Your video really allows us to learn about your and your linguistic capabilities. You belong to the world of bilingual acquisition or the process of learning two or more languages relatively simultaneously during earl childhood (Ortega, 2010,p. 4). I wonder how speaking two languages has impacted your perception of the world and the learning and teaching environment. How often do you travel to the region where your second language is spoken? Are there any words or ideas that you can express in Tamil that you cannot express in English? Are you able to read and write in your second language? Have you ever volunteered to teach math in Tamil to kids?
In regards to speaking two languages and how it has impacted my perception of the world, I have never truly considered that being bilingual affects the way I view the world. Whenever I may switch between English and Tamil while doing ordinary, daily tasks, the transition from one language to another is just very natural, I do not even realize that I have shifted between languages. My family and I always try to visit India every 2 years, but I wish it was possible to visit more frequently. In fact, we went last summer for 3 weeks. It is interesting that you ask if I can express some words in Tamil but cannot express in English. The answer is yes. Sometimes referring to things in Tamil such as water, certain vegetables, container, and even bracelet, comes more naturally to me. Unfortunately, I cannot read or write in Tamil. The Tamil class was extremely challenging for me, and I did not do a a great job at studying when it was required. As for teaching Math in Tamil to children, that idea has never crossed my mind. To be honest, I do not feel confident enough to teach Math in Tamil.
Hi Maggie! Your experience with Tamil is a bit like my own with Arabic! As Ortega (2013) mentions, we will sometimes be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of a second language to get by. I think you said it too that you have learned Tamil to communicate with your family. I can't read or write Arabic either but I think it is a great skill to have and maybe you will be able to pick up where you left off. Knowing another language is so unique and useful. As I'm sure we all do, I hope we can learn how to work with students who have low English proficiency and find ways we can assist them in the classroom and to guide them to be successful with more than one language! Houston is the most diverse city and as we continue our path to become educators, this class will greatly benefit us to help our own students!
Did you start learning Arabic around a young age too? Also, I am curious to know if you only use Arabic at home to communicate with your family. My parents mostly talk to me in Tamil, but I usually respond in English. Although, sometimes they get upset and encourage me to only speak in Tamil. I think they are worried I will suddenly forget how to speak the language. You are right about Houston being a diverse city. It actually frightens me that I will not know how to help my second language learners improve upon their English proficiency skills. Hopefully this class will remove my fears, and equip me with the knowledge to help my students achieve success.
Honestly, I just kind of heard it all around me growing up so I guess I just naturally picked up on it! My parents are fluent in English and will talk to us in English and Arabic (it just depends on their mood lol). Some days I just feel like speaking Arabic so I will go on and on speaking it. But I will say that Arabic is spoken in the house every single day. I know, I guess we feel more comfortable speaking English but I encourage you to sometimes talk to them in Tamil because that is good practice for you! I know, teaching students who have low English proficiency skills worries me too, but I know we can do it! There is also a lot of help from specialists in the school that we will work in, so don't worry! You'll do great!
Hello Maggie! My mentor teacher had a similar experience with the language she learned as a child. She is also from India, but I am not sure what the language is called. We have two students from her country, who are re-teaching her the language. The kids absolutely love to " quiz the teacher." Last week was a review of the alphabet and numbers to twenty. As a monolingual learner, I found it interesting how the process of learning or relearning is all the same.
Hello, Maggie! I have never heard of the Tamil language so thank you for introducing me to it. According to Ortega (2013), a majority of people learn their language in formal and informal situations like what was mentioned about naturalistic learning and instructed learning. Even though your instructed learning experience is not as strong as your naturalistic learning, it seems like you have a well understanding of Tamil. I wonder how your language proficiency would change if did continue with the instructed learning experience. Also, I am sure with the church you attend where everyone speaks Tamil, you are able to learn more about your culture despite living in America. With my Filipino background, I am often invited to bible studies and events with Filipino Christians and I found that it strengthened my understanding of my roots. Even though schools in the Houston area need Spanish speaking teachers for the most part, I am sure your understanding of Tamil could impact the young Tamil speakers who move to the school district you will work in. Great video!
