Reflexão UFCD 9225

My English learning journey.

I remember as if it were today, the image, the sound, and the pronounce of my first English teacher saying, what would be the very first sentence I would learn in a foreign language: "This is a table, and these are chairs!".

We were in 1977, I was 12 years old, was starting the 1st year of preparatory school and this was the beginning of my English learning journey.

During high-school and college I had the chance to prepare myself for a professional career, learning English at a very high technical level, knowing its importance for those who want to thrive in the technology and management areas.

Later and throughout the 32 years of my professional career as IT Manager, IT Service Manager, and IT Project Manager, I had the possibility to develop my communication skills always using English as the primary language.

Not having English as a mother tongue, in all these decades of professional contacts around the world, it is easy to gain habits and slang expressions without realizing it. Therefore, I found it very useful to be able to refresh my English language basis, learning and reviewing terms and expressions, mainly by taking advantage of the knowledge of someone who, as a teacher, has lived closely with the English language on a daily basis.