Learning a new language comes in multitude of perspectives other than just characters or symbols making words and sentences. Language involves the cultural, historical, and religious influences and aspects as well.
My native language is Korean, and I started learning English as a secondary language in 6th grade. Because Korean and English differ both fundamentally and structurally, learning English was extremely challenging. I can almost remember putting words together without any grammatical knowledge and trying to make sentences that only made sense in my head. Constantly talking with my classmates significantly increased the rate I was learning English. After just two short years, I was able to catch up with the rest of my grade and graduate out of ESL.
In high school, I took Spanish as a second language requirement; however, learning Spanish after learning English was much easier as they had similar letters and structures. I exceled in Spanish all throughout high school which made learning Spanish a rather enjoyable experience than a challenge.
To my experience, I learned the most during real world experience. When I traveled to Mexico, my Spanish skills were put to the test; however, I could barely understand the native pronunciation which led to a complete blank mind. As I talked with more and more native speakers, I was able to learn at a much more significant rate than in classroom environment.
With the experience of learning two languages by the time I graduates high school, I can definitely conclude that I enjoy learning a language with a native speaker. Native speakers keep the pace going by pushing me more than what books can teach me. Also, language was only enjoyable when I kept making progress and putting it to real life application.
To my experience, I disliked learning language in just a classroom setting with just books and packets that explain grammar, vocabulary, and rules. Language can get extremely slow when it is taught just like any other classes: lectures, homework, and handouts. Unlike any other classes, language requires you to go out and apply it to real life in order to enjoy it and learn faster. Especially speaking with native speakers as they have completely different pronunciations and the location of accents.
According to the Learning Styles analysis, it concluded that I was a visual learner. Because I’m a visual learner, seeing pictures or color-coding things would significantly assist me in learning as fast as possible. This is a significant analysis as it will influence the way I study new language. Now that I know the best learning style for me, using pictorial or visual aids will boost the rate of which I learn things.
According to the Multiple Intelligences Survey, it concluded that my top three intelligences were musical, body movement, and social. Knowing that musical is the strongest intelligences, I can use music to remember rules, words, or grammars by implementing them into the lyrics and singing along to get it in my head. As for body movement, I can write things over and over again to use muscle memory to remember how to spell words. With social intelligences, it will best for me to study with other people or native speakers to have social interaction.
With various perspectives to tackle learning experiences, I can implement new techniques and skills to ensure that I learn a new language at the most efficient pace.Reflection%20Paper%201.docx
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