Hello all! (-:
First of all, I would like to say that I have really
enjoyed taking this Second Language Acquisition class with you all! This course
has taught me so many amazing things in the little time allotted (this semester
went by so fast). I learned from my friend Albagir during his interview that his
young age made a huge difference in his acquisition to English. If he would not
have learned English between the ages 4 and 10, he said it would have been much
more difficult to learn. I also learned a lot from the interview with my cousin
Denise who mentions that as long as Second Language Learners are exposed to
meaningful and supportive instruction, they will be motivated and encouraged to
be successful. Reading the textbooks by Ortega and Gass as well as being a part
of these interviews has shown me that a lot of what we have read links up to
real world processes that English Language Learners as well as ESL teachers
must go through. Being motivated as a young child to learn a second language
must be difficult but I have seen it happen time and time again. If I had to
change anything about how this course could be more productive in the future
are very small, nit-picky things, such as: put an exact date on the syllabus of
when assignments are due (e.g. Sunday, 4/8/2018, by 11:59pm) and/or let
students know that there is a free pdf versions of the textbooks online before
they buy them so they can save some extra money.
Secondly, developing our blogs throughout the semester
was such a fun and interesting way to share our assignments so that not only Dr.
Avellaneda could see them, but my classmates could see them as well. I believe
these blogs played a huge role in the learning process for everyone because we
got to share our ideas and bounce off real world experiences that were connected
to the theories we’ve learned. I definitely learned so much more by creating
and sharing my blog entries because I got to see what my classmates thought about
my individual findings and I could compare mine to theirs. Especially because
this was an online class and we never saw each other face to face, this was a
great way to create a community with everyone in the class. It helped us to re-connect
with old friends as well as create new ones.
Lastly, this class has really helped me to open my
eyes and to realize that teachers play a huge role in a students’ second or
additional language acquisition. Teachers-in-formation, like you and me, might
not have realized before this class that English Language Learners depend on
their teachers for a lot, including motivation, a safe environment, a role
model, and the list can go on. As future teachers, it is our job to prepare
ourselves with this course in order to be ready for our students who are
learning a second language. This class has helped me to see that my professional
teaching philosophy will be aimed towards providing my students with meaningful
instruction that is differentiated towards their second language acquisition.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this class! Feel free to leave any comments! (-:
