intro%20to%20self-directed%20language.docx
When I learned my first language, Korean, I felt as if it came naturally to me. I spoke Korean with my family and friends in daily conversations, and then learned to write and understand new vocabularies through flash cards, worksheets and television shows. When we moved to the United States and had to learn english, it was a different and difficult experience. Although it took longer and took more effort due to the differences in those two languages, I used the same methods to learn and study english as I did Korean- through daily conversations, flashcards, and worksheets to improve my skills. Then in high school, I learned Japanese with the same methods which worked really well for me due to the fact that Korean and Japanese had the same roots, and that I used methods that worked on me.
The parts I enjoyed as I was learning a new language was learning through flashcards and worksheets. By learning with flashcards, I truly felt that I could memorize the vocab the most effectively through going over flashcards with somebody. Having the flashcard in front of me truly helped me expand my vocabulary by letting me understand and fix my mistakes right on the spot. The other part of learning I also enjoyed was working through worksheets, and I believe that it helped me with everything across the board- from vocabulary through grammar. While working through the worksheets, I had the time to actually process my thoughts before writing them down, and I believe this helped me improve in that certain language overall. I was comfortable with these methods because it required me to think internally, which was what I was familiar to.
The part I disliked was holding a conversation with a fluent speaker. I knew that this would be the most effective method to improve in speaking, but I just hated making mistakes in front of a fluent speaker. I did not embrace that fact until in high school, but by embracing it and constantly speaking with another person, I was able to improve in speaking, as well as my grammar and accents. Although I was not comfortable with this method, this was one of the most effective methods to improve my learning skills.
According to the surveys I completed, it stated that I was a visual learner, which explained why I felt using flashcards was effective for me. It also explained why worksheets worked for me, since I was able to visualize things I was reading, and was effective for me to write things down. According to the FIRE model, I seem to be a factual learner, which means that I like detailed methods such as worksheets, and this seems to describe myself well.
In order to expand my learning activities, I believe that I should go out of my comfort zone to receive the full experience of learning a new language, which would be holding a conversation with a native speaker. Since my preferred methods of learning involves thinking internally, speaking out loud, whether it be by myself or with someone else, would really help me take my learning experience to its full capacity. Also, maybe by helping out somebody else who is less experienced than I am, I would be able to review the concept and understand why that person is having a difficult time learning that certain concept. By learning through methods that I am not completely comfortable with, it could really benefit myself to become more experienced and eventually more comfortable with the new language.
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