Don't give up when it comes to learning English

Steffanie Zazulak
Two people sat togther with phones smiling
Reading time: 2 minutes

We love sharing stories of English learners and educators whose lives have been positively transformed by the language. One such inspiring story comes from Rodrigo Tadeu in São Paulo, Brazil. Discover why he holds a special appreciation for mastering English.

Motivations for learning English?

Rodrigo grew up speaking Portuguese in South America. As a child, he never thought about learning another language. However, when he became an adultand began aspiring to a career, he realized that expanding his language abilities would help him achieve these dreams.

"I worked as an accountant for an American company," he said. "So, to communicate and achieve professional success, I had to learn English!"

Rodrigo has changed jobs since then. And even though he’s no longer required to speak English with his new company, he still feels a responsibility to himself to continue his education.

The road to English fluency

There are many tools that you can use to improve your English language skills, and Rodrigo used several – some he’s still using to this day. First, he started learning English formally by taking classes in high school. However, his shy disposition made it difficult for him to practice because he was afraid of failing in front of others. At the time, he didn't havecareer goals motivating him to learn the language either.

Later, however, our adventurous accountant decided to learn English in earnest, so he traveled to Canada to study and become aconfident speaker. When he returned to Brazil, he kept studying and continues to do so. Reading books and articles, listening to podcasts and copying other English speakers have also helped develop his conversational skills. Among his favorite podcasts are "English as a Second Language" and "Freakonomics".

English learning is not without challenges

Rodrigo noted that he struggles with pronunciation most.“The way English speakers say words is very different than the way you would say something in Portuguese.”

He thinks the issue is the same for Spanish speakers as well."In Portuguese or Spanish, if you know the words,you can basically speak exactly what you read. In English, it's totally different. You cannot speak the words that you are reading. So you have to know about this!"

This might be the most challenging part of learning the language for Rodrigo, but he assured us that he’s not giving up.

English for enjoyment

Rodrigo may have initially studied English as a way to progress his career, but the language quickly became something he enjoyed.And instead of being content with the skill that he has now, Rodrigo dreams of continuing his English-speaking education so he can travel and further enjoy his life.

"These days, English has become fun!" he said. "Now it's better to watch movies and TV in English."

He also mentioned that he eventually would like to visit Europe. But when asked about his dream destination, Rodrigo said that:“I’d like to move back to Canada, maybe live in Vancouver for a year or two!”

Advice for English language learners

After working hard for years to learn English, Rodrigo now offers advice to fellow Brazilians (and others) who wish to speak another language:

"You have to be confident, and don’t give up. You have to keep your dreams. It's difficult to ... speak one language that's not your mother language ... If you can imagine, you can achieve, and you can do. So 'don't give up' is the perfect phrase."

Read our blog posts 'Learning English and employability' and 'Fascinating facts about English'.

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    GSE Teacher Toolkit: Planning a communicative grammar lesson

    Por Sara Davila
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Planning grammar lessons with the GSE Teacher Toolkit

    Grammar is one of the core areas of language teaching. Often, new teachers are nervous about teaching it, but sooner or later, all English teachers will have to get to grips with it. Whether you love or hate teaching grammar to your students, the makes planning a successful grammar lesson easier than ever.

    When it comes to planning a grammar-focused lesson, there are two main strategies to choose from: a communicative approach or a focus-on-form approach. The communicative approach is more commonly used.

    So, let’s have a look at how the GSE Teacher Toolkit can help you plan a communicative grammar lesson that is effective and engaging for your students.

    Teaching communicative grammar

    When you’re planning a grammar lesson, you want to be sure there is a reason for students to use the grammar point that you’re going to teach. That way, your students will be more motivated to learn the form and practise using it correctly.

    Using and applying grammar generally requires producing something. That’s why grammar, as an enabling skill, is often aligned to speaking and writing, the productive skills. When you want your students to use or produce a particular grammar form, you can begin by looking for the associated skills in speaking and writing.

    Choosing a skill to teach

    Imagine that you have a class that is learning at an A2 level (35 - 40 on the GSE range). You’ll want to help them work towards A2+/B1. So, it’s a good idea to plan lessons around skills that are in your target GSE range to push their progress.

    In order to plan an A2+ range speaking class, you can filter the GSE Teacher Toolkit to look in your target learning range for specific skills to teach: