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This essay will try to give an honest attempt to explain my awareness of my own competence in English, regarding the four skills consisting listening, reading, speaking, and writing. I can not say that I have any specific problem regarding listening. Sometimes if I listen to a person that I find interesting it is almost like tuning in a new radiostation, but if I listen to a person who has a heavy accent, or if the speaker does not speak very clearly it will take some time to adapt my ears. Also I find it easier to listen to a person that I am accustomed to. The topic of the speech is also essential for my understanding since English is not my native language, I have to concentrate more in order to grasp as much as possible. I have noticed when I have been abroad that I get tired the first few days. I believe that is partly because I have to concentrate more when I listen, even to ordinary conversations between people. 
When it comes to reading I regard myself as a person who enjoy reading. I always have a book in progress, even though sometimes I finish a novel very quickly, and sometimes it takes me weeks. When I read just for pleasure, I do not usually look up every word I do not understand in a dictionary. Only if I do not comprehend the essence of the story. Unfortunately I find it difficult to get enough time to read just for pleasure when I study. I feel that reading enriches my life, and I think it is a very good way of getting a better knowledge of the language a person is studying. Therefore I look forward to the literature course which is offering me a chance to some interesting reading. The discussions will provide a new experience for me. Sometimes it is fantastic how people can interpret a written text, or a speech so differently. An experienced teacher I think can give me new ideas about how to analyse written material. 
I would like to improve my spoken English. I am not afraid of speaking English, but I think I have the ability to speak more fluently if I have a chance to practise more. It would be nice to be able to feel more spontaneous and relaxed. Sometimes, when I have a discussion with an English speaking person, I find myself not to be able to keep conversation at the same level as the other person. This is a great disadvantage in many situations. I can imagine that many immigrants must feel very distressed sometimes. Learning to speak a foreign language is hard work. I think it is important to be exposed to English as much as possible in order to develop a better command of the language. The practise in England I think will be a great opportunity for me and every student to really use English in everyday life. Now over to my last issue. It is difficult to estimate my own capability when it comes to writing. As I see it, writing consists of many different stages. Writing gives me both possibilities and problems. I have noticed that many teacher's stress writing as an important factor in a learning process. I do not disagree about that, but unfortunately this was not the modern method of teaching English when I was a highschool student. We mostly spent our time filling in blank spaces in our exercise books. Since the old way of teaching didn't emphasise writing, I feel that I have not enough training in this discipline. Spelling I found more difficult nowadays, I don't know why that is so. Grammar is also a subject that I feel an urgent need to improve. For some unknown reason it has not been my favourite category. 
So far I feel that my choice of reading English is positive. I'm very enthusiastic about the coarse and I'm very excited about the new lectures and assignments. I already can see that it is going to be a lot of work, but I feel that it's worth it both for me and my coming students. I'll try to make the best of it.
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