Task 1: Learner Autobiography

Jocabed O. Flores Tapia

I was born and raised in Los Vilos, which is a small town in the fourth region of Chile. I lived there until 2017 when I moved to Valparaiso to continue my studying career. 

I completed my basic education at the San Francisco Javier school in Los Vilos. After that, I moved to the Nicolas Federico Lohse Vargas High School, where I finished my school stage in 2006.
The difference between these two educational establishments was enormous, while in the school an intermediate-advanced level of English was maintained, the teachers were in charge of making each student improve according to their own level of knowledge, but always prioritizing that everyone learns. On the other hand, in high school, the level of education was very basic. The classes were practically based on guides, which did not present a major challenge for me, but they did for several of my classmates who found it difficult to memorize the grammatical structures of the language. Is that why at that time I began to help them and I realized that I could teach. I was really good at it, but I never felt I had enough knowledge to teach someone else. Due to this lack of confidence that I pose as a personal challenge to become a teacher. It was actually a decision I made with the idea that once I acquired a greater amount of knowledge, I would gain greater confidence in myself and could perform the job that I really like.

Regarding self-learning, I think that the closest experiences I had with the language were through the music that was popular at that time since I loved listening to music in English. Also, the music that my parents liked greatly influenced my tastes regarding the culture of English. Another influential factor in my closeness to the language was the movies. Due to these things I acquired a lot of vocabulary and practice regarding pronunciation.

Now that I'm studying to be an English teacher I hope to continue looking for ways to improve my English, to search for different sources and get exposed to the language.