Interview: For my interview , I decided to meet up with one of my close friend , Nebil Adam . Nebil is currently enroll at the University of Houston . His major is Management information system (MIS) and he is planning to graduate sometime soon. Nebil comes from a very well know country located in East Africa . The country is Ethiopia . Nebil spent his early childhood learning,Amharic, a language that spoken across Ethiopia. This language became his primary language. He did not fully grasp the English language until he was in 5th grade. Nebil and his family migrated to U.S , when he was just 8 years old .Prior coming to the U.S , Nebil shared some great life experience stories with me. I learned that he attend school in Ethiopia . During the interview , he described the similarities and difference between America and Ethiopia school . Nebil was exposed to English at young age . He described to me that his English teacher was native English speaker. With many memories fading away , he remembered being exposed to grammar and vocabulary at young age . He described the teacher using picture to connect meaning. He believe that strategy has help him a lot even when he arrived to the U.S. He was placed in ESL but quickly was removed within year . According to Ortega , " Knowledge of the L1 can often have a positive impact on the rate of L2 learning ( Ortega 2013 , pg 44)". I think having such great fundamental of his primary language has helped in some way to grasp English at a faster rate . Nebil strongly believe that he still fluent with both languages . The interesting thing he told me that he might not have noticed. At home,they blend English with Amharic to communicate with each other sometimes. He feel more comfortable teaching in English rather than Amharic. After the interview , we shared sometime talking about how ages can play a role to learning a new language . We both argued that Ortega's Idea to be inaccurate . Both of us , learned and developed the language at much faster rate than both of our parents ( Ortega 2013 ).
Emmanuel, Great video! Nice you got to learn more about your friend, Nebil. I found it interesting you talking about how Nebil struggled with the language and being removed from the ESL classes. Though the fact that he still speaks and practices both his native language and English is extremely rare yet admirable. I know from trying to learn and maintain Spanish as my second language and English as my native language it can be challenging. The fact that Ortega states how people learn more faster, and better when they have a goal, or intention, and are committed to learning” (Ortega, 2011) is clearly proven through your friend, Nebil. I guess my question ius although Nebil still speaks the language, Amharic; is he still connected with his culture in South Africa: Ethiopia? I know some people from different parts of Africa like my interviewee whose from Legos, Nigeria that practice their culture and still uphold family traditions faithfully. Does Nebil, do the same, or is he greatly influenced by the American culture, seeing that he’s been here so long? Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
Hey Jollie , Thanks for watching my interview video with Nebil. To answer your question , I asked Nebil and his response was not shocking to me . He responded that he still has strong connection with his culture. Matter fact , he just visited Ethiopia this past summer for the second time since he moved to the U.S. During his time there , he said everything has changed a lot. He said he was still able to communicate with people fluently.There were few words that he forgot but for majority of time he had no problem. I have a quick question , Whats your thoughts on Ortega's idea about , how L1 knowledge can influence the rate of L2 ? ( Oretga,2013)
200 letters is quite extraordinary! For Nebil to still be fluent in Amharic till this day is amazing. I think it is very common for Nebil to still to be able to communicate to Ethiopians at a high rate. The more cultured a person is, the more attached you feel and want to be, thus making language easier to keep. It is true that when Nebil said that things change over the years and language does too. I'm sure if my parents go to Syria, they will not be as "fluent" as a person that has never left. What I mean by this is that new phrases, idioms, jokes, references, and so much more is added over the years, that sometimes, you might feel out of place. Ortega (2011) states that one language will dominate over another, primarily the one that is used more. I think this is very true as to why Nebil would like to teach in English versus in Amharic. Living here and going to college here, it is obvious that you would use English more. Also, learning new terms that are part of our field in Education makes us more comfortable because we probably have never learned or heard those terms in another language. For instance what term is the word for scaffolding in Ahmaric or Arabic, lol. Great video and post!
I really enjoyed watching your interview with your friend, Nebil. I think it is awesome that he speaks English so well, even though he learned at a later age in life. He mentioned that the Amharic alphabet has over 200 letters, but the English alphabet has only 26 letters. He said learning how to mix and match those letters to make the same sound was very difficult for him at first, and I think this supports the proposal in Ortega’s book that “L1-L2 differences account for the pace or rate at which certain morphosyntactic structures will be learned by different L1 groups” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 34). After reading your reflection, I also agree with you that Nebil’s strong foundation in his L1 really impacted his learning in the L2. Even though it wasn’t easy at first, all it takes is a little bit of time and practice. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Jenny , I know right!I did not know Amharic alphabet has over 200 letters .I think that's very difficult to transfer into L2 especially in a language that has only 26 letters. I believe that Nebil success for acquiring L2 at such fast rate is because of his great knowledge of his L1. Ortega shared that having knowledge of your L1 can influence the rate of acquiring a new one (Ortega,2013).
Emmanuel, I love your energy! I think the questions you asked your friend Nebil were great, especially because I have never met anybody from Ethiopia. I enjoyed hearing about his classrooms in Ethiopia. I learned that it was very similar to my classrooms when I used to leave in Peru. I was so used to having my own classrooms and the teachers were the ones to come in and out that when I go to the U.S. I felt weird having to go from classroom to classroom. Your friend mentioned that he enjoyed being in an ESL classroom and I can tell he remembered and cared for his teacher. Studies have shown that teachers that invest in high-quality instruction help increase a student’s improvement in learning a second language (Ortega, 2011). I am sure that Nebil’s ESL teacher was a wonderful teacher. Thank you for choosing Nebil as your interviewee! Today I learned about a language I had never heard of before.
