Watch this video to learn more about me and my experience with another language, Hawaiian.
Reflection Originally born in the Philippines, Raphael is a twenty-one-year-old college student who has spoken not only Tagalog but also English his entire life. From my personal experiences, his family is deep within their culture and their ethnic background is fully represented in their celebrations and gatherings. The purpose of this interview was to touch on my curiosity of whether his language proficiency coincides with his cultural identity and for my classmates to take interest since Tagalog is not a popular language compared to others. To begin my interview, I firstly wanted to inform my readers about Rafael’s childhood and his experiences with language specifically. From Raphael’s responses, I could see that he learned naturalistically and was a participant of simultaneous multilingualism. According to Rowland, simultaneous multilingualism occurs when a person learns their multiple languages from birth simultaneously (2014). Rowland’s definition is supported in Raphael’s...
Hello Jordyn! I loved hearing about your ethnicity and how you feel about it. It beautiful to see future educators share where they come from. I think it is great that you feel different from your friends because of your mixed race, I think it gives you a great perspective regarding students who come from different cultures. I also think it is important for all of us to look into our cultures, where they originated from, and what language is dominant at the moment. Your history overview of Hawaii fascinated me because it showed the different people that originated there during the founding. According to Ortega (2013), the most important and well-studied sources of universal influence are age, mother tongue, environment and cognition (p. 9). This statement reminds me of your determination to learn other languages, especially the Hawaiian language when you are visiting there. Exposing yourself to others who speak the language and trying your best to repeat common phrases is a great way to improve. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi, Genesis! You are definitely right. I do feel like my multiethnic background allows me to have an open mind to people of other cultures. I am able to see the differences of the cultures I am made up with as well as compare my cultures to others. Thank you for watching! I hope you learned a little more about my homeland.
DeleteI was inspired by all the knowledge that you have about where you come from! I think that it will definitely inspire your students to be proud of their ethnicity and culture, and may also inspire them to share where they are from. It is so important that we make our students feel comfortable in the classroom and sharing about ourselves can do that. You’ll do wonderful!
DeleteJordyn: Thank you for your informative video and the opportunity you gave us to learn about your home country and its history. It must be amazing to grow up in a diverse household and being exposed to different languages. How has the age at what you began learning the different languages impacted your competence in them? Do you agree with Ortega (2013, p. 12) about the critical period? If so, can you cite some examples of your own learning experience?
ReplyDeletePlease tell us more about your interest in foreign language aptitude. Do you believe that some people are more apt to learn a foreign language that others? Have you read any articles about it?
Hello, Dr. Avellaneda. In regards to the different languages I have been exposed to and the age I began learning them, I think I learned quicker in my younger age. The beginning years of life are absolutely crucial to young children. This is the time where they are constantly soaking in new information and behaviors. This scientific pattern, I believe, is the reason why I was able to grow more competent in the language quickly. Now, if I tried to learn Hawaiian now, it would be a lot harder for me to catch on to the style and flow of the language. Even though I do notice individuals who pick up new languages quickly when previously exposed to other languages earlier in their lives, I do believe everyone has the same capability of learning a foreign language. I necessarily have not read an article about the capability of learning a foreign language but I do consistently see videos of one young girl in particular that is a great example. There is a young girl who is deaf that fluently learned Hawaiian by herself. People learn new languages at their own pace and in their own way and I have no doubt that everyone is capable of learning a new language if they are driven and motivated to learn.
DeleteHi Jordyn! Watching your video was really amazing, I loved hearing you talk about the multiple cultures and ethnicities that your family comes from, it was really beautiful and amazing. In your video you mentioned how you learned Hawaiian naturalistically and I would most definitely agree with you as naturalistic learners “learn the L2 through informal opportunities in multicultural neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces” (Ortega, 2009). I was wondering if you had any interest in further learning the Hawaiian language more instructionally, or if that is hard to do if you are not in Hawaii? I also feel like because of how well traveled you are and your multi-ethnic background, will allow you to empathize with students who are also from different cultures and may be struggling with the English language. As someone who has first hand knowledge of how difficult it may be sometimes to learn a new language, or only know certain phrases and sentences, you will be able to connect with your students who are starting to acquire their second language.
ReplyDeleteHi, Devin! Thank you for commenting on my post. As for learning Hawaiian instructionally, I am sure there are ways for me to learn the language instructionally in another state. There are not that many resources like there are for Spanish online. It is best to learn the language from another person but there are many Native Hawaiian speakers on the west coast in California, Washington, and Oregon. I, too, hope my knowledge of cultures can impact my students.
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