Course Introduction Video
Hello!! This is my course introduction video.
Vlog Entry 2: Interview with an English Language Leaner
Hello! As stated in the video above, I am only able to require an audio version of the interview. The mp3 should be in decent quality to listen to, but just in case, please turn your volume up for it. > Interview link < For this Vlog entry, I decided to interview one of my fifth-grade students, Zaif. As he stated in the audio clip, Zaif has only been learning English for one year. For the majority of his life, he has been speaking and reading in Urdu. When I asked him what the hardest part of learning English for him was, he stated that it was writing. I find this to be understandable, as compared to reading or listening, writing requires people to create words from their own knowledge. He has trouble with spelling or putting things into his own words. However, he says that socializing with his friends and peers allows him to learn new words that he can put to use in his every day life. I believe that Zaif learns the most English when socializi...
Hi Sophia!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your video, it was nice getting to know you a little better. I am also an EC- 6 generalist. I wonder how different fifth grade might be than the grade I am in, Kindergarten, I assume very. I admire your passion to work with older grade levels because I have always felt like my heart is in the primary grades. According to Ortega, Second language acquisition is the scholarly field of inquiry that investigates the human capacity to learn languages other than the first, during late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood (Ortega, 2013, 6). To me, both the primary and upper level grades are equally important and can be used to evaluate one's growth in a language. I have noticed though, with Kindergarten that they do struggle learning English when they are ELL's a lot. I wonder if that gets easier as their cognitive level grows and they grow older or if it simply remains the same. Thank you for sharing your video and experience with us!
Ortega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
DeleteHello Marina!
Thank you for watching my video! I'm sure that the experiences that we go through as a fifth grade student teacher and a kindergarten teacher are very different. Although they are both elementary school levels, their development is vastly different. Working with older kids was an unexpected outcome, but I became very fond of it! I thought that at a younger age, students would have an easier time learning a language. As a 5th grade student teacher, I've seen students struggling to remember vocabulary and reading comprehension, so I'm sure that learning a language no matter how old they get. Even as I am learning a language myself, I struggle with many aspects of it.
Hey Sophia! You might of not have enjoyed going to Chinese school every Sunday as a kid, but the fact that your parents did that inspires me as a parent with my own child. If only there was Arabic school, I would enroll my daughter as well so that she could know the Arabic language better! A lot of what you said made me think of myself and my upbringing because my parents spoke Arabic and English with me and so I see Arabic as my second language. Also, whenever we would travel to Palestine or speak to older Palestinians who only speak Arabic, I would have to be able to speak the language with them in order to communicate with them. I almost fluently understand the language, but speaking it, I'm only okay. You talked about how learning the Chinese culture motivated you to learn more and made you want to understand the language along with the culture. Well Ortega said "Language is one of the most uniquely human capacities that our species possesses, and one that is involved in all others, including consciousness, sociality and culture." (Ortega, 2013, 18) I couldn't agree more with that statement and how you said that culture goes along side with language. I think it is motivating to learn a language that way. Thank you for the video!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition.
Hi Kirstie! Thanks for sharing your experience with me! I definitely did not enjoyed it, but I agree; I'm very grateful that they ended up making me go in the end, as because of them, I can stay fluent and connected to my culture as well. I think that it's great that your parents spoke both Arabic and English to you. Because of that, you can interact with other people who speak Arabic and learn from them as well! Learning about my culture definitely played a huge part with why I learned to love the language as well.
DeleteHi Sophia! I thoroughly enjoyed watching your introduction video! I think it is really awesome that you can speak Chinese and you are in the process of learning Japanese! This will definitely be an advantage for you when you get into the school setting because they need translators. Especially since there are so many students who learn two languages simultaneously at home. Ortega (2013) states that “‘bilingual acquisition’ or ‘multilingual acquisition’ refer[s] to the process of learning two or more languages relatively simultaneously during early childhood – that is, before the age of four.” (p. 4) and with you being able to speak multiple languages, you can definitely help students and their parents feel heard. I look forward to continuing to learn through this class together! Thank you for sharing your video with us!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Megan! Thanks for your comment! Learning these languages has been a great help to me, as it taught me the viewpoint of learning a new language as well as learning how to teach a new language to someone. This is especially important to me because my main goal as of now is to enter the JET Program, which is a cultural exchange program with Japan that involves teaching English in Japan. I really hope that my experiences can help me get through the process and application! I definitely think that it will also help me with ELL experiences in America as well.
DeleteHi Sophia! I enjoyed watching video. Your story is interesting on how you learned the languages you speak. That's so good that you are trying to learn a 3rd language. According to she Ortega mentioned that “in some parts of our world, most children grow up speaking one language only.” (Pg. 3) Thats great that you are able to learn 2 languages and still adding to it. I see in your video you mention you did not take Chinese school as serious as you should have, I get you on that because growing up I took classes for Spanish h in school and I wish I would have payed attention more that way my Spanish can be better.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hey Elyse and Sophia!
DeleteI also did not take Spanish seriously in middle and high school and I wish I had because it would be helpful for me as an educator. I think the main reason we did not take those classes seriously was because they were taught in a very structured way. I remember learning the correct grammar and sentence structure in Spanish and while it is important, it was not very engaging. I personally liked it when my teachers gave my classmates and I authentic tasks to complete in Spanish such as having conversations, watching shows/movies in Spanish, role playing, etc. and I wish language teachers did that more often.
Hi Elyse! Thank you for your comment! It's unfortunate that I can't dedicate as much time as I want to in learning Japanese, so I've been improving very slowly. I hope that when we graduate, I will be able to spend more time on it. I'd definitely love to learn more languages if I can. Improving Chinese is also one of my goals; as I said in my video, I didn't take it seriously until later on, and now there aren't many chances to improve. I hope that you can spend some time improving your Spanish as well!
DeleteHi Kani! Thanks for your comment! Spanish is definitely something that can assist you as an educator, especially if you decide on staying in Houston to teach! I agree that in classes, it can be very structured and may not be engaging sometimes. I was fortunate that in the years that I took Japanese in high school, my teacher tried to engage us in many different ways. Unfortunately, that only lasted up until the end of my sophomore year as he became busy with other obligations. I hope that you find some chances to improve your Spanish!
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