I was born in South Korea and grew up learning Korean as my first language. I moved to the States at 3 years old, so I hadn’t had the chance to learn how to read and write in a school setting. Growing up my family would still speak in Korean since my parents had difficulty learning the new language. My mom would sit me down and give me small lessons on how to read and write so that I wouldn’t forget my first language. In school in America, I was a fast learner and began to pick up the English language quickly with my peers. By spring of kindergarten, I had “graduated” from ELL and began helping other Korean students in the ELL program. From 4th grade to 8th grade, I attended Korean school at my church and further learned reading and writing. Afterwards, I stopped attending the school, but still had many Korean friends so I continuously learned many vocabulary words in Korean. During middle school and the beginning of high school, I took French classes as my third language. I wasn’t particularly interested in French- because I wanted to take Latin, but they cancelled it last minute- so it was more difficult for me to learn it. I liked the environment where I wasn’t afraid to mess up because I knew that all of us were nervous to start learning. I liked that name roots and words in French were cognates, so it was easier to understand. I also liked that our teacher encouraged us to not only study, but to practice speaking it with other students. Even though I enjoyed being in a class with my friends, I disliked that the language was being taught with so many kids in the class. I preferred the one on one lessons with my parents much better.
From the surveys I completed, my learning style is fairly even with visual and tactile (tactile being only 5% higher). I need to be able to see and touch to successfully learn the material. My way of understanding topics is to break everything apart then putting it all together. I learn and remember through physical movement. In my anatomy class, I had to memorize some of the bones of the body; to remember them, I would say the part out loud while also touching it on my own body so that. My highest intelligences were social, self, then body movement so I enjoy talking with others to develop ideas and learn from them, enjoy learning about myself, and like to move myself around frequently. From the FIRE model, I believe that I have a mix of insightful and evaluative thinking. I excel in classes that provides a comfortable environment where discussions are encouraged and where we can find new ways to approach a problem. I learn languages best when I first study by reviewing notes and watching videos, then coming together with other students and applying what I’ve learned. I believe that even if you work hard to study a new language, the best way to learn is to start speaking it with a peer even if you make mistakes.
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