I am talking about, but I have no idea if I pronounce the words properly or if I have the wrong intonation. I am looking forward to the practice, even if I still feel very unsure.

Writing
The worst thing I knew was to write and thank my aunt for all the lovely Christmas presents she always sent us, not that I didn't want to thank her. The real reason was that I didn't know how to spell or how to write it in English. To start my studies to become a teacher, I had to read in the degree's for the third year of upper secondary school on my own. The result was very good. But not that good in English writing the registrars thought it a pity that I hadn't had the possibility to practise with somebody who could guide me and look at the things I hadn't understood in fundamental English writing. I need much practice in writing, I have no idea what mistakes I make. In school I managed to pass the exams without actually knowing any grammar etc. I have come to the conclusion that I have to learn the phonetic alphabet to improve my spelling. I hope to learn a lot during this term of English studies.
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