(I'm sorry for the late entry, Nuray Hocam, but I did not realize that you wanted this by Monday MORNING! My deepest apologies!)
I am a very independent learner by nature; when I find a potentially interesting subject, I often peruse the library or the Internet, devouring every piece of information I can find. In middle school I voraciously read all of the works of Piaget, convinced I would become a developmental psychologist. When I first became interested in Turkish culture, I would ask my friends of Turkish descent any question I could think of, and immediately scoured the Internet for language learning programs. When I discovered that I could teach myself a language at the University of Richmond,
I was as excited as anybody could be.
I was taught Spanish for five years in middle and high school, and although I had plenty of resources at my disposal, I was never so inclined to learn the language. I was rather detached from my heritage, living 600 miles away from my non-immediate family. Furthermore I was embarrassed: I am full-blooded Latina, both of my parents speak the language, but I could not put together a single sentence for most of my life. Spanish was the language that students took as the “easy A”, unconcerned with actual acquisition. Therefore, the honors and even the AP curriculum at my school was aimed for the student who did not care but merely took the class to fulfill the institution’s language requirement. Activities and lesson plans were noticeably contrived from the dying imagination of a teacher who had had the joy of teaching culture sucked dry from unsympathetic administration and even more uncaring students. They were, in summation, a joke. I did not learn much, and had to study strenuously and independently in order to pass out of the COM2
requirement this year.
While studying Turkish these past few months, I had been experimenting with different teaching strategies, and nothing worked better than drawing pictures and labeling them
with Turkish vocabulary words. Even if I stop learning Turkish, I think I will always remember the word for watermelon, “karpuz”, after having drawn a little watermelon and labeling
it. Also, seeing things in front of me and having them said to me works very well; I worked with Turkish students in carnival games, and they would point to prizes and teach me their Turkish names (I know the Turkish word for tiger, “kaplan”, like the back of my hand.
It was no surprise to me then that I am classified as a visual learner. I will certainly use this information to my advantage, and try to watch videos and look at diagrams more when attempting to learn new vocabulary or grammar. I also am a strong learner by writing, according to the text, and I think that the best way to incorporate both mediums is by drawing pictures and labeling them, as I demonstrated above.
Again, my Multiple Intelligence Inventory shows that I am strong in visual/spatial reasoning first-most, with secondary skills in linguistics. My third greatest strength is intrapersonal ability, so I will best utilize that information by creating my own inventory of my skill level and creating projects for myself to complete. I am happy to know I am an intrapersonal learner, as it will make SDLAP a lot more manageable personally!
Comments
I love karpuz!!! You should watch some Turkish soap operas (Most of them have English subtitles). I will tell you which ones I watch :)