Sixth Session- November 24, 2015

Today’s topic was to discuss Saleha’s main motivation for learning English. She obtained a degree from university, and is now studying to pass the TOEFL exam. Her goal is to speak advanced English. She believes that learning language in general is extremely important because it is a way to connect with people and improve oneself. In her opinion, English is one of the most important language to know because it is an international language, meaning it is universally studied as a second language. Having speaking skills in English is important, especially when studying abroad or traveling to other countries. She gave an example of traveling to Turkey; it is not necessarily important to speak Turkish, because you will be able to get by speaking English. I do with this point, because even when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy most of the people spoke English, so it was not difficult to get by without knowing Italian. I think that a part of this was due to the vast British Empire, because they were able to bring the English language to all corners of the world through colonization. That’s truly what makes it a global language. As for Afghanistan’s progress in learning languages, Saleha believes her country is improving. Many people in Afghanistan want to learn English. She encounters children ages 5 or 6, and they all want to learn English; she also sees 50-40 years old with a desire to learn the language as well. She explains that there is a good start for learning the language because they learn English through memorization of a variety of topics and words. However, she believes that listening is essential when learning a new language, because it will help people to speak well and have good pronunciation of words. I think it’s great that her people has such a strong desire to learn a new language. It’s great to see that people are passionate to learn new things and develop a skillset in English.