Language Learning : A Customized Solution Essay

Professional development is the development of new or existing skills, knowledge and aptitudes to improve one’s marketablilty, portability, performance and self worth (McKellar, 1996). This paper outlines my top three professional goals, resources required for achieving these goals, and a resource constrained schedule. The strategic formulation of my goals, required resources and schedule coalesce to form my Professional Development Plan (PDP). The first goal is a short term goal required for financing the second goal which is my medium term goal. The final goal is a long term goal that is loosely coupled with my second goal.

Employers are increasingly searching for multilinguals in order to widen their client pool. Someone who is able to communicate through multiple languages immediately have an advantage over someone who cannot by simply having the ability to communicate with more people. As a result of

As communication is a key element in my field, the necessity for them to develop excellent Language skills is key, as it also requires preparation, as elements of clear enunciation, focusing and the design of presentations are usually present in most of the courses within this field.

Within this paper we will take a brief look at the Language Acquisition Principles and how they work on the behalf of ELL students. We will see how these principles can be applied within our own learning environment. There is much information from Walqui article that gives a brief overview of ELL students and how things looked in the past for these students. Now that times has change we will see how educators can make the requirements for ELL students better and more effective for teacher and students. Hopefully, as we look at ways of changing learning for our ELL students we must remember that every student learns differently. Even if you follow the principles from

My seminar provided an overview of chapter 4- explaining second language learning. During my introduction, key points from each of the 5 perspectives were discussed. The cognitive perspective was given priority as it contained many subcategories within itself. This section also allowed my group mates to connect theory and practice of second language learning. My group mates were able to connect to the noticing hypothesis, processability theory and the three principles of practice through their own personal experiences while learning a second language. The first discussion question asked my group members to evaluate their own understanding of how language learning occurs and compare it with the perspectives we covered. The second discussion question provided them a chance to assess each perspective and think of one weakness and one strength for each. Overall if I were to re-do my seminar, I would like to provide more attention to the other perspectives. I would add more discussion questions in order to stimulate more in-depth discussions. Similarly, adding supplemental information from an outside source to further discussion and connect the theories to pedagogy. Additionally, I would create an activity that focused more on teaching of a second language and how these theories have influenced the current practices used.

Communication is such an important part of everyone’s daily life, not only in one’s personal life but also in organizations. Also now a day, we are becoming every year more and more global and working with different countries and cultures around the world. Henceforward, globalization is increasing, which makes communication a very important part of doing business internationally.

Gadsden County has a very committed ESOL program. Gadsden County has created an ELL program that is comparable to non-ELL students, with the focus on acquiring English and mastering academic success. A Home Langue Survey is sent home to all students to identify all possible needs for language assistance. Once a child has been identified for needing extra language assistance, an English Language Proficiency assessment is give to get a proper level of language acquisition. Gadsden County ensures that all teachers and administrators are properly trained to teach the ELL students and competent of understanding cultural differences. The Gadsden county ELL program takes every opportunity to ensure that language translations are available for parents and students and give necessary resources to ensure success.

Language is perceived as the way humans communicate through the use of spoken words, it involves particular system and styles in which we interact with one another (Oxford 2009).

Numerous theories try to explain the process of language acquisition. These theories fall into one of two camps. The environmentalist (or connectionist) theory of language acquisition asserts that language is acquired through environmental factors (Halvaei et al. 811). Theorists in this camp believe that a child learns language by gaining information from the outside world and then forming associations between words and objects. The nativist (or rationalist) approach, on the other hand, asserts that it is innate factors that determine language acquisition. Noam Chomsky, often described as “the father of modern linguistics”, falls into this camp as he believes that speech is the result of hidden rules of language that are hidden somewhere in the brain (Rahmani and Abdolmanafi 2111). Steven Pinker, a colleague of Chomsky, is a renowned psychologist, cognitive scientist and linguist who discusses his own theories on language acquisition in his book Words and Rules.

Learning Forward (2015) is an organization formed to “build the capacity of leaders to establish and sustain highly effective professional learning” (para. 1). While creating a definition of professional development, seven key standards were identified for effective professional learning. These standards include:

In our everyday lives, the origin of our ability to communicate is usually not often taken into consideration. One doesn't think about how every person has, or rather had at one time, an innate ability to learn a language to total fluency without a conscious effort – a feat that is seen by the scientific community "as one of the many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives" (3).. Other such mysteries include our body's ability to pump blood and take in oxygen constantly seemingly without thought, and a new mother's ability to unconsciously raise her body temperature when her infant is placed on her chest. But a child's first language acquisition is different from these

Confidently conversing in English as well as using the language to its maximum potential have and will always be a powerful advantage in being successful in the 21st century, highly globalized era. It is a prominent and observable reality that proficient English speakers have a clear advantage over those who are less proficient at using the language.

At Hogwarts Intermediate (H.I) the language programme offers students the opportunity to develop an understanding of the language structures and cultural practices involved in one or two languages other than English. Their aim is to develop the student’s proficiency, enjoyment in language learning, and for them to gain an international perspective about the world, through interaction with foreign students. Giving their students a head start in the continuously developing bilingual world is major goal as this sets them up for better opportunities in the job market. They see this as the basis of providing future generations with the skills needed to collaborate and work along side other cultures through cultural understanding. Hogwarts Intermediate uses a range of different resources in their language programme, the main one being technology. One of their aims is to stay up to date with technology and research in order to develop teaching skills and effective language learning models. An example of this is the video conferencing they offer; a teacher that is an expert in a particular language teaches students the language through video conferencing. At H.I language classes take place 3-4 times per week and students home teacher teaches them during this time. The reason behind this is that students respond better to their own class teacher and the phrases/skills learnt are able to be transitioned into other subject areas as well, not just during language class. This gives

* In the educational field, the teaching learning cycle is a model used in contemporary teaching in both school and adult educational settings. Rothery (1996 in Derewianka & Jones 2012, pg 43) who originally developed the model used this to aim at disadvantaged children for teaching literacy and writing in the KLA (Key learning areas) who were from socially disadvantaged areas. Over time the model has been phased across other areas of the English language such as listening, speaking, reading as well as writing. The key involvement of the teacher also known as ‘expert other’ in the teaching learning cycle is guiding the learner to understand key concepts in academic literacy through use of scaffolding strategies to transform students

They must consider language differences especially whilst preparing training material. Some individuals may also require an interpreter to get messages across clearly (Noe, Raymond, 2002, p333). If an interpreter is used, it is important to conduct a practice session with the interpreter to evaluate pacing of the session and whether the amount of topics and material is appropriate (Noe, Raymond, 2002, p333). A needs assessment or analysis would be helpful for trainers to evaluate cultural dimensions and the characteristics of their employees whether it be language barriers, cultural status (Noe, Raymond, 2002, p334). By identifying the needs of cultural and ethnic minorities, trainers will be able to properly train and develop this minority to group to not only suit the individual themself but also the company.