Posted: Dec 13, 2011 12:14 am
At what age did you start to learn English?
Hopefully I still qualify. I started to learn at age five and my native language was Ilokano, I spoke fluent Tagalog and Ilokano.
What was the English teaching in your public education system like:
In which country?
It was a private Catholic school in United States. After three years, it was then a public secular school.
Did your teacher speak your native language during lessons? If so, what for, and do you think it was beneficial?
I could not imagine that. She was a pale, beautiful lady that may have addressed me as foreign and alien. She spoke English. This was not beneficial for my native tongue as I have abandoned it in order to grasp an entirely new language. Now, I can only understand Tagalog and Ilokano to the extent of elementary vocabulary.
How much spoken communication in English did you do during these lessons?
As much as possible, unless I am at home. My parents have never stopped speaking Tagalog to me and have never bothered to reply in English voluntarily. It did not help.
Did you supplement this with private tuition/study in a private language centre?
I think so, unless the Kumon method does not apply.
Did you ever live abroad in a situation that required you to use English regularly?
Yes
Other than living abroad, how often did you get to communicate in English? And what form did these communications take?
Every time I met a new person I figured I had to communicate in English. This was especially common online. I do remember translating for one of my cousins in Philippines what somethings in English meant.
How often did you consume English-language media, and did you do so with a conscious effort to study/understand it?
Everyday as if I somehow thought it was the only language I could understand. Even after thirteen years, my English is horrible, along with general composition and grammar. I am considering Rosetta Stone in the near future.