27/08/2020
A lot of people ask me that! I even did a live chat telling how it was, but unfortunately it wasn’t recorded.
When I was about 11, I got wonderful grades in all subjects but English.
I couldn’t get the verb “to be” at all, I had a very hard time.
I used to sit in front of a classmate who was also called Nathália. She saw me super sad and said she could help me liking English.
Interesting, it wasn’t teaching me, but helping me to like it.
Nathália told me that English is much easier than Portuguese and that it’s everywhere, access to it is very easy. The first task she gave me was to start watching Friends, religiously, every day. Also to prefer listening to songs in English, watching subtitled films, whatever was within my reach. I remember trying to sing songs reading the album’s booklet as an exercise.
In the meantime, she was teaching me how to build simple sentences: pronouns, some verbs, nouns, adverbs.
Over time, I memorized some lines, recognizing words within sentences.
I remember the joy it was to recognize something. Nathália was right, I needed to learn to enjoy learning English.
I took an English course for a few semesters and I used class time to ask the teachers a lot (wow, I was such an inquiring mind).
It got really strong in me. When I started making sweets, I’d try to research more in English, even though I had trouble with several words.
About speaking, well, it was more difficult than reading and writing. In 2016, I recorded my first online Macarons class in Portuguese and English. Instead of recording already speaking, that it was much more difficult for me, I recorded the scenes and the audio separately. It was the easiest alternative at the time.
My Instagram became better known outside of Brazil than here, which was great, it forced me to always be in contact with the English language.
Every time I went to record a video speaking English, I’d remake it over and over again, I always thought it wasn’t good. But I kept doing it, even though I didn’t like it.
In 2017, I was invited to teach in the United Arab Emirates, in English. I only went because friends told me I was able, because I wasn’t assured myself.
I started the class saying that I’m Brazilian and that sometimes I had difficulty expressing myself in English, but that I was going to do my best.
I found out there that I could do it 🙂
When I started with my team, they asked me to talk in English in the videos, to make weekly live chats, it was hardcore at first. But that was loosening me up more and more, it was great for my development.
The months I spent in France helped me a lot, because there I could only communicate in English, it was an international program. There I forced myself to think in English and to speak even when I thought I was wrong. Each student was from a different place in the world, with different levels of English, so everything was fine.
Nowadays, of course, it’s much more peaceful than it was. I know I still say a lot of wrong things, I forget words, I don’t know how to say something. But it’s okay, I ask people, I say I don’t know, I speak the word in Portuguese, it’s simpler than we normally think.
One thing is certain: everyone knows that it’s not easy to learn a new language, so people will be patient listening to you. If one is not, find someone else 🙂
Nathália was right, it’s easier than Portuguese and to celebrate every little achievement, to enjoy learning makes all the difference. I still add: start speaking even if you think it’s bad. It’s all practice, the more you speak, more casual it will be.
I hope it helps you!