Hello Everyone, Welcome to Blog #2, this week I had the
great opportunity to catch up with one of my close friends, Anna volpe. Anna is a twenty-six year old graduate
from UCLA and is currently attending Veterinary school at Cornell University. I
had the chance to sit down and have a video interview about her experiences in the
United States and the process of learning a second language. Both Anna and her brother where born in
Tuscany, Italy but moved to the USA at a very young age. Although their mother,
was born and raised in Tuscany Anna and their family are proud to live in the
USA and aren’t shy of their roots. Anna Jokes about not having much of an
accent but According to Ortega, in terms of L2 ultimate attainment,
most learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, typically before
puberty or before the school age (kindergarten), the students will develop
levels of morph syntactic and phonological competence that are very close to
those of native speakers of that language (pg. 28). Along with her brother Anna
had the benefit of having a family member whose first language was English (Her
father), she was able to be engulfed in the language early and head into grade
school, with barely a blemish on her English speaking ability. Although her school had a program for non-English
speaking students and bilingual students, Anna was enrolled in in regular
classes, she also noted that her parents brought and ESL tutor to the home for
her and her brother when they where younger, to avoid anxiety and worry about
school and fitting in with their peers. Also according to Ortega, the
antecedents of L2 communicative confidence, which is shown by anxiety and lack
of confidence in the learned language. But through the interview Anna loved to
talk about her experiences and everything in between, she is proud of her
family and the way they’ve evolved and cant wait for the years to come!
heres the video! hope you enjoy it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUV-Ka78tyg&feature=youtu.be
Hello Kaila!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your video because you asked really good questions, which made it entertaining. In the video, Anna was saying that since she learned English at such a young age sometimes she does not realize a second language. She has probably become more proficient in English unknowing, since she uses it more frequently. In the text, Wright (2015) says that an individual who is bilingual does not develop identical strengths in both languages (p.39). Being that she probably uses Italian mainly when speaking to her maternal side, her Italian language ability probably did not get equal amounts of attention as her English language abilities. I am glad that she is working hard to become fluent in Spanish and soon French. That is going to be beneficial in the future.
thanks for commenting! shes very head strong and I cant wait to see what and how learning more languages with help her future. I also thought of the text when Wright (2015) says that an individual who is bilingual does not develop identical strengths in both languages (p.39). thanks for commenting once again see you in vlog #3!
DeleteHello Kaila!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that interview with us! I thought it was so cool how you got to interview Anna, who's first language is Italian. I feel like sometimes people think that ELL stands for someone who knows Spanish and is learning English. That is not the case, there is such a diversity in the different languages that are spoken in the United States and therefore a diversity of ELLs in the classroom. Wright (2015) states, " 56 different languages make up the top five languages spoken by ELLs..."(p.10). Wright(2015) also says that "...though many ELLs come from A Spanish-speaking country, their home language may not be Spanish"(p.10). As future students we need to be aware of the diversity of the ELLs in the classroom and make sure we do not generalize this group of students.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
Yes! I was hoping someone noticed that. I did it on purpose to ensure that the person I interviewed didnt speak spanish. Its important to me to bring up the fact that we need more than just bilingual spanish classes in schools we are a melting pot here and we should cater towrads everyone child and adult. thanks for watching hope to see you in vlog #3
DeleteHi Kaila! I loved this interview! You can really tell how proud she is of her heritage! It sounds like she was given all the tools and support to be successful in school regardless of the fact that she came to this country speaking a different language. It also sounds like she was speaking both languages at the same time from a young age. Wright (2015) calls this “simultaneous bilingualism” (p. 5). I think that it also helped that her parents were cognizant of possible cultural and linguistic issues that may arise during their children’s adjustment to American life.
ReplyDeleteWright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing
thank you for watching! Yes she was very fortunate to have all the tools involved in her and her brothers life. I agree with the simultaneous bilingualism” (p. 5), She always says tht if she were to learn one language completely before the other she would still be struggling with one. I feel that its important to also implement that in schools , at a young age kids soak up things like a sponge and we should take advantage of that. Thanks so much for watching see you in blog #3
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