IF you have just started learning English in your junior year in high school here in Spain, then be good at it. For learning English can really make you competitive once you enter university by the time you have graduated in high school. Out there in the university, there are lots of subjects which are taken in English simply because it’s the only way to be competitive globally. I mean, you certainly cannot migrate to Canada and work as a civil engineer there if you are learning civil engineering in a Spanish university only in Spain. Practicality is definitely the name of the game.

So this early, start being serious in learning your English. Don’t settle for a passing grade but maximize your learning of the stuff instead. There are indeed lots of things you can do to maximize your learning English. Log in to the Internet for example and read articles in English. You may also want to chat so you can practice your English skills more. There are lots of platforms to chat. There’s mIRC. There’s Yahoo! Messenger. There’s Windows Live Messenger. Or, for those who love a bit of excitement, there’s gaming sites where you can chat and have one to one English classes with your fellow competitors, playing poker online for example.

One degree that is certainly feasible to take in college if you are in Spain nowadays is in economics. After all, it is not just Spain but the whole financial world in Europe that is constantly monitoring economic events in the United States whose imminent recession due to the collapse of the mortgage market has been prevented by the constant Federal Reserve rate cut and Congress’s passage of a tax break scheme. And while studying economics for eight academic semesters at the Universidad de Madrid, why not surf through the English business channels in your television. Notable among these business channels are Bloomberg and CNBC. You will surely learn a lot. And on the side, you may want to browse CNNMoney.com, the world’s most comprehensive financial news website. If your dad has a monthly subscription of Fortune, then read its contents religiously to hone your English skills and merge them with your passion in the field of economics. On Bloomberg, you will chance upon really good content accidentally. While writing this article, I’m watching Bloomberg for example and right now, the one interviewed on screen is none other than Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. The guy was awesome during the interview. He was so confident, upbeat and bullish about the current writers’ strike in Hollywood that has little effect on his business simply because the TV stations under Viacom’s fold are not major networks. He also says that he is continuing a healthy professional relationship with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen through the company they own, Dreamworks Pictures.

If you aim to become an environmentalist, then watching the Discovery Channel is a must. Last night, I was watching a documentary about prehistoric sea species millions of years before man came. There were giant scorpions and fish with soft backbones. The documentary was awesome.