Entry 1


Click here to watch my video ➜  entry 1
šŸ˜ƒ Hi I’m Nicole Drake! Welcome to my first blog video entry. So, This is my last semester of college at UH and I’m very excited to pursue my dreams once I graduated. I will be graduating with my bachelors in education and I will be EC-6 certified. As for grade levels, I would love to teach 5th grade, but ever since I began student teaching with kindergartners, I became very open minded and I am very open to all grade levels. As for specific subjects, I would love to be able to teach science, but language arts would be my second passion. As you can see from my video you can quickly see that my main source of understanding the struggle of acquiring a second language was from my grandmother. Although this is currently my main source of understanding, the book pointed out some very understandable and inspiring statements. Ortega explains,” 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. But many people around the globe also do many of the same things in a language other than their own” (Ortega, 2013). I read this and thought that it makes a lot of sense and that we really do take these things for granted and not see that others accomplish great things in other languages other than their own. I thought about how my grandmother accomplished may great things in her life and career while speaking in an entirely different language from her own. Ortega also states that, “many others will be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of the additional language to fend for themselves in selected matters of daily survival, compulsory education or job-related communication” (Ortega, 2013). This is also a statement that I can connect with because I think about how my grandmother had to learn another language in order to pursue her career and dreams here in the United States. These quotes and explanations really got me thinking and pushed me to appreciate my roots a lot more. It’s all the more reason for me to feel motivated to interact with English language learners and give them a great learning experience.

References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Comments

  1. Zoe RiveraFebruary 2, 2019 at 4:59 PM

    Hello Nicole! I enjoyed watching your video. I am also in my last semester and I cannot wait to graduate! The struggle and accomplishments your grandmother went through along with others, sort of intensifies for me when you think of what Ortega said at the beginning of the book, “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). Imagine suddenly being in a world where no one understands what you’re saying, and you cannot even communicate the smallest things. ELL’s go through that every day and their ability to learn a completely different language, especially at an older age is not easy feat.

    Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicoleFebruary 10, 2019 at 5:06 PM

      Hi Zoe! Thank you for taking the time to watch my video and listen to my grandmother story. I like how you mentioned to imagine a world where no one understands your language. That’s something that everyone should think about and try to understand how an immigrant person might feel in a foreign country. That’s why educators should understand student’s backgrounds and never assume that it should be easy for anyone to immerse into a completely new culture or society. That’s why it’s important to read the text and see the connections made. As a future educator, you have to understand that you are going to be surrounded by students from various backgrounds.

      Delete
  2. Caroline LopezFebruary 3, 2019 at 10:40 AM

    Hi Nicole, I enjoyed watching your video and along with the reflection. Thank you for sharing a bit of what your grandmother went through when she first came here to the states. I liked how you made reference to when Ortega talked about how individuals will usually have to learn a new language of some sorts to get by, just as though your grandmother did. What I had also read in the text was “as children grow older and their life circumstances diversify, different adolescents and adults will embark on very different kinds of literacy practice and use language for widely differing needs.” (Ortega, 2013, p.4). As we grow up, we start to pick up words, phrases, or the entirety of a language. With that, we use that to help us get by in certain situations. Such as, speaking to someone in Spanish, going to a French restaurant, etc. Languages help us get by and be able to engage with new individuals. This is why it is also important that when possible to pick up on certain parts when possible.

    Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HolliFebruary 10, 2019 at 12:03 PM

      Hi Caroline,

      I also found that part in the textbook interesting and can somewhat relate to it. I spent years working in the service industry, and many employees did not speak English. This made it very hard to communicate since there was a language barrier between us. We quickly learned job-related phrases in each other’s languages out of necessity. Ortega (2013) states that people “will be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of the additional language to fend for themselves in selected matters of daily survival, compulsory education or job-related communication” (p. 1). This situation where my coworkers and I had to learn phrases from our native language reminds me of the statement made by Ortega.

