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Entry 1: Introduction

Hello everyone!

On vacation to Flat Iron Mountain, Boulder, Colorado

My name is Ila Hyams, and I am a senior at UH, a member of the Honors College, and currently working on my senior thesis in Classroom Diversity.

One of the focuses of my paper is in language diversity among students, especially in middle school. Coming from a monolingual household, Ortega makes valid and accurate points on the type of environment this is and the consequences it has on children (2013). Specifically, I felt a pull to the idea that student motivation directly ties to their ability to speak a second-language (Ortega, 2013).

As a future educator, this idea both excites and worries me. I hope to become the type of teacher that can influence my students positively, rather than create an environment that is detrimental to their development of such skills. Growing up, I was acutely aware of the type of discourse surrounding second-language speakers. Either they were discouraged from speaking their original language, or were given significantly less opportunities to do so while in an academic setting.

These reasons, as well as my own personal teaching beliefs, have led me to the conclusion that educators must take an active role in cultivating an interest in second-language acquisition in our students. Perhaps if our culture was rooted in different beliefs, this may not be a priority. However, from what I've seen as a student and as a teacher-in-training, there is a significant lack of motivation to be found concerning second-language acquisition and learning in general.

I hope that myself and all of you will strive to encourage our students to find and utilize any opportunities presented to them, especially concerning learning other languages.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2018 at 11:04 AM

    Hi Ila!
    I like your vacation picture you took in Colorado. I can relate with your point of view on how educators do not emphasize the importance of second language acquisition as much when in reality it should be a privilege to have a primary and secondary language. I feel most people underestimate it. In chapter 1, Ortega states that, “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, p. 1). That being said, when knowing a new language or learning a new second language, you start to see connections you did not notice before because every language approaches the world in a slightly different way.

    References
    Ortega, L. (2009). Introduction . In Understanding Second Language Acquisition (p. 1). London: Hodder Education.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ila HyamsJune 11, 2018 at 12:43 PM

      I completely agree Gabriela!
      I feel that, in terms of education especially, teachers are far too lax when it comes to integrating second-languages into their teaching style. It's almost as if, if you are not a Bilingual Teacher (or teaching dual language/ESL courses), then you do not need to think about other languages or cultures. I have the opportunity to visit a History class where the teacher fully integrated other languages in his class. He gave extra credit to those who used a content-related phrase in another language, and posted common phrases in the language common to the culture they were learning that week.
      Do you think other teachers can use this method in other content areas besides History or Language Arts?

      Delete

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