Passport:
In this part of the entry, I will show visually which are the levels I have in the different languages I have just talked about above.
This table represents exactly which level of which languages I have certificated. Next to the level I have also written the name of the official center or association which made the exam. In the case of the English Language, there are two different centres because I did the exam for the same level in two different cetres, first in Trinity College and then in the Spanish Official Language School.
Besides, the Passport of the ELP contains the experiences of the learner. I am starting with Spanish, which is the language I use everyday in almost every context. Spanish language is the one which I have used since I can speak, with my family, friends, at school, at the street, etc. My experiences with this one are really assorted. But, I would like to highlight the difference between the Spanish I use with my friends in Utiel, the Spanish I use with my family and the language I use in formal contexts. For examplo, my town has its own typical words which are not used in other cities. I give you some examples: "cernadero", "pozal" or "cuévano". The most part of the people who I met in Valencia rarely know the meaning of these words. What I mean is that I adapt my language to the context, when I talk with friends I tend to use more swear words, which must not be used in contexts such as the university.
Refering to Valencian, as I said before, I have only a few experiences during my childhood and adolescence. I have spoken this language only when I came here and I went to some shops or when I met someone who spoke Valencian as his or her first language. I did it to improve my language skills and also to integrate myself inside the city. Once I started the university, I studied again Valencian as a subject and also as the lingua franca. I had some problems at first, because I had forgotten some words, structures or rules, but after a few months I could write and speak properly again. One curious situation which happened to me during these years was that, when I said where did I come from, people thought I was not able to do it and sometimes they laugh at my accent because it sounds strange to them. It was not funny to realize that they see us as people anti-valencian or something similar.
In what concerns English, I have had some experiences during the high school. I went two different years to an English camp for two weeks with my high school and some years later, I visited the United Kingdom for two weeks when I was seventeen. During this period I lived with an English family and I talked every day to international students. After high school, I started studying some subjects in English in the university and at the beggining of the third year, I went to Germany. During six months I spoke English everyday and I improved at all because I felt the necessity of talking well to be understood by the others. In addition, I went to Newcastle, England, last year and I lived a frustrating experience. I thought I was able to talk to a native but when I tried to talk to the bus driver I realized that I could not do it. I could not understand that strange accent, I seemed a totally different language,
Finally, I wanted to talk about my few experiences with German language. They were curious because I have almost learnt it with natives. Not only in Germany, also in the center I studied teachers were native. So, when I arrived there, it was impossible to understand a single word of it but after a few weeks I started to understand the general ideas of basic conversations. I remember my first day in the university German course, which was supposed to be an A2 level, but which was much more difficult than the A2 level I studied in Valencia. We were only international students in front of German future teachers which were practicing with us and we were not able to understand anything until the end of the course. I realized how important is vocabulary when you want to learn a language, specially German, with all its articles and declinations.
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