f
someone is interested in learning English properly and having a taste of Great
Britain’s cultures, this is the country to come to!
Attending English school and meeting Great Britain’s peoples is the
best way to learn the language and cultivate one’s knowledge of such an
extraordinary country.
I felt as if I was in the middle of a desert even if I was surrounded by hundreds of people. It took me three months of hard work to start understanding the first few words and play with them in an attempt to communicate in English.
I have been always interested in learning English as my second language. Therefore, when in our missionary rota to leave for the missions I was the next in turn, I chose to go to Bangladesh knowing that part of the preparation for this particular mission was learning English in London. I arrived in London on Jan. 27, 1998. The moment I landed at Heathrow my GB experience started. Now that I am leaving I can tell you that it has been a great learning experience.
I took advantage of my stay in this beautiful country and visited different sites and cities. I also met a good number of wonderful English, Irish, and Scottish people. Everything helped me to understand a little better these three beautiful cultures and with and through the culture a little more of the language.
As it is evident, at the beginning of my experience in this country it was quite difficult since I was not able to share or to put ideas together in English. I felt as if I was in the middle of a desert even if I was surrounded by hundreds of people. It took me three months of hard work to start understanding the first few words and play with them in an attempt to communicate in English. Little by little, we all have our own rhythm of learning, I found myself improving my skills. Learning good English is time consuming, it requires a good number of study hours and a lot of practice. Therefore, after one year and some months in Britain, I am only at the beginning of a learning journey. I will continue to study the language and explore the culture.
I have also to give credit to the Xaverian community of London for their kindness, patience, and for being so welcoming and helpful. Their support started me on my English studies.Being able now to thank them in English must be for them a satisfaction and a guarantee that the time and money invested on me was not wasted. I also had the opportunity to meet Spanish-speaking people and they made me feel at home. And the Italian spoken at home was also an occasion of enrichment even if it slows down the English learning process.
I am very grateful to the Xaverians of Great Britain and their English and Scottish friends because when I was in their midst to practice my English they always offered their hospitality and friendship. At the end, I can only say that learning a new language is an amazing experience since it opens doors and windows to be able to communicate and share your own life experience and your personal experience of God with other peoples. I hope one day I’ll be able to come back again to Great Britain. July 21, marks the end of this learning experience and the beginning of a new one: Bangladesh.
(From Mission: The Xaverian Way)