Entry 1: Course Introduction



Ruth Frausto's Blog  Video link: https://youtu.be/BjxipORRAnk



       

 Reflection:

     According to Ortega (2013) most children grow up speaking only one language. This was not the case for me growing up. I grew up speaking two languages due to living in a household with my mom and grandparents who were from Guadalajara, Mexico. These two languages were English and Spanish. I do think being bilingual will help me with my future students one day. There are so many ESL students that are misplaced in special education. ESL students are "learners [that] learn an additional language through formal study in school or a university, through private lessons and so on (Ortega, 2013, pg 6).” I feel like I can be an advocate for ESL students that are accidentally misplaced into special education so that they can be given the appropriate help that they need. 
        When I was in middle school, my mom got married and I moved to a new household with my step dad who only speaks English. Because of this, I stopped using my Spanish as often and would only use it when I saw my grandparents or when I saw my bilingual friends. According to Ortega,”bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicate needs and desires" (Ortega, 2013, p.3).
       During middle school, I also got exposed to a new language: American Sign Language. I began teaching myself ASL. I wouldn't say that I am fluent but I do know a good amount to the point where I can hold a short conversation. I want to continue learning ASL so that I can better assist my students in the future.

Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.


Comments

  1. Profe AvellanedaAugust 29, 2018 at 3:33 PM

    Me parece muy interesante que usted no sólo hablé dos sino que sepa tres idiomas. Me pregunto si aprender un tercer idioma como el idioma para sordos es parecido al proceso que se sigue cuando se aprende una lengua como el español o en inglés. Igualmente me gustaría saber si la forma de hablar el idioma de los sordos es la misma sin importar el idioma. Hay una canción famosa en francés en la cual la cantante usa el lenguaje de los sordos. Voy a poner el vínculo aquí y me gustaría que la viera y nos dijera si el idioma es el mismo, o más bien si los signos son iguales. I can see from the last sentence that your Spanish has been impacted by their lack of schooling since your grammar call response corresponds to English. That is linguistic influence.

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  2. UnknownAugust 29, 2018 at 3:35 PM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfRY39ybeZo

    Listen to the song and pay let us know if the signs are the same in English like when she says JE DIT (I say).

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  3. Lam NguyenSeptember 3, 2018 at 2:59 PM

    Hello, Ruth. I am also going to be an educator. I do agree that some ELL students are misplaced because they have to go through the obstacle of learning English. According to Ortega, he states that language is one of the unique human capabilities used to “make meaning and communicate with other fellow humans” (Ortega 2011, pg 1). Although I think that learning Sign Language is a very unique and useful skill. American Sign Language is one of the most useful and undermined languages, in my opinion. Sign Language shows meaning and gives a pathway to communicating without sound, but still it is a language because of its ability to help its speakers communicate. Ortega pointed out that language can help us translate our emotions, or even hide our stance (Ortega 2011, pg 1). This makes me wonder how
    ASL portrays emotions. Are there signs for emotions? Or do you have to spell it out? There is also another point that I would like to make in conclusion, language is originated through “spoken, signed, and written systems” (Ortega 2011, pg 2). My question is, knowing that certain languages have/ does not have capability to transfer certain ideologies because the language itself lacks the words to do so, what do you think the limits of ASL are in reference to communicating ideas emotions?

    Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RuthfraustoSeptember 11, 2018 at 1:57 PM

      Hello,
      Yes, I do agree that American Sign Language seems to be undermined. It is unfortunate because it really is a beautiful language. I believe when people use American Sign Language it does correlates with Ontogenesis which is "the human capacity to make meaning through language emerge and deploy in each individual of our species" (Ortega, 2013, p.3). When using American Sign Language there is a great emphasis on using facial expressions in order to convey emotions. I don't think American Sign Language has any limitations on expressing emotions due to that reason. In many American Sign Language classes, teachers always make sure to note that you need to use facial expressions. Adding those facial expressions is extremely important when having a conversation in American Sign Language.

      Delete
  4. UnknownSeptember 4, 2018 at 7:13 PM

    Hi Ruth
    Nice to Meet you! I agree with you that being a bilingual teacher will definitely help in the feature. I consider my self as a bilingual and an English language learner, my native language is Chinese and I began to learn English at the age of 10. I strongly agree that a lot of time many ELL students can be misplaced in a special education and as a bilingual teacher we want to do our best to help them. According to Ortega, “Whether we grow up with one, two or several languages, in most cases we will learn additional languages later in life.” (Ortega, 2011, p.1).I was just wondering since you have known 2 languages and ASL have you ever thought about to leaner another language?

