Hi Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video and I want to teach the primary grades too! I understand where your coming from too, it was really hard for me to learn English too. It took me four years to learn and I remember that the other kids in ESL class would only be in the class for two years. According to Ortega “the individuals learning an additional language are still young children when they start acquiring the L2” (Ortega, 2013, 4), I think it is very weird that it took us a while to learn English even though our age should have made it easier. I would like to see more research on people that learn English in three years or more to see what the difference is between people that learn it quickly and people that are a bit more slow.
Hey Karen and Lauren! I personally think that there are other factors that impact the learning of L2 besides age. Such factors can be the environment and support received. This can go anywhere from providing opportunities to practice L2 to correcting sentence structure and pronunciation. I say this because my teachers in elementary school encouraged me to speak English even when I could not speak it correctly. They created a safe environment in which I felt comfortable speaking and that helped me learn the sentence structure and vocabulary.
Hello Laura and Kanwal, I hope you guys are enjoying this semester. I think another reason it took me so long to learn English is that use to only talk Spanish with all my friends, so I never really practice speaking English. It was not instill later on that I was the only Spanish speaking students that I was force the practice speaking English. How was your experience Laura?
Hi Karen! I’m really glad that you stuck with your education major. It’s so rewarding when you find a grade and subject that you love to teach. It makes teaching so much more enjoyable for you and your students. I think your struggle to learn English when you came from Venezuela at 8 years old can be explained through our book. According to Ortega, “SLA researchers compared children and adults’ L2 learning rate in second language environments, the findings unexpectedly were suggestive of an advantage for adults over children” (Ortega, 2013, 16). So if you want to go ahead and learn that third language, I think you would have better luck as an adult.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello Jordin, thank you for your comment. Yes I am really happy I decided to continue education, I will be happy teaching young children every day. I hopefully I do get a chance to learn a third language after graduating, I hope I will have more time to learn one more language.
Hello Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video. Sharing your story of learning English is one that I believe many people and your future students will be able to relate to. You spoke in your video about having a difficulty learning English and it reminded me of a section in our reading. According to Ortega (2013), " We all tend to think that children pick up languages speedily and effortlessly. Like many apparently undeniable truths (e.g. the earth does look very flat to our plain eyes, after all!), this assertion was questioned once it was submitted to systematic investigation" (Ortega, p. 16). This could possibly be due to sensitive periods in second language acquisition. Thank you for sharing your story!
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello Rachel, Thank you for your comment. I did had a difficult time learning English but I had wonderful teacher helping me. I hope I can help and support my ELL students just like I teachers did with me.
Hello Karen. I definitely agree that when you have a wonderful teacher, it can make all the difference in our learning. Courses like this help educate us in hopes that soon we will be able to support our ELL students as well. According to Gass & Selinker(2008),"the field of second language learning is old and new at the same time"(preface XV). This suggests that we should always be lifelong learners in order to support our students.
Gass, S., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Hi Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video. It is really cool that you are originally from Venezuela, and I liked hearing your story about how it was learning English. I can only imagine how hard it must be to learn a totally new language like that. In the reading, Ortega mentions that "the bulk of language is acquired between 18 months and three to to four years of age", and this could have been a reason learning a new language for you was a little difficult (2013, p. 4). I believe that experiences like this will help you become a better teacher, because you will be able to connect with your ELL and ESL students this way. You have personally experienced what it is like to be in their shoes and you have come a long way. Thanks for sharing!
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello, thank you for your comment, I really hope my experience will help my students. It was difficult to learn but I did had great teachers that supported me during those times. I hope I can support my student in learning English just like my teachers did to me.
Hi Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video and I want to teach the primary grades too! I understand where your coming from too, it was really hard for me to learn English too. It took me four years to learn and I remember that the other kids in ESL class would only be in the class for two years. According to Ortega “the individuals learning an additional language are still young children when they start acquiring the L2” (Ortega, 2013, 4), I think it is very weird that it took us a while to learn English even though our age should have made it easier. I would like to see more research on people that learn English in three years or more to see what the difference is between people that learn it quickly and people that are a bit more slow.
ReplyDeleteHey Karen and Lauren!
DeleteI personally think that there are other factors that impact the learning of L2 besides age. Such factors can be the environment and support received. This can go anywhere from providing opportunities to practice L2 to correcting sentence structure and pronunciation. I say this because my teachers in elementary school encouraged me to speak English even when I could not speak it correctly. They created a safe environment in which I felt comfortable speaking and that helped me learn the sentence structure and vocabulary.
Hello Laura and Kanwal, I hope you guys are enjoying this semester. I think another reason it took me so long to learn English is that use to only talk Spanish with all my friends, so I never really practice speaking English. It was not instill later on that I was the only Spanish speaking students that I was force the practice speaking English. How was your experience Laura?
DeleteHi Karen! I’m really glad that you stuck with your education major. It’s so rewarding when you find a grade and subject that you love to teach. It makes teaching so much more enjoyable for you and your students. I think your struggle to learn English when you came from Venezuela at 8 years old can be explained through our book. According to Ortega, “SLA researchers compared children and adults’ L2 learning rate in second language environments, the findings unexpectedly were suggestive of an advantage for adults over children” (Ortega, 2013, 16). So if you want to go ahead and learn that third language, I think you would have better luck as an adult.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello Jordin, thank you for your comment. Yes I am really happy I decided to continue education, I will be happy teaching young children every day. I hopefully I do get a chance to learn a third language after graduating, I hope I will have more time to learn one more language.
DeleteHello Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video. Sharing your story of learning English is one that I believe many people and your future students will be able to relate to. You spoke in your video about having a difficulty learning English and it reminded me of a section in our reading. According to Ortega (2013), " We all tend to think that children pick up languages speedily and effortlessly. Like
ReplyDeletemany apparently undeniable truths (e.g. the earth does look very flat to our plain eyes, after all!), this assertion was questioned once it was submitted to systematic investigation" (Ortega, p. 16). This could possibly be due to sensitive periods in second language acquisition. Thank you for sharing your story!
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello Rachel, Thank you for your comment. I did had a difficult time learning English but I had wonderful teacher helping me. I hope I can help and support my ELL students just like I teachers did with me.
DeleteHello Karen. I definitely agree that when you have a wonderful teacher, it can make all the difference in our learning. Courses like this help educate us in hopes that soon we will be able to support our ELL students as well. According to Gass & Selinker(2008),"the field of second language learning is old and new at the same time"(preface XV). This suggests that we should always be lifelong learners in order to support our students.
DeleteGass, S., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Karen! I really enjoyed watching your video. It is really cool that you are originally from Venezuela, and I liked hearing your story about how it was learning English. I can only imagine how hard it must be to learn a totally new language like that. In the reading, Ortega mentions that "the bulk of language is acquired between 18 months and three to to four years of age", and this could have been a reason learning a new language for you was a little difficult (2013, p. 4). I believe that experiences like this will help you become a better teacher, because you will be able to connect with your ELL and ESL students this way. You have personally experienced what it is like to be in their shoes and you have come a long way. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello,
Deletethank you for your comment, I really hope my experience will help my students. It was difficult to learn but I did had great teachers that supported me during those times. I hope I can support my student in learning English just like my teachers did to me.