Entry 1: Course Introduction
Melissa Gomez's Blog
Welcome to the first entry of my blog!
Welcome to the first entry of my blog!
My name is Melissa Gomez, I was born and raised in Houston,
Texas. My mother was born in the United States and my father was born in
Mexico. They are both fluent in both English and Spanish, however, I am only
fluent in English. I do speak a limited amount of Spanish. The primary language
practiced at home was English, but I was able to pick up Spanish through other
outlets. First, my Spanish speaking skills improved after spending summers in
Mexico with my grandparents. Ortega (2013) mentioned that many are forced by
life circumstances to learn enough of the additional language to fend for
themselves in selected matters of daily survival. This is a concept I am very
familiar with as this how I managed learning Spanish in Mexico. It felt as
though I was forced to learn in order to get by and communicate. I think many
can relate to being put in these types of situations. I also learned Spanish
through my high school Spanish classes. These classes were not always helpful
as many of my teachers were more concerned with their students completing a
certain number of worksheets rather that ensuring they were actually learning.
Nonetheless, my Spanish has improved overtime. Like anything else, the more I
practice it, the more I see development. I hope to develop my skills in this language
even further as there is always room for improvement. I hope to eventually
become a fluent Spanish speaker and form a deeper connection with my culture.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition.
London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Video link: https://youtu.be/0cfsgrzRU3I
Thank you for watching my video!
Esta clase puede ser una buena oportunidad para seguir mejorando sus habilidades en español ya que siempre podemos aprender más, particularmente porque la motivación para aprender un idioma tiene mucho que ver con la necesidad o las oportunidades para usarlo. I wonder how proficient you are in reading and writing in Spanish and how you find the opportunities and motivation to work on these skills since you are not taking any classes in Spanish. One of the hardest part about keeping and improving our languages is finding the time and the desire to make them grow.
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa, so great to meet you!
ReplyDeleteI can relate with you regarding taking Spanish classes in high school. I simply took the class to complete my foreign language credit in order to graduate, and retained very little knowledge from those class. There are some teachers that teach to test and there are teachers that teach for student knowledge. And they deal with a lot obstacles including unmotivated students, and debates about "...whether students in their classrooms need to be directly taught grammar
and vocabulary in order to get the basic building blocks of a language
first, or whether it is better to somehow approximate in their classroom
the richness of natural language meaning-making processes...(Ortega, 2011, pg. 8)."
This is all the more reason for us to dive deeper into SLA; to apply our findings to enrich future students' education.
Hi Vivian! Like you and Melissa, I too took Spanish classes in high school to simply earn my foreign language credits. I didn’t learn much Spanish those two years I took it which as a future educator is saddening. According to Ortega (2011), effective instruction varies and include communicative language teaching, task-based curriculum, content-based instruction as well as focus on form instruction. With so many different teaching methods for language students taking foreign language should be learning more than what we three did.
DeleteHi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI found it very ironic when you said once your parents got accustomed to speaking the English language, that is all they spoke within your household. That as well happened in my family. However, I had the privilege to learn Spanish before my mom started learning English. Once my mom started learning English, that is the only language she started speaking in our household. My siblings then came after and never really had the opportunity to learn Spanish. They only picked up on a few phrases when we would visit our family in Mexico. Kind of like you. In conclusion, I'm hoping the Spanish course you will be taking this semester will be helpful for you. I as well will be taking a language this semester, which is French. The language will be very new to me and I am not sure how easily and how quickly it will be to learn. However, according to Ortega "research has shown that adult learners and older children learned at a faster pace than younger children (Ortega, 2013, p 16)." So maybe it won't be that difficult, but we will find out.
References: Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Priscilla,
DeleteI think it is interesting that you said your parents spoke predominately English after they were already fluent in another language. So many comments and replies say the opposite. It is a good opportunity that you will be learning French. You will be multilingual. (Having L1, L2, and an L3). Your languages will be an asset to you in any field of work. You fit what Ortega refers to when he says, “In fact, whether we grow up with one, two or several languages, in most cases we will learn additional languages later in life” (Ortega, 2011, p.1). I do think you were very fortunate to have grown up in an environment where you were able to learn more than one language.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Hi Priscilla, Ortega mentions that most learners learn another language through a mix of instructional and naturalistic experiences, which makes me wonder how your parents learned English. My mom first learned through her interaction with her coworkers, but then she enrolled into Houston Community College and that was when her English became more proficient. My father on the other hand, only learned the basics through his interaction with his co workers and some with my siblings and I. I wonder how the experiences of which our parents learn English affect which language they decide to speak more of at home.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
Priscilla,
DeleteIt is great to hear you were able to learn Spanish from your mom before she became a fluent English speaker. Being bilingual definitely presents numerous opportunities and can be extremely helpful. Ortega states, “In many parts of the globe, most children grow up speaking two or more languages simultaneously” (Ortega, 2013, p4). It seems that you fall into the majority, children that grow up peaking more than one language. Hopefully this is something that will help future generations in your family.
Hi Melissa -
ReplyDeleteI see how you primarily encountered SLA, which according to Ortega (2011) “investigates additional language learning in late childhood, adolescence or adulthood and focuses on the pathways towards becoming competent in the second language” (p.10). It is an interesting situation to be in between bilingualism and SLA, whereas you experienced some Spanish L2 learning from visiting with your grandparents. I have seen myself that it really helps to pick up on a language by being in a situation where Spanish is the only language around you. A lot of us have shared that high school learning experiences have been less than satisfactory and I would like to look further into that and see what makes a quality adolescent and adult SLA experience.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteEven though both of your parents speak both Spanish and English, English was the only language used in your household therefore resulting in English being your L1. Ortega states, “language is one of the unique human capabilities used to make meaning and communicate with other fellow humans” (Ortega, 2013, p.1). Because you weren’t exposed to the language as much at home you never got to fully learn the language as a child. I like to hear that you eventually got to learn the language through more exposure through classes and your summer vacations in Mexico because I feel that learning a second language is very useful in today’s world.
References: Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Rutledge, 2013. Print.
Mackenzie,
DeleteI agree completely! Being fluent is a second language is definitely useful in today’s world. According to Ortega, I am part of the minority that is only fluent in one language. She states, “In some parts of our world, most children grow up speaking one language only. It should be underscored that this case is truly minority in the large picture of humanity, although it is the norm in many Western middle-class contexts” (Ortega, 2013, p3). Like you said, I hope to acquire a second language soon as it can be extremely beneficial.
Hi Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your video and reading your reflection! Ortega says in the textbook, "We take it for granted that all humans have the potential to accomplish all of these amazing feats in whatever language(s) they happen to grow up with." (Ortega, 2013, pg. 1) Not saying that you have taken your Spanish family for granted, but I think it was great how you were able to pick up Spanish through your other outlets and your frequent summers in Mexico. Some times I believe naturalistic ways of learning a language may be a better route for some than the instructional pathway because of how the instructional path may be dull.