Entry 2: Interview with an ELL
Hey Y’all welcome to my second Vblog! For this blog I
decided to Skype one of my best friends Shirley from Dallas. I do not know very
many people in Houston that know another language so I thought it’d be neat to
learn a little more about my best friend and her experience with speaking two
languages.
Shirley primarily began speaking
Spanish as a child; it was not until elementary school beginning of Pre-K when
she began learning English as a second language. Shirley grew up speaking
Spanish because her parents and siblings only knew Spanish. Her family migrated
from Mexico to the United States and their happened to be a strong language
barrier along the way. My best friend was considered a Successive early bilingualism
student. She primarily spoke Spanish but at a very early age she was learning
English as well. So she eventually became very fluent in both languages. She is now dominant in English but her parents
in who she speaks to on a daily basis still primarily speak Spanish. Ortega
mentions how “for most, one language is dominant, and this is often the
community language rather than the home language” (p. 176). For my best friend
Shirley she is now more dominate in English because of her job, her friends,
her surroundings are more familiar with English than with Spanish. Shirley
works at a law firm and English is spoken primarily there, the plus side to it
is that she can help those few clients who only speak Spanish because she is
still skilled in that language.
Overall, Shirley can still speak
both languages, but Spanish is not her strongest language anymore. Which leads
to subtractive bilingualism, it is as the mastery of what was once the first
language declines, the mastery of the other language (usually the dominant
language) rises.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition.
London: Routledge.
Hey Shelly!
ReplyDeleteI loved watching your interview with your friend! I think it’s great that your friend, Shirley learned English quickly at such a young age. Based on what I have observed in my student teaching, Shirley is probably more fluent in English than Spanish because of the people she is around and her job. Shirley’s everyday life offers more opportunities to speak English than Spanish. The book mentions that "participants did best in the language they were more actively and consistently using in daily activities"(Ortega. 2013. p.26). Since you speak Spanish and English, are you more fluent in one than the other?
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hello, I agree with you, Kanwal. I believe that the reason Shirley's dominant language is English is because of the people around her. It is rare to find people who are balanced bilinguals because for the most part everyone is more dominant in one language than another. "For most, one language is dominant, and this is often the community language rather than the home language" (Ortega, 2013). I believe that the community language is often the dominant languages because like you said, she has more opportunities to speak English.
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Karla,
DeleteI agree with your idea that Shirley’s English was dominant because of her environment. Ortega validates this by saying “Languages are almost always learned with and for others, and these others generate linguistic evidence, rich or poor, abundant or scarce, that surrounds learners” (Ortega, 2013, p.55). In this case, Shirley’s environment was full of positive outcomes for learning English.
Ortega, L (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Rutledge.
Hey Kani, thank you for watching my video!! I personally am way more fluent in English than I am in Spanish now simply because the environments I surround myself in are with English speakers. But I can say when I go down to south Texas where my parents and family are from that natural Spanish fluency comes back. It’s like a huge switch in my brain, if being Spanglish was a real life thing I would totally chose that! I am good at speaking both languages but I speak primarily English best.
ReplyDeleteHey Karla, thank you for watching my video. Shirley and I are in the same situation, the community we were surrounded by was primarily English language. Shirley and I played soccer together, went to the same school together and worked together. Our families are both very fluent in Spanish but we are just surrounded by so many other places on a daily where English is spoken the most. We can both speak Spanish and English very well but English has become more dominant in our lives due to the community setting we are surrounded by every day.
ReplyDeleteHey Rachel, thank you for watching and commenting on my video. I agree with all of you girls that the reason Shirley is more dominant in English is because of her environment. I think it’s neat that what you surround yourself around primarily is what your brain tends to pick up naturally. A good thing is that Shirley did not lose her knowledge in her home language. She’s able to communicate with family and friends by keeping her primary language strong. Many tend to forget their roots because they are surrounded in areas where a different language is used more often.
ReplyDelete