I wanted to teach Turkish numbers to my friend Tayang. I personally think that learning numbers in any foreign language can be a lot of fun! I decided to teach Tayang how to count in Turkish, because he saw me once studying Turkish and asked me to count in Turkish for him. He liked how it sounded and asked me to teach him some Turkish. I planned out a learning activity and decided to have a class with him when he had some spare time. I used one of the study rooms in the library with the whiteboard so I could write the numbers in Turkish. This gave us an atmosphere of a "real class." Then, we used flashcards to help him memorize the numbers more easily. I also brought coins so we used them as a tool to count and practice numbers. At the end of the class, I gave him a short quiz to find out how much he learned. He actually got an A+. He also had trouble pronouncing some Turkish letters such as ğ, ü and ö. Practice makes perfect so I advised him to just repeat numbers in Turkish and practice, practice... He liked the learning activity and now he knows how to count to 10 in Turkish. I have included a picture of our class. This is Tayang working on the numbers.
Reflecting on my work, I can say that I am extremely happy with my progress so far. My language partner is great and really helpful. When we go to dhall together, we talk about food, when we are in the library we talk about school. I learned so much vocabulary. For example, I learned that in Turkish when you are full you can say either that you are "doydum" or "tokum". You use doydum when you are eating and cannot eat anymore, it means that you are full at that time, but you would use tokum when you have not eaten for some time but still feel full (the state of being full).
Me and my language partner listen to Turkish songs together and we are planning to watch my favorite Turkish soap opera "Dudaktan kalbe". I really like that we always do something else so our classes never get monotonous. I also learned present continuous, I cannot say that I perfected it, but I am very comfortable using it. I have learned many words and verbs so far, so that is a huge plus for me as well. I am still not very comfortable with telling the time, I do not know why I find it sooo difficult, but since now on whenever I look at my watch I am going to tell myself the time in Turkish and if I cannot recall how to say it, I will have to check it in my notes. I really do not want to make any changes to my current learning style, because I find it very interesting and I never get bored. Also, the material is sometimes challenging and I always try to do more than I set out to reach. The teaching and learning style is very effective and I will definitely stick with it!
In addition, I am very happy with my second artifact. This is actually the first time that I used software "Camtasia" to record myself and add text to the video. So, not only did I create an artifact, but I also learned how to use this software. My language partner said that my artifacts are creative, and that I am very funny!!
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