Reference Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hey Maisa , First of all , I want to thank you for watching my interview video. I see that you and my friend Nebil shared similar experience.I did not know you grew up and attended school in Peru. After this , I will make sure I go on your blog entry 1 and watch your introduction . I never met someone that is from Peru . Yes , I believe that ESL classroom and effective teachers can play important role on student success of acquiring a new language . I want to ask you a quick question , Do you think that stuff you learned in your L1 helped you with acquring your L2 ?
Hey Emmanuel, I like the connection you made between yourself and Nebil. Stating the fact that you and he learned and developed your language a lot faster than your parents did. That was great because you also said that knowledge of the L1 helped you on the rate of learning your L2. So, I can see how much the two statements correlated with one another.
Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteGreat video! Nice you got to learn more about your friend, Nebil. I found it interesting you talking about how Nebil struggled with the language and being removed from the ESL classes. Though the fact that he still speaks and practices both his native language and English is extremely rare yet admirable. I know from trying to learn and maintain Spanish as my second language and English as my native language it can be challenging. The fact that Ortega states how people learn more faster, and better when they have a goal, or intention, and are committed to learning” (Ortega, 2011) is clearly proven through your friend, Nebil. I guess my question ius although Nebil still speaks the language, Amharic; is he still connected with his culture in South Africa: Ethiopia? I know some people from different parts of Africa like my interviewee whose from Legos, Nigeria that practice their culture and still uphold family traditions faithfully. Does Nebil, do the same, or is he greatly influenced by the American culture, seeing that he’s been here so long?
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
Hey Jollie ,
DeleteThanks for watching my interview video with Nebil. To answer your question , I asked Nebil and his response was not shocking to me . He responded that he still has strong connection with his culture. Matter fact , he just visited Ethiopia this past summer for the second time since he moved to the U.S. During his time there , he said everything has changed a lot. He said he was still able to communicate with people fluently.There were few words that he forgot but for majority of time he had no problem. I have a quick question , Whats your thoughts on Ortega's idea about , how L1 knowledge can influence the rate of L2 ? ( Oretga,2013)
Emmanuel and Jolie,
Delete200 letters is quite extraordinary! For Nebil to still be fluent in Amharic till this day is amazing. I think it is very common for Nebil to still to be able to communicate to Ethiopians at a high rate. The more cultured a person is, the more attached you feel and want to be, thus making language easier to keep. It is true that when Nebil said that things change over the years and language does too. I'm sure if my parents go to Syria, they will not be as "fluent" as a person that has never left. What I mean by this is that new phrases, idioms, jokes, references, and so much more is added over the years, that sometimes, you might feel out of place. Ortega (2011) states that one language will dominate over another, primarily the one that is used more. I think this is very true as to why Nebil would like to teach in English versus in Amharic. Living here and going to college here, it is obvious that you would use English more. Also, learning new terms that are part of our field in Education makes us more comfortable because we probably have never learned or heard those terms in another language. For instance what term is the word for scaffolding in Ahmaric or Arabic, lol. Great video and post!
Hi Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching your interview with your friend, Nebil. I think it is awesome that he speaks English so well, even though he learned at a later age in life. He mentioned that the Amharic alphabet has over 200 letters, but the English alphabet has only 26 letters. He said learning how to mix and match those letters to make the same sound was very difficult for him at first, and I think this supports the proposal in Ortega’s book that “L1-L2 differences account for the pace or rate at which certain morphosyntactic structures will be learned by different L1 groups” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 34). After reading your reflection, I also agree with you that Nebil’s strong foundation in his L1 really impacted his learning in the L2. Even though it wasn’t easy at first, all it takes is a little bit of time and practice. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Jenny ,
DeleteI know right!I did not know Amharic alphabet has over 200 letters .I think that's very difficult to transfer into L2 especially in a language that has only 26 letters. I believe that Nebil success for acquiring L2 at such fast rate is because of his great knowledge of his L1. Ortega shared that having knowledge of your L1 can influence the rate of acquiring a new one (Ortega,2013).
Emmanuel, I love your energy! I think the questions you asked your friend Nebil were great, especially because I have never met anybody from Ethiopia. I enjoyed hearing about his classrooms in Ethiopia. I learned that it was very similar to my classrooms when I used to leave in Peru. I was so used to having my own classrooms and the teachers were the ones to come in and out that when I go to the U.S. I felt weird having to go from classroom to classroom. Your friend mentioned that he enjoyed being in an ESL classroom and I can tell he remembered and cared for his teacher. Studies have shown that teachers that invest in high-quality instruction help increase a student’s improvement in learning a second language (Ortega, 2011). I am sure that Nebil’s ESL teacher was a wonderful teacher. Thank you for choosing Nebil as your interviewee! Today I learned about a language I had never heard of before.
ReplyDeleteReference
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hey Maisa ,
DeleteFirst of all , I want to thank you for watching my interview video. I see that you and my friend Nebil shared similar experience.I did not know you grew up and attended school in Peru. After this , I will make sure I go on your blog entry 1 and watch your introduction . I never met someone that is from Peru . Yes , I believe that ESL classroom and effective teachers can play important role on student success of acquiring a new language . I want to ask you a quick question , Do you think that stuff you learned in your L1 helped you with acquring your L2 ?
Hey Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteI like the connection you made between yourself and Nebil. Stating the fact that you and he learned and developed your language a lot faster than your parents did. That was great because you also said that knowledge of the L1 helped you on the rate of learning your L2. So, I can see how much the two statements correlated with one another.