My name is Elene, and I have always felt a strong connection to the English language. In my country, Georgia, we begin learning English in the second grade, but the approach is quite traditional. We are expected to translate, memorize grammar rules, and learn new words, but there is little emphasis on actually speaking English. I believe that much of the effort we put into learning English through traditional methods is wasted.
I have always found English easy. As a toddler, I spent a lot of time reading books and watching TV shows in English. One of my favorite shows was “Ben and Holly’s Magic Kingdom”. Being exposed to English from a young age made it easy for me to pick up the language. Additionally, my mum is an English lecturer, so she spoke to me in English frequently, which further helped me master the language.
In the second grade, a significant change occurred in my life. My cousin introduced me to the game ‘Roblox’. I started playing it a lot. Roblox allows you to communicate with other players worldwide, and I really wanted to chat with them and make friends. However, I did not know how to spell. At first, it was very challenging, but I managed to learn how to spell in a few months or so. I have met a lot of friends on Roblox; my first online friend’s name was Kashvi, and she was from India. She taught me many things about her traditions and culture. We have lost contact now, but we still talk a bit. I have many other friends worldwide, too.
I have always loved to read, especially English books. My mom introduced me to reading at a young age. My favorite genre is comedy, but I like other genres, too. I have many cool favorite authors—for example, Roald Dahl, David Walliams, and Astrid Lindgren. I still show a lot of interest in books. Right now, I am reading “Awful Auntie” by David Williams.
When I was younger, writing was my least favorite thing. It would hurt my hands a lot, and when I got asked to write anything, I would start denying. Luckily, my mom came up with a fun way to help me with writing. She would buy me colorful pens and tell me to ‘draw’ the letters instead of writing them. Somehow, that helped. Now writing is my passion. I really love to write short stories and show them to my family and friends. I used to attend English lessons which were called ‘book club’, and they inspired me to write more. They would give us some new words we learned in class, and we had to write stories using them.
Knowing English has always been a great advantage in my life. I use it in everyday life, and I’m very glad I decided to learn English. Nowadays, I use English really frequently when talking to my Georgian friends, too. I have access to much more information since I know English. I think English is super important, and we should prioritize it.