I have also found myself wondering if I would be more fluent in Tamil if I had stuck it out in Tamil class. In fact, one of my closest friends and her siblings recently enrolled in another class, and it has been amazing to see their improvement especially in their pronunciation. Have you or would you ever consider taking a Filipino class to strengthen your proficiency? Also, you are right about learning more about my culture whenever I am surrounded by my people. I could be at church, a church related event, or even a birthday party, and being exposed to that many Tamil people, I am bound to learn something new as well as have an opportunity to speak Tamil. I only ever went to school with one other Tamil speaking person, so I hope that in the near future I will be able to use my Tamil skills to help any students if need be.
The Philippines, like most places, has many different dialects on their language. I think I would consider taking a Tagalog class and would learn a lot since Tagalog is close to the Spanish language (which I have already taken years of instructional classes). Since my family focuses mainly on the Japanese and Hawaiian languages, I will have to learn more Tagalog through my friend group, my church, and my boyfriend's family. I think the experience will be very eye-opening.
Hi Maggie! Thank you for sharing your experience with learning two languages and how that has impacted your life. I am fascinated by the idea that you know even a small portion of the Tamil language. According to Ortega (2013), one of the questions of interest is how bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires. When you were learning two languages at a young age you used whichever you needed to at the moment, depending on who you were speaking to. Through your video I was able to see why knowing the Tamil language, even if it means just knowing how to have short conversations, is important to you. It is important to know how to communicate with people you care about even if it means only in short sentences. I think it is amazing that you still want to learn about the language. I believe your experience with learning two languages during childhood can help you see a different perspective regarding students who are learning a second language. Wonderful job!
Genesis, you hit it spot on. At a young age and even now as an adult, I can swiftly alternate between English and Tamil when the situation calls for it. When I begin to dwell on how I could have possibly done that at such a young age, it boggles my mind. Additionally, I do find it important to be able to communicate as much as possible with relatives who cannot speak English. Whenever I travel to India, I might make mistakes in my pronunciation of words, and I may have to ask my parents on how to say something. However, my relatives appreciate the fact that I do try, which only motivates me to continue to sharpen my speaking skills.
It is wonderful that you care about being able to communicate with your family. Your efforts with practicing and speaking Tamil shows how much you respect your ethnicity, culture, and family. Your knowledge and where you come from can inspire your students to be proud of their ethnicity and will encourage them to continue practicing and learning!
Hey Maggie! I really enjoyed watching your video, thanks for making it interesting. It’s interesting to see that you grew up in a bilingual household (Ortega, 2013) learning English and Tamil simultaneously. I on the other hand, was actually raised in a monolingual household speaking only Spanish. I really like that fact that you never stopped speaking in Tamil and continued to embrace your bilingualism all throughout your life. I wish I could say the same, but unfortunately after I began to learn English, I began to decrease my use of the Spanish language. That is why, like you, I also want a deeper understanding of language acquisition. According to Ortega (2013), effective instruction is a big debate in education and especially for those of us who plan to teach in a diverse city full of English language learners. I like to think that math is pretty universal, but we still have to provide appropriate accommodations and resources for our English language learners. It’s great to see that you have set goals for yourself in this class and I hope that we learn valuable information that we can use in our future classrooms.
Hi Angelica. I really had no choice but to embrace the Tamil language because it was all around me. I'd like to think that growing up in a bilingual household has provided me with some insight in regards to English language learners within the classroom. I hope to apply my personal experiences and the information I take away from this class in the future, so that I can effectively help my students acquire content-area knowledge, and achieve higher levels of English proficiency. Also, I am curious to know if you would say you are still a proficient speaker. The Houston area has many students whose first language is Spanish, so I do think the Spanish skills you do have will benefit you in the near future.
