I remember Millbrook College - Short story by Mongolita

I remember attending classes in Millbrook College in the unforgettable place of Liverpool. I was lucky and grateful that these courses were financed by the Liverpool City Council and I received a humble remuneration for attending. I have fond memories of this city with its beautiful, warm and welcoming people.  

The aim of the course was to learn English in a year. There were about twenty young adults in the class, the majority were Chilean who couldn't speak much English. In the course of a year some of the ladies became my life-long friends. 

There were days my brain felt

like it was going to explode. I felt exhausted from listening and speaking English, eight hours a day, five days a week. Although each lesson would last forty-five minutes they seemed to last longer. I always looked forward to my coffee breaks.   

The class had one break in the morning, one in the afternoon and in between, an hour for lunch. This was the chance to rest our brains, relax and talk in our native language amongst ourselves, without having to think what to say in English. 

I remember this particular lunch-hour talking to a friend in Spanish when the head of the English as a Foreign Language Centre (EFLC), Allison Brown, walked by and heard us talking in Spanish. She disapprovingly pointed out to us, moving her index finger sideways, with a faint smile: ”No Spanish, ONLY English!” It felt like a telling off in a very polite way. So from then on, we made sure whenever we saw her passing by, we would make the effort to talk in English although, at the beginning we found the most unnatural thing to do. 

I'd been attending the course for ten months not realising how much I’d learnt, when Allison Brown told us to study for the following week for a test. We all panicked as we thought our English was not good enough. We were pleasantly surprised when the test results arrived and were of distinction standard. 

At the end of the year the whole class sat the final exam for the EFL certificate. This certificate gave me the platform to continue my studies which I had to put on hold when I left Chile. 

These exams covered the four main elements of the language, speaking, listening, reading and writing to assess the class's ability to speak it competently, to everyone's surprise we all passed with flying colours. 

The realisation of understanding English came months later whilst flicked through a magazine I could read and understand English without translating. I felt bliss and proud of such an achievement. 

I remember Alison Brown with gratitude, the fabulous English teacher who gave me the confidence and encouragement to persevere. She often said to keep practising and one day when you least expect it, English will come naturally to you, which it did!