      Ortega, Lourdes. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

      Delete
    2. NicoleFebruary 10, 2019 at 4:57 PM


      Hi Caroline! Thank you for listening and responding to my blog entry! I’m glad you enjoyed listening to my grandmothers’ story and agreed with my connection to the text. It truly is a real struggle for those individuals who have to learn a new language to survive in a foreign country. I’ve always admired my grandmother for that reason and have told plenty of people her story. This story not only motivates but pushes people to realize the harsh realities of being an immigrant in a foreign country. Once you completely immerse yourself in another country, you start to learn about their culture and their way of living. I believe this is the best way to pick up on a foreign language by completely immersing yourself within it.

      Delete
  3. HolliFebruary 3, 2019 at 10:41 AM

    Hi Nicole! I admire you for working in kindergarten! I couldn’t do it. My content area is ELA 4-8. I know there are people who feel the same about middle school, and I think it’s so interesting that we all have our preferences!

    I find it fascinating that your grandmother spoke 5 languages! That’s amazing! After reading Ortega’s chapter about age, do you think learning another language concurrently with English would have affected your acquisition of English? I know there is conflicting research according to Ortega. Some people believe that bilingualism affects language activation and dominance across all age levels. Since you have had some exposure to multiple languages in your childhood, I’m curious what your thoughts are about this research.

    References:
    Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicoleFebruary 10, 2019 at 4:44 PM

      Hi Holli! Thank you for taking the time to watch my video and give a response. It’s great to get the chance to interact with other student teachers that are teaching in higher-grade levels. It gives me the chance to see a whole new perspective upon things. In response to you question, I believe it would’ve been more difficult for me to learn English and still maintain my native language at the same time. I think that learning multiple areas of content at once is difficult for anyone and It’s something that requires hard work to achieve. If you don’t have the right motivation and the right mindset, it might be difficult for you to accomplish. After listening to stories about the amazing teacher ELL students received, I believe this has a huge significance upon that accomplishment. Despite the environmental influences, there are circumstances where people taught languages on their own time which is very admirable in my eyes.

      Delete
  4. CherylFebruary 12, 2019 at 6:37 PM

    Hi Nicole, I enjoyed listening to your story. I think its pretty cool that your grandmother knows 5 different languages. I can burly handle two. Similar to your grandmother, I also struggled learning a new language. I was constantly picked on by my own relatives. Her decision to minimalize the struggle for you, is what I intend to do with my own daughter. However I do let her be exposed to Spanish, because I would love for her to embrace the language slowly and gradually. Ortega mention that it is never to late to try to learn a new language. Maybe in the near future you will also take on the challenge of learning more languages, so that you can then share with others your learning adventure.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Entry 2

Hi! Click→  here to watch my video!šŸ’• In this video, I interviewed my boyfriend, Sergio who is 24 years old. After listening to his feedback about learning English as his second language, I found out some new things about him that I didn’t know about before. Growing up speaking only Spanish in his household seemed to not conflict much with his journey to learn English. According to the interview, he learned mostly from his peers around him not just in the academic setting, but outside school as well. This meant that he learned English in a more naturalistic manner. In the text, Ortega explains,” naturalistic learners learn the L2 through informal opportunities in multicultural neighborhoods, schools and workplaces, without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language they are learning” (Ortega, 2013). Although he did learn in a more naturalistic way, that does not mean there was no exposure in his academic setting. He explains that his teacher would...
Read more

Entry 3

 To watch my video click ⇛ here šŸ’“ For my third blog entry, I decided to interview my mentor teacher Mrs. Ortiz. As you can see from the interview, Mrs. Ortiz has quite the experience being an educator. Teaching for almost 20 years really gives you a wide variety of teaching experiences. In my interview, she discusses the techniques she used in her classroom and experiences she has had teaching ELL students. When I asked her the question regarding motivation and how it affects ELLs in the classroom, she had a really great response. She explained that the best thing to do is make sure they are comfortable in their learning environment. She would find ways to make sure that all her students felt safe and secure in the classroom, which connects with their willingness to learn. Ortega explains, “ students who perceived their teachers to be controlling showed noticeably less intrinsic motivation” (Ortega, 2013). By showing students that their classroom has fl...
Read more