I would like to consider myself a proficient speaker in Spanish now, but I had to work really hard to get here. Unfortunately, I was not surrounded as much by the Spanish language after my parents learned English. There was a time where all I would speak is English, and that affected my Spanish fluency. Rowland (2014) mentions, that the type and amount of input children receive has a large effect on multilingual language development. In your case, your parents and family always continued talking to you in Tamil, which probably allowed you to keep up with language, but my parents did not do the same. Either way, I think that our experiences with our language development will help us help our future bilingual/multilingual students.
I really enjoyed hearing about your experience with Tamil. I really admire that you try so hard to communicate with all your family members even when you struggled. I grew up learning Urdu but as as the years went by I spoke it less and now I barely speak Urdu. I can understand majority of Urdu when spoken to but I feel like I am not confident enough to speak back because although I have the ability to speak it, I do struggle with grammar and expressing myself with more complex sentences. I feel like it so much easier to speak in English because it comes naturally to me. After watching and reading your comments, I really feel like I should work on improving my Urdu by trying speak it more around my relatives because I feel like I should feel proud that I know a second language. I should appreciate that I have the ability to speak more than one language because not everyone can. In addition to learning a language as a naturalistic learner, I also had experience with being an instructed learner who was taught Arabic at the private school I attended. A lot of people learn other languages through mixed learning, which is both instructed and naturalistic (Ortega,2013).
Hello Maggie! First, I want to thank you for sharing your story in dealing with two languages with us! I have never heard of the Tamil language so it was really interesting to learn more about it! Even if it is only a small amount, it is very interesting that you are able to speak and understand some of the language. I found it interesting that you started learning Tamil through your parents at first and then later through a more formal setting, even if it was small. According to Ortega (2003), most people learn additional languages from experiences that are natural and more formal experiences. I took Spanish in high school and did not bother to keep up with it, so now I can’t have even simple conversations in Spanish anymore, so I think its great that you can have even small conversations! I think you wanting to learn more Tamil is amazing!
Your video really allows us to learn about your and your linguistic capabilities. You belong to the world of bilingual acquisition or the process of learning two or more languages relatively simultaneously during earl childhood (Ortega, 2010,p. 4). I wonder how speaking two languages has impacted your perception of the world and the learning and teaching environment. How often do you travel to the region where your second language is spoken? Are there any words or ideas that you can express in Tamil that you cannot express in English? Are you able to read and write in your second language? Have you ever volunteered to teach math in Tamil to kids?
ReplyDeleteDr. Avellaneda,
DeleteIn regards to speaking two languages and how it has impacted my perception of the world, I have never truly considered that being bilingual affects the way I view the world. Whenever I may switch between English and Tamil while doing ordinary, daily tasks, the transition from one language to another is just very natural, I do not even realize that I have shifted between languages. My family and I always try to visit India every 2 years, but I wish it was possible to visit more frequently. In fact, we went last summer for 3 weeks. It is interesting that you ask if I can express some words in Tamil but cannot express in English. The answer is yes. Sometimes referring to things in Tamil such as water, certain vegetables, container, and even bracelet, comes more naturally to me. Unfortunately, I cannot read or write in Tamil. The Tamil class was extremely challenging for me, and I did not do a a great job at studying when it was required. As for teaching Math in Tamil to children, that idea has never crossed my mind. To be honest, I do not feel confident enough to teach Math in Tamil.
Hi Maggie! Your experience with Tamil is a bit like my own with Arabic! As Ortega (2013) mentions, we will sometimes be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of a second language to get by. I think you said it too that you have learned Tamil to communicate with your family. I can't read or write Arabic either but I think it is a great skill to have and maybe you will be able to pick up where you left off. Knowing another language is so unique and useful. As I'm sure we all do, I hope we can learn how to work with students who have low English proficiency and find ways we can assist them in the classroom and to guide them to be successful with more than one language! Houston is the most diverse city and as we continue our path to become educators, this class will greatly benefit us to help our own students!
ReplyDeleteHi Farah!
