I think that this was a successful semester of language learning. It was a different, and frustrating experience to not have a steady language partner to work with. Last year I might have said that my favorite part about Hindi is writing it because I like working in the script, but this semester has definitely made me realize that what I most enjoy is speaking the language.
I spent a portion of the semester reviewing material I had previously learned, but forgotten especially since I did not use Hindi over the summer. I now feel more comfortable than ever with this material, particularly the past tense which I have previously struggled with. I learned a lot about immigration first hand through talking with the kids I tutor. I learned several new, useful verb constructs. I can write them all well, and I would feel comfortable incorporating almost all of them into a conversation in Hindi. Education definitely became my focus throughout the semester. I was able to interview Saifali about his education. The interview was very informative. Among other things, I learned that Saifali went to private school and that he was taught in Hindi and English. He did not live at school, because his home was very close and classes only lasted about six hours per day. He attended a co-educational school and they learned about religion as part of their curriculum. These were the most interesting things that I took away from our interview. I was also pleased with my ability to read a newspaper article reasonably well that related to education.
I was very happy with the oral assessment that Nina and I completed together. It was great to know that my conversational skills have not gotten rusty, even without speaking the language very regularly. As I wrote in my evaluation, I was most proud of my ability to explain things that Nina did not understand in an alternative way, using different verbs or descriptive words. This was something new for me, as I have always spoken to people who are much more advanced Hindi speakers than myself. Thus, I have always been the person to need something explained in a different way.
I was satisfied with my individual presentational speaking that was recorded, as well. I am actually glad I did that component without specifically preparing a monologue in advance, even though I was nervous about it at the time. I am someone who really likes to prepare for things, and practice them a lot in advance. This showed me that I may underestimate my ability to speak spontaneously and without prompt from someone else. I was able to say essentially everything that I would have otherwise prepared, and with minimal error.
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