Learning a new language or language in general has always been challenging for me. It’s never been something that’s just clicked like other subjects, and I’ve always had to work hard at. In high school, I took Spanish for 4 years all the way up until my last year of AP Spanish. Although it was challenging, I actually really enjoyed it because of the learning process. That class was super interactive, we watched movies, sang songs, discussed interesting reading materials, and practiced conversational speaking a lot. I loved that aspect and the constant reinforcement of the material through different mediums and communication really helped me learn. From our surveys, I’m said to be a visual learner and from the fire model I’m tabbed as more factual and rational, which is why this probably appeals to me. When I can see the practical side of what I’m learning, I do much better. In addition, my results showed auditory learning as second highest of my learning styles. This makes sense because I really benefited from conversation, media, and other things where I could hear the language and try to imitate what I heard. What was challenging about my language learning in high school was the pace and some harder material. Like I’ve stated, I move a little slower than most with language for some reason, and in high school the pace of learning Spanish was so fast to get us prepared to take the AP exam. There were times I felt left behind, which is why I’m excited to move at my own pace in this class. As for the material, I learned a lot worse with dense readings. Not only was it challenging, but it just was not engaging to me in the slightest sometimes. This really detracted from me trying to learn the material and understand the language. Which is why the more applied learning from the class was much more suited for my learning. I found, especially with being in college not continuing to speak the language, that repetition and practice really are the best ways for me to learn. Even if it were small things, the more I just incorporated Spanish into my daily life, the better I remembered it.
With that being said, I think there really are some effective ways I could learn Portuguese if I approach it the right way. I think to start, I really need to spend time thinking about how to approach learning a language. This would be an expansion on my normal process of learning as I’ve never taken the time to think about it foundationally. A personal schedule and way to keep my own pace would also be something I’ve never had before. This would help me stay organized and allow for me to move at my own productive pace After that, I think that incorporating what learning activities have worked well in the past for me would be the best to pursue. Definitely a mix of visual, interactive, rational, and somewhat basic activities. I think videos, songs, movies, and other things I can just incorporate naturally into my life will work great for me. As well as simply writing and studying important Portuguese words. Another thing I really liked from our readings was the prospect of critical self-reflection and assessment. I think this is a must for my learning process because I need a way to keep myself guided and progressing. Whenever doing something that’s self-guided, it is easy to justify not trying or really no progress because you’re totally in control of the process. So, I’ll need to develop a measuring stick or milestones to keep myself on track. My aspirations aren’t too lofty because language learning is something that takes me a long time and a semester is only so long, but I am excited to hopefully acquire a basic and solid foundation of the language.
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