Dear reader, The main purpose of this blogpost is to provide myself and you, the reader, with a clear

insight in my English learning history. To accomplish this goal I will focus on how I studied English at the primary school, the secondary school and the university.

From cartoon network to the RUG

It all began with cartoon network as far as I can recall. When I was about seven years old my focus concerning entertainment was primarily focused on the television program, cartoon network. The language of the network was English, which was hard to understand for me as a seven-year old, but the images on the other hand were more entertaining that the difficulty I experienced with the language. As a conclusion I used my mother, a KLM stewardess, as some kind of dictionary. When I was nine, English became a course at my primary school. I did not face any difficulty whatsoever, my average grade was around a 8.5. Our teacher was a big Britain fan; he was always very excited about the language and the culture and that made it more interesting for us by using relevant videos and pieces of music. After passing my English course at primary school with an 8.5 I continued learning English on my secondary school. During my secondary school I did not face any difficulties concerning English. My grades were around a 7 and 8 continually. During my fourth year I enjoyed a language vacation in Edinburg, which was quite helpful. For two weeks I was confronted with the English language, maybe with a bit of a Scottish accent but nonetheless it was a very helpful experience. In my last year of my secondary school is signed up for this special English course, which was meant to prepare you for the Cambridge certificate test in advanced English. I wanted to participate in this special course because of my interest in an international study. The references of this certificate were positive and the course sounded like a challenge. After I took the test here in Groningen result was a C on advanced English. This was in 2009. After passing English at my secondary school with an 8, I attended the university. Before I was attending the university my expectations of the English course were quite high. I expected English to be very intensive since is it the primary language of my study. With intensive I mean a lot of contact hours a week, furthermore I expected the course to be very academic and individual. What surprised me was that the course was not that intensive, only a few contact hours a week, that it was very teamwork oriented and not very academic at all. It was more creative and basis that it is academic. What positively surprised me was that the vocabulary we learned during the first two semesters was business language. Since I attended the university my way of learning English changed. The fact that our classes are given in English, our books are in English and even our fellow students communicate in English

had a positive effect on my way of learning. Sometimes I really experience an international environment. Thing that I especially found helpful are the fact that our learning environment very international and that our teachers master English at an advanced level. I think the next three years will provide me with a very academic style and vocabulary of the English language. In the next three years I think I will be able to convey every business message clearly furthermore I expect to communicate professionally and formal at the end of my study. After my graduation I would like to master business jargon. With jargon I mean special words or expressions that are used by the business profession and are difficult for other to understand. My advice for next years students; participate actively in every course given and do not be shy to communicate in English. Because when the language ball starts rolling you will only get better at it.