I was fourteen years old when I heard «Hey Jude» one night on a radio broadcast, I loved the song but I didn''t understand a word of it. I really wanted to know what it was all about and this is how I decided to learn English. Six months later I was at an English language School. This was in 1987 and I have been studying English ever since. I have always been interested in words — their origin, derivation, meaning and etymology.
As part of my education I studied French as well and I found out it had so many things in common with English. It''s rather like magic to see that at a certain point all languages actually become one. I love reading fiction very much, one of my favourite writers is John Steinbeck. I admire his writing because of the rich vocabulary he uses and this is how my passion for synonyms arose. It''s amazing to see so many words which at first sight have one and the same meaning but when you start using them in sentences, in different situations, you realize that there is no such thing as total synonymity. Each and every one of them has its own ID, the same as every «Michael» or «Maria», or «John Smith» have their own identity.
I love exploring the wealth of synonyms and explaining the difference in meaning. The same goes for grammar. I love answering the question «why». This is why I prefer teaching adults to teaching children, because adults always want to know «why something is right or wrong». Since 1998 I have been teaching English to adults. Most of them start my English courses because they need the language for their job — these are mainly people working in administration, lawyers, judges, people who have business abroad, and so on. One of the problems I faced at the beginning was that they were all very busy and couldn''t follow a regular English textbook because it turned out to be too intensive for them.
I wanted my courses to be useful to them, so i wrote a special textbook which enabled them to learn the language one step at a time. The textbook is approved of by the National Agency of Vocational Training and it turned out to be exactly what my students needed. Each unit starts with grammar explanation in English and Bulgarian, a lot of examples to support the explanations and loads of exercises to consolidate them. Each subsequent unit has revision exercises along with the new knowledge. This is very important because adults are usually busy at work and at home and they hardly ever have time to study for the next English class.
This kind of teaching and studying takes a longer time but I am lucky to have very determined, strong-willed and eager students. Most of them study for at least two or three years before they take a break. Those who have already completed the courses are using the language in their work and sometimes they call me to check projects which they have done themselves. It''s my greatest reward to see that they are doing an excellent job.
Hobbies
As for hobbies, I love digital photography, especially weather photography. I love taking pictures of clouds, stormy skies, mountain scenery, faces of people and so on. I also love long distance cycling and I tour around Bulgaria on my bike, especially the lovely pine mountains.
Now you can take my ESL/EFL tests
English Synonyms, Elementary Level
Synonym Finder, Intermediate level
Synonyms Lessons, Advanced Level
You can see my profile in ESL Forum
Daniela from Bulgaria / ESL Forum Member
