Interview

Brodnikova Helen

Who are you?

My name is Helen and I'm a 22-year-old student at the Tavrichesky National University. I study English & German philology.

I am from Ukraine & I live in Kerch, a beautiful small town located on Crimean peninsular. I have been living here since I was born.

I have a wide range of interests, I adore travelling, sport, music. I love meeting new people & making friends. I am also a keen photographer.

I am fond of playing the guitar & writing poems in English.

How did you learn English?

I started learning English at primary school when I was around 7. As I was a conscientious child I listened to the teacher at the lessons & did all the home assignments. I understood very little of what was said at the lessons, I could hardly read English texts. But translation into Russian & vice versa was a far greater problem, ‘cause I used to translate word for word.

I had no idea why study English & did it only to get a good grade. It was not until some time later that I began to be interested in English as a language. I started to listen to songs in English. How extremely happy I was when I managed to understand some isolated words or even expressions! I realized that English classes at school were not sufficient for me but I had no opportunity to visit a tutor. Studying was entirely up to me.

So I finished school with excellent results. A new life lured me & it was pretty hard to choose the right way.

I have done the right choice, I am perfectly sure of it.

As soon as I entered the University I plunged into the all-embracing atmosphere of English Language & never wanted to leave it.

All the process of my studying can be divided into several steps. The first step was textbooks. Then authentic books & teaching video came.

After that I started watching films in English, subtitles were a great help for me, from time to time I looked up in the dictionary & wrote down some unknown words. My thirst for knowledge seemed to be unquenchable. So does it now :)

Next I began to listen to songs in English & sing them.

Finally I was advised to communicate with native speakers in English on italki.com. It was fantastic, at first I made friends with many people all over the world, I wrote & receiver letters in English. Then I got an excellent opportunity to improve my speech skills by talking to native speakers through skype – system. It is extremely interesting!

Now I am able to think in English, frankly speaking, I use it more often than my native tongue.

And I never stop, I go on improving my skills, plunging deeper & deeper into this Wonderland.

What has English given you?

So much! I see life differently now. I have an excellent opportunity to learn interesting things, to broaden horizons, to push forward my career. I fell in love with English & will keep breeding this love for the rest of my life. I read authentic books, I enjoy life socializing with people all over the world. Sure English will help me do what I really need in life.