DeleteDid you start learning Arabic around a young age too? Also, I am curious to know if you only use Arabic at home to communicate with your family. My parents mostly talk to me in Tamil, but I usually respond in English. Although, sometimes they get upset and encourage me to only speak in Tamil. I think they are worried I will suddenly forget how to speak the language. You are right about Houston being a diverse city. It actually frightens me that I will not know how to help my second language learners improve upon their English proficiency skills. Hopefully this class will remove my fears, and equip me with the knowledge to help my students achieve success.
Honestly, I just kind of heard it all around me growing up so I guess I just naturally picked up on it! My parents are fluent in English and will talk to us in English and Arabic (it just depends on their mood lol). Some days I just feel like speaking Arabic so I will go on and on speaking it. But I will say that Arabic is spoken in the house every single day. I know, I guess we feel more comfortable speaking English but I encourage you to sometimes talk to them in Tamil because that is good practice for you! I know, teaching students who have low English proficiency skills worries me too, but I know we can do it! There is also a lot of help from specialists in the school that we will work in, so don't worry! You'll do great!
DeleteHello Maggie! My mentor teacher had a similar experience with the language she learned as a child. She is also from India, but I am not sure what the language is called. We have two students from her country, who are re-teaching her the language. The kids absolutely love to " quiz the teacher." Last week was a review of the alphabet and numbers to twenty. As a monolingual learner, I found it interesting how the process of learning or relearning is all the same.
DeleteHello, Maggie! I have never heard of the Tamil language so thank you for introducing me to it. According to Ortega (2013), a majority of people learn their language in formal and informal situations like what was mentioned about naturalistic learning and instructed learning. Even though your instructed learning experience is not as strong as your naturalistic learning, it seems like you have a well understanding of Tamil. I wonder how your language proficiency would change if did continue with the instructed learning experience. Also, I am sure with the church you attend where everyone speaks Tamil, you are able to learn more about your culture despite living in America. With my Filipino background, I am often invited to bible studies and events with Filipino Christians and I found that it strengthened my understanding of my roots. Even though schools in the Houston area need Spanish speaking teachers for the most part, I am sure your understanding of Tamil could impact the young Tamil speakers who move to the school district you will work in. Great video!
ReplyDeleteI have also found myself wondering if I would be more fluent in Tamil if I had stuck it out in Tamil class. In fact, one of my closest friends and her siblings recently enrolled in another class, and it has been amazing to see their improvement especially in their pronunciation. Have you or would you ever consider taking a Filipino class to strengthen your proficiency? Also, you are right about learning more about my culture whenever I am surrounded by my people. I could be at church, a church related event, or even a birthday party, and being exposed to that many Tamil people, I am bound to learn something new as well as have an opportunity to speak Tamil. I only ever went to school with one other Tamil speaking person, so I hope that in the near future I will be able to use my Tamil skills to help any students if need be.
DeleteThe Philippines, like most places, has many different dialects on their language. I think I would consider taking a Tagalog class and would learn a lot since Tagalog is close to the Spanish language (which I have already taken years of instructional classes). Since my family focuses mainly on the Japanese and Hawaiian languages, I will have to learn more Tagalog through my friend group, my church, and my boyfriend's family. I think the experience will be very eye-opening.
DeleteHi Maggie! Thank you for sharing your experience with learning two languages and how that has impacted your life. I am fascinated by the idea that you know even a small portion of the Tamil language. According to Ortega (2013), one of the questions of interest is how bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires. When you were learning two languages at a young age you used whichever you needed to at the moment, depending on who you were speaking to. Through your video I was able to see why knowing the Tamil language, even if it means just knowing how to have short conversations, is important to you. It is important to know how to communicate with people you care about even if it means only in short sentences. I think it is amazing that you still want to learn about the language. I believe your experience with learning two languages during childhood can help you see a different perspective regarding students who are learning a second language. Wonderful job!
ReplyDeleteGenesis, you hit it spot on. At a young age and even now as an adult, I can swiftly alternate between English and Tamil when the situation calls for it. When I begin to dwell on how I could have possibly done that at such a young age, it boggles my mind. Additionally, I do find it important to be able to communicate as much as possible with relatives who cannot speak English. Whenever I travel to India, I might make mistakes in my pronunciation of words, and I may have to ask my parents on how to say something. However, my relatives appreciate the fact that I do try, which only motivates me to continue to sharpen my speaking skills.
