Second Language Struggles

My journey began when I was 13 years old and my father decided that it was time for me to move to the U.S in order to study. I arrived to the United State in September of 2013, I arrived in time for the begging of the school year. I attended Dover high school for my freshman and sophomore year, something that really stuck with me was the insane number of Hispanics in that town; at least half of the students were Hispanic or were of Hispanic descent. The first problem that I faced upon arriving was the language barrier; I had studied English in my home country, but my knowledge of the language was not enough to establish a conversation. I was put in the ESL, English as a second language, program. Most of the students in the program had been living in the U.S for a few years already, all of them spoke Spanish. However, all of the students had a heavy accent when speaking Spanish due to the lack of use of the language. At this point I realized that in order to learn English faster I would have to sacrifice speaking Spanish. However, I did not want to lose my connection that I had with my homeland. Therefore, I decided to take half of my classes in the ESL program and take regular classes for the rest. At first, my English improved quite fast, but my Spanish suffered as I notice that I was struggling in my Spanish class. Personally, I am not a very good writer, but the fact that I had difficulties writing my native language felt

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-language

I would struggle with mishearing words, forgetting tenses and verb meanings. This made Spanish stressful, and my teacher’s advice was to study more, but I felt I could not do it. I tried my best on every assignment, and hoped for the best. Luckily, I passed the class with a B, but I learned afterwards that B could have been A if I actually tried new methods or even went to see the counselor. I still look regret not pushing myself, but I remember I was not the only one.

To learn a second languages is very important because people have better opportunities in life. For children from ages five and under it is the best time to learn as many languages. Angele Sancho Passe, the author of “Dual-Language Learners (Birth to Grade 3)”, talks about techniques for teaching English in a multilingual classroom and how reading in english to dual-language learners helps teach them oral language skills. Patton O. Tabors, the author of “One Child, Two Languages”, talks about writing case studies of children displaying different second language abilities. In the article, “Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages” by Grace Hwang Lynch, believes two-way bilingual immersion is a helpful way to introduce foreign languages

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was around ten years old, but I was not informed of this until the end eleventh grade, when I accidentally stumbled upon the information. I have trouble controlling my focus and completing work in a timely manner, particularly with essays and I occasionally have trouble following along during class lessons, especially with math. I have always had high expectations for myself in school, but had difficulty producing work that displayed my mindset. This was frustrating because I spent twice as much time on homework than my classmates, but still found myself behind on assignments. I always completed my homework, however, the late penalties I often received greatly impacted my grades each year. My parents told the

Judie Haynes’ article, “Stages of Second Language Acquisition”, clearly states five stages that a new learner of English may go through. In Haynes’ theory, there are five stages in total, and they are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. According to Haynes, new learners of English acquire language by going through the same stages. However, how much time each student spends at a particular stage may be different. Despite the different time length, the stages of people acquiring new language are worth discussing.

At first, speaking English was a bit difficult because I did not feel confident using it with others. The most advanced students sometimes made fun of my English. The students who spoke my own language made more fun of me than the ones who were fluent in English. The teasing by the students made me feel embarrassed and shy to speak the English language, giving me a fear of being made fun of or looked at differently. Practicing the English language with my own siblings and playing with the neighborhood kids who already managed the language gave me more confidence to speak English. Taking Spanish courses in school was also an advantage, which helped me to get better at my native language and kept me from losing it.

Being a Hispanic student who came from not speaking English at all to writing English essays on a weekly basis, I have learned many things that have helped me cope with the disadvantages that were brought on by my lack of English language skills and the advantages that came with being a bilingual student. When I first came to Canada in 2006, I barely spoke a word of English and had to rely on other people for help. I felt helpless and lost, as my classmates were doing things that I did not understand. Over time, I began to pick up the English language quickly and I started to take risks. I constantly challenged myself to try to speak English whenever possible and this allowed me to catch up to my classmates in writing and speaking by grade 3, which was my

My high focus and dedication in the classroom helped me to succeed in learning the language. Also, even by just watching Sponge Bob on television somehow helped me learn the language just as well. As with the cultural problem, I managed to overcome it with my strong will and character as I broadened my horizons as I met newer and better friends that understood my pain and helped me go through with

ADHD came in the form of a valley, on my map. Its all fun and games, until I have to get myself out of the trouble. Having ADHD has effected my ability to take notes, and study for assessments. Most challenging, is using class time effectively,

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.

Increasing my knowledge of Spanish was done in school. I always spoke Spanish with my parents, but I had not taken a specific class. However, in my first year of high school, I took a class called, ‘Spanish for Spanish Speakers’. Which taught Spanish in detail to allow students to correctly read and write the language. Furthermore, in my second year of high school, I took AP Spanish and expanded my skills

Along with vocabulary, grammar is another area in which I had problems. For instance, I was still getting confused about proper sentence structure. I worked on this by completing a 30 page workbook full of different sentences to assist me. From learning verbs to compound-complex sentences the worksheets covered it all. I was starting to realize this class and Mr. Horbacz were all about fine tuning me for my big transition into college. The next thing I did was learn how to organize my thoughts onto paper and write an essay. I knew how to write a basic five paragraph essay, but my skills were limited. These are all things I struggled with at the beginning of the year, but soon I started to grow in each area.

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

For me, learning a language is a complicated process. It is different from learning other subjects. It involves a lot of practices and follow up. When I talk about my personal experience, I would say that I have a rich experience in learning English as a second language. English was taught to me for ten years starting from grade seven till graduation from university. After graduation, I felt that I should improve my language skills. Therefore, I did a lot of efforts personally to increase my fluency. Until now I still learn the language. Indeed, learning a language takes a lifetime.