Entry #6 : Breaking it down

How has your English improved so far during your internship?

Listening Comprehension

At the beginning of my internship, some of the conversations I overheard were sometimes hard to understand but it wasn't due to the syntax or the vocabulary. The problem was more about the subjects. I haven't studied neither in teaching or administration so it was hard sometimes to understand exactly what the staff wanted me to do. Nevertheless, as time passed by, I started to understand better the tasks I was asked to do. That was due to one of the strategies I've used the most : analyzing. I thought about all the possible meanings and deducted that the most plausible one was the right one.

Accent

I don't think my English accent really improved during my internship mainly because I wasn't only surrounded by anglophones. There were a lot of people around me who were also learning English but they still had their respective accent. Few of the students I worked with were real anglophones and I didn't really had the chance to have proper chat with them. Therefor, it was hard for me to practice my accent. I still have some problem with the ''th'' pronunciation. I wish I had the chance to practice it more during my internship but I'm confident that I'll be able to do so in a near future. 

Fluency

Even though I was already fluent in English during my internship, I think it improved a little bit. Mainly in the spoken part of the language (I barely practice the written part during my internship). Even though, I still have problem with my fluency because of my shyness. I'm so afraid of making mistakes that I refrain myself from using some words that are hard to say. I've tried to lower my inhibition, but it wasn't a success.

Humour

I barely saw any difference between anglophone and francophone humour. It's hard for me to talk about the anglophone culture in particularly because more than half the people I've been working with were not anglophones. Almost every students were coming from other countries and they still some difficulties with their English. However, there was that time when I heard one them talking about the job he had in Peru. He explained that at that time he barely knew English at all and he had an anglophone client who didn't speak Spanish. They had a really hard time understanding each other and the way he told us his story was really funny. He used so many gesture and facial expressions!

Accuracy

I might be fluent in English, I still make mistakes when I talk. For example, I'm having a hard time pronouncing the ''th'' sound and I often forget to pronounce the ''s'' that the end of plural words. I also tend to forget the verb ''speak'', who knows why ! I almost always use the verb ''talk'' instead of ''speak'' when it's suppose to be the other way around.