At the beginning of the semester, we took a few tests to determine our preferred learning styles, and I found that I am a kinesthetic learner and excel at musical, verbal, and linguistic activities. For this reason, I wrote in my first reflection that I would center my language learning around writing and rewriting new vocabulary while studying on my own, then I would incorporate those new words into role-playing activities with my peer tutor. Because I am a kinesthetic learner, I memorize best by writing things down, yet this is not enough in learning to use a language. Therefore, I thought role-playing with my peer tutor would be a kinesthetic and verbal way to truly use the language. This plan worked well, but I still tended to forget what I had learned by saying with my peer tutor more easily than what I had learned by reading and writing down on my own. I tried to solve this a few times during our peer tutor meetings by taking notes on new phrases and words, but these were still much harder to commit to memory than vocabulary and phrases I found online and wrote down in my notes.
Another learning tactic I attempted at the beginning of the semester was using Hindi songs to memorize new words and phrases, as I found that I learn well through music. My peer tutor and I did this a few times at the beginning of the semester, and it worked surprisingly well, but we forgot to continue this activity when we started focusing on other tasks. And although this was an effective way of committing words to memory for me, the words I learned from Bollywood songs often had no relation to the tasks I was attempting to learn. Nevertheless, I will continue to listen to Bollywood music next semester, and I hope to ask my peer tutor for translations. This is a fun and effective method of learning for me, even if the meanings of songs may not be very relevant to common language tasks.
In my original learning plan, I wrote that I wanted to focus on interpersonal communication because it encompassed both listening and speaking, two important things to know when trying to live in a foreign country. I believe I succeeded at focusing on this task overall, but I also think I spent too much time learning to write and read Hindi as well while I was studying, perhaps because it is my nature to write things down to remember them. Although it was my intent to focus on listening to and speaking Hindi with my peer tutor, I often got caught up in memorizing how to write new vocabulary in Hindi script while I was looking up words for a new task. I’d also be too meticulous in my notes and write things in both Hindi and Romanized script despite my plan to focus only on learning to speak and listen to those words. Nevertheless, having conversations with my peer tutor and using Mango helped me get past that obstacle and focus on interpersonal communication.
One of the most interesting and effective methods of learning was teaching a Hindi lesson to the class. I was astounded at how well I could respond to my peer tutor’s questions about time after preparing to teach the class this task. After spending extra time preparing and ensuring that I knew the material well enough to teach it, it felt like I could respond to questions about time almost without thinking about it. For this reason, I hope to continue to teach my friends simple phrases in Hindi so that I will remember them more easily.
To continue learning next semester and beyond, I will make sure that Hindi is incorporated into my daily schedule, whether it be listening to Bollywood music on my way to class and listening for words I know, or watching a Hindi movie or TV show, or having lunch with my peer tutor to practice greeting each other and talking about school. This semester has proved to me more than ever that just surrounding yourself with a language has a large impact on your ability to learn and understand that language. I hope that by the time I return to India, I will be able to impress my friends with all the Hindi I have maintained and all the new things I have learned while back in Richmond.
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