LETTER FROM GERMANY

This letter comes from Germany where lives and studies Helen`s sister Sandra. Sandra used to study in our school years ago.
I enjoyed this letter very much. Sometimes it`s better to follow the tips of somebody we know very well or who is close for us because teachers are often considered to be too demanding or strict.
I hope Sandra`s encouraging letter helps you to understand better why English is important language to study.
THANK YOU, SANDRA!!


Dear Helen,

I heard from our dear grandmother that you and your fellow students are somewhat not very motivated to learn English at school and I should do my best to courage you to be more enthusiastic and into studying.

Well, what can I say? The beginning of this language was not the easiest for me either. In time I have understood that English is one of the easiest languages to learn compared to for example French or German simply because the rules are very easy. But that is what I can say now when I have more than a decade of English experience and also knowledge about other languages for comparison.

Just exactly as for you, my first English teacher was Katrin Libe. I remember how we started learning English by drawing pictures of things into a small notebook and then writing names under the pictures, like "apple" and "ant" and so on. At first it was confusing but now I can tell you with absolute certainty that starting to learn any language is difficult. You are thrown into a totally new world and none of what you thought was right makes no sense anymore.

The key to being good at something is practising. The more you repeat, the better you remember. So when you learn something new, keep practising until thinking about it becomes naturally. Another thing about English is speaking. That is perhaps the hardest part about the whole thing, when you know the words and how to make a sentence, but somehow feel very silly saying it out loud. Don't worry - we are all in the same situation. You go to school to study and while studying it's perfectly okay to make mistakes, say the wrong things and write the wrong words. Only by making a mistake you can get to know that it's wrong and that is also the only way the teacher can correct your mistakes. Make sure you speak a lot of English, loud and clear.

Why should you need English? Let me tell you. The whole time I was in school, I learned English because people like our mother and grandmother said "it is necessary for you". I didn't quite understand that until I started my studies in University of Tartu and most on the material I was using was in English. At some point your Estonian skills are not enough anymore because you need to understand English to get more knowledge.

Also, when talking to people who are foreigners. I have so many good friends who know zero words of Estonian but still we get along very well. Right now I can say that of all of my friends more than half are not from Estonia. Knowing a language like English opens so many doors, gives you a chance to get to know so many new people and discover the world just the way you want to do it.

Thanks to being good at English, I am now studying abroad and I have no doubt that I will manage anywhere in the world, because English is one of the most popular languages and there is always at least one person who can help you when you get into trouble.

So, the main point of this letter is, English is very important and if you are given a chance to study this, use every last part of it. Trust me, you will never regret trying hard when it comes to studying.

All the best,

Sandra

WHY DO YOU STUDY ENGLISH?