Hello,
My name is Melissa Giron and I am currently a senior at the University of Houston. I am graduating this May with a bachelors in Education specializing in early childhood through sixth grade. In the near future I would like to teach the younger kids and then eventually maybe teach high school once I have more experience in the field. I am currently in a second grade classroom teaching math and science. I was delighted once I found out I was going to be in a second grade classroom teaching my favorite subjects. Both of my parents are Salvadorian so I grew up in a Spanish speaking home. I do not recall going to head start so once I got to prekindergarten I was placed in bilingual classes up until second/third grade. I do remember struggling but luckily I was exposed to English at home not because of my parents but because of my three older sisters whom were already in middle school. After being in bilingual classes it was a big transition for me to go from bilingual to fully English classes. Learning a second language can be difficult for some, but with practice and with the help of a teacher one can improve their English linguistic skills. I do consider myself fluent in both English and Spanish and I am glad I had some great teachers that made learning a second language easier for me.
Link: https://youtu.be/5yB0S6sOniM
Hi Melissa, thank you for sharing your blog. I really enjoyed watching your video. I think it is great that you are fluent in both English and Spanish and know what it is like to learn English in school because you can relate to your current and future students. As stated by Ortega “Despite the daunting linguistic variety, however, all languages, no matter how different from each other they may seem (Arabic from American Sign Language from Chinese from English from Spanish from Swahili), share fundamental commonalities…” (Ortega p. 2). I think due to your experience of Spanish being your first language you can impact so many of your students and share your experience with learning English secondly despite any language they may speak. In addition, you can always incorporate different languages and activities in your classroom to welcome all different kinds of cultures. This can support your beliefs on keeping students remembering their roots and could be a fun way for everyone to learn about each other. Would love to know if you think this is a good idea for younger ages as I am going to be certified for middle school, so I have not observed younger students.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Victoria,
DeleteThank you for taking the time to watch my video. I thought it was interesting how Ortega mentions that “whether we grow up with one, two or several languages, in most cases we will learn additional languages later in life” (2013, pg. 1). To answer your question, I definitely think that is a great idea! One way I would also incorporate different cultures in my classroom would be to have a classroom library that includes a wide range of books.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hi Melissa! I really enjoyed watching your video. I am so glad to hear that you had teachers that supported you through your journey of transitioning to an English only classroom. Ortega mentioned that “in some parts of our world, most children grow up speaking one language only.” (Pg. 3) So it is great that you had the chance to learn more than one language. You mentioned that you have older sister who exposed you to English, so I am sure that learning English was not as challenging for you just because you had it at home as well. Good luck on your last semester!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your video and reading about you. Like you I also didn’t grow up learning English from my parents. Instead I grew up learning English from everybody else around me who knew how to speak it, and I also became pretty fluent in both languages. I believe that this is because this applies to one of Ortega’s statements about “universal influence”. Ortega stated that there are certain things needed in order to make to learn a second language easier some of them being age, mother tongue, environment and cognition (Ortega, 2013, p. 9). It seems that mainly because of your age and your environment you were able to successfully master your second language.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge
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DeleteHey Melissa! Thanks for sharing your blog! What I enjoyed most about it is that we both think alike when it comes to keeping your roots and culture alive! In my VBlog I talked about wanting cultural books in my classroom someday so that we as a class could work together to get to know our friends in the classroom and also encourage those kids to want to learn more. I think it is great that you had older sisters to look up to and guide you when it came to the English language. Ortega said, "In some parts of our world, most children grow up speaking one language only." (Ortega, 2013, 20) and that is concerning, because just like you, I want my daughter to know our language which is Arabic and to embrace the culture and language. Thank again for the video!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge
Hi Kirstie,
DeleteThank you for commenting on my blog! I really like the idea of having cultural books in the classroom as I want the same for mine. It is concerning to know that in some parts of the world children grow speaking one language only (Ortega, 2013). It actually surprised me a lot especially since the world is becoming more diverse. I am glad we were able to agree on something.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa, I enjoyed watching your video. I also grew up speaking Spanish first but then learning English when I got into the school system. I agree with you as a students learning another language can be hard but I think the best time to it is when you are young. According to 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) I also saw in your video you mention that its sad when students lose their first language due to the school just always speaking english. I agree with you on that. I feel like that almost happen to me because I know my spanish is not as good as it used to be when I was little. I know when I become a parent I will want my children to know how to speak 2 or more languages.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge
Hi Elyse, I found your post interesting about how schools can push students to speak only English which can simultaneously reduce the amount of Spanish/native language a student speaks and can be a contributing factor of a student becoming less fluent. This is something that I want to be conscious of in my future classroom because I agree with you that it is very important to welcome all languages.
DeleteHi Elyse,
DeleteThank you for commenting on my video! I definitely would also like my children to speak two or more languages. I think it is crazy how Ortega mentions that "in some parts of our world, most children grow up speaking one language only" (2013, pg. 1). Although English is important, I do think remembering their home language is just as important. Language is everything and it is one of the ways we get to interact with our peers.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hi Melissa! I enjoyed watching your video. You are the first video I watched of someone who specifically learned Spanish first, then learned English later in school. I thought it was interesting that you showed how it was kind of difficult for you to learn English at first. This is shown in our textbook when Ortega talks about how after the age of four a second language gets harder to learn.
ReplyDelete