ENGLISH

ENGLISH IS THE PASSPORT THAT LEADS TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL CAREER GOALS

Question: How do you think that learning english benefits the future of our Puerto Rican students? 

There are so many benefits, specially when those kids have big dreams. 

English is one of the most famous languages around the world. There are about 67 countries that use english as their first language.

English is our second language here in Puerto Rico, but even though students have to take english class throughout their whole school life, most of them only learn the basics and don’t learn how to speak this language fluently. We need to find a way to motivate our students to learn more about this language, simply because english is the passport that leads towards successful career goals. It’s something like this: Let’s say you find yourself at the airport: you are in a rush because your flight will leave in 20 minutes and you just got there. You go running to look for your ticket, you do the line, you look around at the people saying goodbye to their families, you get distracted and then when you get to the lady with the blue uniform you realize that you didn’t bring your passport with you. This is the moment when you realize that you literally lost your flight. Well, life is sort of like that. You can have the most amazing opportunity in front of your eyes and if you leave what makes you stand out at home: you lose the chance. As Frank Smith once said: “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.” So let’s say I have an interview for a job in The Hotel of La Concha at San Juan. I start off the interview well, I answer all of the questions, I show a positive energy and i’m good. Then there comes this other guy after my interview, and he’s about to have interview too: but i notice that he talks both in Spanish and English. I go back home and wait for a call back from the hotel, but i don’t get one. I guess they stayed with the bilingual guy since he seemed very professional and also could communicate with the tourists who came to visit the hotel. Being bilingual definitely makes you more attractive when you’re looking for a job. 

I’ve always been passionate about different cultures, places but mostly, languages. When I started learning to speak, read and write english my main goal was to be able to present my ideas to an audience. To write a book, to do slam poems and give speeches about certain themes. At the beginning it was sort of difficult but as i kept practicing and reading and speaking to myself alone, I got more and more used to it. 

Let’s talk about the benefits:

1. The ability to communicate with people from different cultures and countries. Nelson Mandela has a quote that goes by: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head, but if you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart."
2. Learning english gives you bigger possibilities to study in different colleges from PR and it opens doors of opportunities wherever you want to go around the world.  “ The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein said that and he couldn't be more right.
3. Helps maintain the brain flexible and agile. Prevents deterioration of the brain functioning over time: Alzheimer, dementia, etc.  (This is probably one of the reasons why my grand grandmother has never had problems with her mental health. She reads english and Spanish books all the time and speaks both languages. She is now 89 years old and looks so healthy. )
4. It gives you confidence to travel and be independent. 
5. Makes you grow as an individual, and it also helps when you’re looking for a job. 

There are tons of benefits for learning english, this ones are just the basic ones. 

I personally believe that ever since I learned english, i’ve become more confident with myself and my opinions. I’ve learned how to stand up for the things that I believe in and the themes that i’m passionate about. For a fifteen year old teenage, Puerto Rican girl, I consider myself empowering because learning english was not a barrier for me, instead, it was a bridge that got me to the path that i want to follow. Tell me, shouldn't every student have that opportunity?