Entry 1: Course Introduction
Entry One: Introduction About Me
Hello! 안녕하세요! My name is Houjun Jeon and I am a current Senior at the University of Houston. I am a Psychology major and an Education minor. Although I am not currently in a teaching certification program, I do look to go back into school once I graduate to pursue my teaching degree! I hope to become a middle or high school teacher, teaching either English, ESL, or high school level Psychology.
Ortega mentions in his textbook that "In some parts of the world, most children grow up speaking one language only" and fortunately enough, I am actually the opposite part that can speak more than one. As seen in my introduction video, I am fluent in both English and Korean. I moved to the United States ate the age of 3 and grew up here ever since. I learned English through school and continued learning my Korean at home because my parents only spoke Korean during the beginning years of living here. This is described in the book as being bilingual or "bilingualism" is the textbook term because I have been using both English and Korean in my everyday life.
According to the Ortega, my L1 (first language) would be Korean and my L2 (second language or additional language) would be English. L1 is defined as "languages a child learns from parents, siblings, and caretakers during the critical years of development, from the womb up to about four years of age." (Ortega 2011, p. 6) Although I grew up in the States, I was born in Seoul, South Korea and lived there until the age of 3 so I learned Korean from my parents, making my L1 Korean by definition. However, my English a lot better than my Korean because of the environmental factors of living here. I would use a lot more English than my Korean because I would only use my L1 in certain situations such as the home and other family members. I would use English at school, with my friends, and with my brother as well.
After reading the introductory chapter of the book, I didn't realize how more complex speaking a second language could be. Language is a topic that is really interests me and I am excited to see what I can learn about my own language abilities and the process of learning another language.
Click the link below to see my introductory video!
I am sure that this class will help you understand the processes you went through while learning English. I completely agree that being bilingual takes a lot of time. I also find myself busy trying to read in Spanish, English and French. I work in Spanish and English and French is my science and music language. I listen to music every day but the more I learn French, the more I doubt my knowledge of English. Today I found myself having a difficult time remembering the spelling of the word "pharmacy" while trying to explain the difference in accent syllables in Spanish, English and French. So I believe that working on a second and third language is like taking your brain to the gym, you work it out.
ReplyDeleteFor your information,
Ortega's name is Lourdes and she is a female.
Dr. Avellaneda,
DeleteYes I really think this class will help me a lot of all the processes that I went through in my experience in learning English and the experience I go through as I try to perfect my Korean as well. I really agree with your gym analogy with language and you just really have to work it out and continue practicing it. The more you work out, the stronger your muscles get so the more you use a language the better your brain will get at retaining and using the language, Thank you for catching my mistake on Ortega and I will edit my blog to fix it!
I agree Dr. Avellaneda,
DeleteIntensive work on the brain is similar to intense work at the gym. The problem that I am having is I do not know where to start. Just like the beginner at the gym that does not know where to start, I found myself too lost at a begining point. Should I began practicing greetings? Should I memorize daily phrases that I could use many times throughout the day? Just like at the gym, when people get a trainer, I think I need a trainer to help me with my repititions of the Spanish language.
Also, being multilingual must be extremely difficult at times. How long did it take you to master all these three languages? Are you fluent in any other languages besides the three you listed?
How you doing Houjun! Great to meet you.
ReplyDeleteAs I watched your video, I noticed that the Korean language is made up of ten vowels and fourteen consonants. Does that ever confuse you when speaking in your L1, or is that only a conflict when writing? I know it will be challenging to learn an entirely new algorithm of alphabets at my age, but one day I will give it a chance. Since you are already bilingual, would you ever want to become multilingual? For example, since you are already fluent in English and Korean, do you think you will ever want to take on the task of learning Spanish in your adulthood? I think it would tremendously help in teaching.
Hi Lawrence!
DeleteThe Korean language is actually made up of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. It is kind of confusing because although there are 10 vowels, those vowels can combine to make more and one of the same consonants can be used to make a different sound. The vowels and consonants don't really get to me, but what I noticed that confuses me sometimes is the syntax differences between Korean and English. For instance, in English one would say "I am eating food", but in Korean it would be structured "I + food + eating." I agree with you I think learning Spanish would help tremendously in teaching and I have considered learning it, but afraid of how long it would take.
Hi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI loved that your grandmother took you and your brother's studies to be her priority. Would you consider the private sessions with her to be "instructed"? Just from your video I would say you learned it naturalistically through your parents. But I still would like to see where you would categorize the lessons with your grandmother.
Besides English, I speak Vietnamese also. Although I can speak casually and informally I have notice my Vietnamese vocabulary has decrease due to limited opportunities to associate with others of the same language. Eventhough, I feel very fortunate to be bilingual I wish I had the opportunity to converse in Vietnamese more often.
Hi Thom!
DeleteI am always appreciative of my grandmother for taking the time everyday to teach us because if it wasn't for her, my level of Korean would be very low. I do consider my grandmother's private sessions to be instructed. She used real textbooks that she would buy and give us plenty of homework and assessments to do to make sure we were retaining and expanding the information that we learned.
I feel like we are in a way in the same boat when it comes to our other language. I do wish too that I had a lot more opportunities at a young age to speak more Korean so my foundation could have been stronger than it is now.