DeleteIt is wonderful that you care about being able to communicate with your family. Your efforts with practicing and speaking Tamil shows how much you respect your ethnicity, culture, and family. Your knowledge and where you come from can inspire your students to be proud of their ethnicity and will encourage them to continue practicing and learning!
DeleteHey Maggie! I really enjoyed watching your video, thanks for making it interesting. It’s interesting to see that you grew up in a bilingual household (Ortega, 2013) learning English and Tamil simultaneously. I on the other hand, was actually raised in a monolingual household speaking only Spanish. I really like that fact that you never stopped speaking in Tamil and continued to embrace your bilingualism all throughout your life. I wish I could say the same, but unfortunately after I began to learn English, I began to decrease my use of the Spanish language. That is why, like you, I also want a deeper understanding of language acquisition. According to Ortega (2013), effective instruction is a big debate in education and especially for those of us who plan to teach in a diverse city full of English language learners. I like to think that math is pretty universal, but we still have to provide appropriate accommodations and resources for our English language learners. It’s great to see that you have set goals for yourself in this class and I hope that we learn valuable information that we can use in our future classrooms.
ReplyDeleteHi Angelica. I really had no choice but to embrace the Tamil language because it was all around me. I'd like to think that growing up in a bilingual household has provided me with some insight in regards to English language learners within the classroom. I hope to apply my personal experiences and the information I take away from this class in the future, so that I can effectively help my students acquire content-area knowledge, and achieve higher levels of English proficiency. Also, I am curious to know if you would say you are still a proficient speaker. The Houston area has many students whose first language is Spanish, so I do think the Spanish skills you do have will benefit you in the near future.
DeleteI would like to consider myself a proficient speaker in Spanish now, but I had to work really hard to get here. Unfortunately, I was not surrounded as much by the Spanish language after my parents learned English. There was a time where all I would speak is English, and that affected my Spanish fluency. Rowland (2014) mentions, that the type and amount of input children receive has a large effect on multilingual language development. In your case, your parents and family always continued talking to you in Tamil, which probably allowed you to keep up with language, but my parents did not do the same. Either way, I think that our experiences with our language development will help us help our future bilingual/multilingual students.
DeleteGreat work. Your replies are so deep and full of knowledge. I enjoy reading each of them and I am sure your classmates do too. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing about your experience with Tamil. I really admire that you try so hard to communicate with all your family members even when you struggled.
ReplyDeleteI grew up learning Urdu but as as the years went by I spoke it less and now I barely speak Urdu. I can understand majority of Urdu when spoken to but I feel like I am not confident enough to speak back because although I have the ability to speak it, I do struggle with grammar and expressing myself with more complex sentences. I feel like it so much easier to speak in English because it comes naturally to me. After watching and reading your comments, I really feel like I should work on improving my Urdu by trying speak it more around my relatives because I feel like I should feel proud that I know a second language. I should appreciate that I have the ability to speak more than one language because not everyone can. In addition to learning a language as a naturalistic learner, I also had experience with being an instructed learner who was taught Arabic at the private school I attended. A lot of people learn other languages through mixed learning, which is both instructed and naturalistic (Ortega,2013).
Hello Maggie! First, I want to thank you for sharing your story in dealing with two languages with us! I have never heard of the Tamil language so it was really interesting to learn more about it! Even if it is only a small amount, it is very interesting that you are able to speak and understand some of the language. I found it interesting that you started learning Tamil through your parents at first and then later through a more formal setting, even if it was small. According to Ortega (2003), most people learn additional languages from experiences that are natural and more formal experiences. I took Spanish in high school and did not bother to keep up with it, so now I can’t have even simple conversations in Spanish anymore, so I think its great that you can have even small conversations! I think you wanting to learn more Tamil is amazing!
ReplyDelete