Challenges

I have to confess to my fellow CPEers that reading the blog was really intimidating at first. Not only are the texts really well-written but also humorous, and so it's hard to catch up, for sure! So, I decided I’m going to take baby steps.

It dates back to 1996 the last time I studied English. In 1997, I took the Michigan Certificate and since then I’ve been teaching English but not studying it as a student. Of course I study to prepare my classes -- I like to think of myself as a dedicated instructor -- but getting back to school and sitting on the other side is truly DIFFICULT!!! So as the idea here is to talk (ops! to write) about our feelings... well, I’m feeling really insecure.

I know I can speak English. I can explain the present perfect, I know phrasal verbs exist, I can read a newspaper article and comment on it, I can follow a recipe etc. I can even watch movies without reading the subtitles and sometimes criticize the translation, fact which alone usually demonstrates to the rest of the world (non-English speaking friends) that you master the language. And that feels good, doesn’t it? Thing is I was really comfortable, and now I feel challenged!

Don’t get me wrong, I like this feeling! I know it may sound strange, but this fuels me. I left the school last Friday after our class and all I could think about was "I have to study, I must write the post for the blog! I have to use a more sophisticated (like this one) word in each of my sentences". Then I got home, turned on the telly, BBC on, no subtitles... and I couldn’t understand anything! So there’s a long way to go and this is my first baby step!

Thank you all! Thank you Higor for challenging me! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

Eli Manzano, CPE 3, evenings.