From V8 to Roxette: my English journey

The school in Florida

It was the late ’80s.

My parents were divorced. I was living with my mom and my sister in a tiny house in a town near Buenos Aires City called Victoria, located in the northern area of Buenos Aires Province. I was quite young—just about ten years old—when I asked my mother to enroll me in an English class.

Those were difficult times. She was working as a cleaning lady in a private home, so we didn’t have much money, and we weren’t getting any help from my dad.
Still, she didn’t hesitate to look for a course. You know, moms are like superheroes when they’re in charge, and somehow, she managed to find an affordable school where I could get started.
And off I went!

I began learning English in a state-run community school in Florida, a nearby town. I had to take a bus that ran along the Panamericana Highway, and it would get me there in no more than half an hour.
I remember loving the idea of learning a second language, it became my little world. We used a book called V8, and the following year, one called Snap!. I remember reading the dialogues, looking at the drawings and pictures. I was living my own adventure.
My English books were like a window into a new world, a new and different culture.
I still remember Nick, Sam, and the dog Oliver. I also remember those imaginary English neighborhoods: detached houses, front gardens, white fences, and children playing and smiling.

A few years later, I moved to my grandmother’s house in San Fernando. My mom had bought a plot of land and was building a house for the three of us—my sister, herself, and me. While the new house was under construction, they sent me to live with my grandma temporarily.

At the time, I was in secondary school and decided I wanted to take my English lessons elsewhere. The school I had been attending in Florida, although it offered English classes, wasn’t really focused on language learning. It was more of a community center, with a wide variety of workshops: knitting, cooking, computing, painting—you name it.
So I started looking for a real language institute.

I grabbed the telephone book and checked the Yellow Pages, where people used to advertise different businesses and services. That’s when I found a private English school in San Isidro, a wealthy town near my grandma’s house. According to Wikipedia, it’s the province’s most affluent neighborhood.
I called them and asked for an appointment. I was fourteen by then. My mom said she’d also phone them to see if she could afford it. I was thrilled when she told me she could.
And that’s how I became a student at the English Cultural Centre of San Isidro. I loved going there. I remember taking a placement test, and after that, they placed me in 3rd Year Adults!

Then came 1991, a special year that would change my world forever.
I wasn’t doing so well at school. It was that time in life when you start listening to music, reading teen magazines, and daydreaming. One day, I was listening to the radio when they played the number-one song at the time: It Must Have Been Love by Roxette.
Oh my God! What a song. What a voice. I didn’t even know who she was, but I wanted to find out.
That’s how I discovered Roxette: a Swedish duo, a guy and a girl, singing in English.
I remember copying their lyrics into a notebook I had bought. I also pasted magazine cutouts with their pictures. It became my hobby.
And that’s how I became more and more interested in learning English.
I still remember those lyrics by heart.
Would you believe it?

I owe so much to my mom. She always gave me everything she could so I could become someone in life. She never let circumstances define my future, her love and strength did.

No one makes it on their own. I promise.