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    Replies
    1. RuthfraustoSeptember 10, 2018 at 10:49 PM

      Hello,
      It is very nice to meet you as well. It is interesting that you obtained a new language at the age of ten. According to Ortega,“In terms of L2 ultimate attainment, most learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, typically before a certain age, typically before puberty, will develop levels of morphosyntactic and phonological competence that are very close to those of native speakers of that language” (Ortega, 2013, p. 28)." It seems like what Ortega said, is the case with you and your second language acquisition since you learned at the age of ten. By your writing, I can see you have mastered the language. Yes, I have thought about learning more languages. There have been instances where I came across a deaf or hard of hearing individual and they needed help but didn't know how to communicate. I stepped in and helped them. I love helping others and I feel like the more languages I know, the more people I can help.

      Delete
  5. CrystalSeptember 4, 2018 at 8:09 PM

    Hello Ruth. I do agree that your ability to speak Spanish will come in handy when working with your students, but also their guardians. In a few cases at the school I am at, the students grandparents are looking after them who happen to be more fluent in Spanish than English.
    Your ability to communicate using American sign language, to me, falls in line with Ontogenesis of language. Which Ortega states is the study “how does the human capacity to make meaning through language emerge and deploy in each individual of our species’ (Ortega, 2013, p. 3). Sign Language is a great example of how we as humans develop language when there is no sound to be made with our voices.

    Crystal Menjivar
    Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RuthfraustoSeptember 11, 2018 at 3:30 PM

      Hello there,
      Yes, being bilingual will help me to better assist my future students. Learning American Sign Language will also help me to provide my student's with the help they deserve. As stated by Ortega, "different adolescents and adults will embark on very different kinds of literacy practice and use language for widely differing needs" (Ortega, 2013, p. 4). I need to make sure to practice my Spanish and American SIgn Language often in order to feel fully confident that I have the ability to help my students by using those languages. .

      Delete
    2. CrystalSeptember 11, 2018 at 9:12 PM

      Ruth, in regards to you language learning process, have you found the Critical Period Hypothesis that Ortega mentioned to be related to your learning process. When speaking of Critical Periods in the L2 learning process, Ortega describes these periods as “the brain being pre-programmed for it to be shaped by experiences but , though only during specified time periods” (Ortega, 2013, pg13). To an extent I see how these critical periods could be a factor in the learning and development of new skills such as the learning of a new language.
      Crystal Menjivar

      Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.

      Delete
  6. UnknownSeptember 4, 2018 at 9:00 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownSeptember 4, 2018 at 9:14 PM

    Hi, Ruth! When watching your video, I saw that one of the images was of Rancho Cucamonga High School. I immediately asked myself if you were from California. While listening to your story, it reminded me of the term ‘bilingual acquisition’ from Ortega (2013). Globally, it is the norm for children to learn more than one language. It sounds like you under went the process of ‘bilingual acquisition’, learning Spanish and English relatively simultaneously in early childhood (Ortega, 2013). It is cool how your second language acquisition is currently taking place with American Sign Language. The skill of being able to communicate using American Sign Language will definitely be useful in your future career as a special education teacher. Ortega (2013) states, “Many people around the globe may learn, forget and even relearn a number of languages that are not their mother tongue over the course of their late childhood, adolescence and adulthood” (p.1). Although Spanish and English are your mother tongues, and you most likely will never forget Spanish, I encourage you to keep practicing American Sign Language and Spanish, even when you are not around your grandparents.

    Reference:
    Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RuthfraustoSeptember 11, 2018 at 2:20 PM

      Hi Audrey,
      Yes, most definitely I am still undergoing the process of acquiring a new language. Ortega states, "different adolescents and adults will embark on very different kinds of literacy practice and use language for widely differing needs" (Ortega, 2013, p. 4). I think this is what happened to me. I have a great interest in American Sign Language and yes, it will help a lot with my future career as a special needs teacher. Knowing Spanish will also help me with my future career and I do plan on using it more often.

      Delete
  8. UnknownSeptember 11, 2018 at 1:07 PM

    Hi Ruth,
    I think it is great that you grew up in a bilingual household. Being bilingual has been taken for granted in a lot of children growing up in today's society and they do not know how helpful being bilingual can be at school, work, and in their future. I also really thought it was interesting that you applied second language acquisition to your American Sign Language learning and thought it was a great choice for you to teach yourself that especially because you are going to become an educator. According to Ortega, "L2 are used in SLA to refer to any language learned after the L1 (L1s)" (Ortega, 2013, p.5) and since English and Spanish were your L1s ASL would be your L2! Although you say that you are not fluent in ASL, it seems that you are proficient enough to call it your L2 and I hope you continue to learn and better yourself at it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RuthfraustoSeptember 11, 2018 at 2:48 PM

      Hello Joseph,
      I am very glad that I was around both English and Spanish at a young age. According to Ortega, “There is a specific period of time early in life when the brain exhibits a special propensity to attend to certain experiences in the environment and learn from them” (Ortega, 2013, p.5). Being exposed to both English and Spanish at a young age made it easier for me to become Bilingual, It is proven that it is easier to pick up a language in early years of life. I'm sure I will keep pursuing American Sign Language. i enjoy learning it and it will become a great asset for me in the future.

      Delete

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