SDLC 111: Learning Journal #1

[Elspeth Collard]

Currently, Letícia and I are focused on giving directions and basic verbs. We have been using a mixture of online resources and our textbook. We start every session by reviewing what we discussed last session and deciding where to go from there. There have been multiple sessions where we have needed to be on Zoom which has been an obstacle to navigate in terms of not being able to share a notebook between us to spell out words as well as it being difficult to hear pronunciation over Zoom. However, a majority of our sessions have been in person. This semester one of my main goals is to be able to continue feeling comfortable with Portuguese pronunciation. I also want to gain more confidence in basic vocabulary. One way that we practiced this while over Zoom is going through a Quizlet together that someone had made online. We practiced words related to food and restaurants because we want to try to get together a group of Portuguese learners and speakers to have a meal at a Brazilian barbeque restaurant in Short Pump.
Another new development is that Leticia asks me what topics I want to focus on and then she will find various activities on websites and in the textbook for me to do. She’ll also write out her own activities for me to complete in our shared notes. It has been helpful for her to know what she wants us to get done in each session. She has also been assigning me homework, usually one activity in the textbook for me to do before our next time together. Then, we’ll go through my answers together. This can be a great way to clear up common mistakes, my endless spelling errors, and also catch some of the exceptions to the rules I have learned that she had not taught me yet. Having this structure has really alleviated some of the issues we had with not having a plan going into lessons and instead creating them as we went. Leticia has really grown into her role as a teacher and I am so glad to be working with her. She has taken on a lot more responsibility for the lessons that I really appreciate. It also makes me feel like I am learning Portuguese the way that she knows it, rather than it being catered to “the way I want to learn it.” However, the textbook has definitely been helpful in providing material so that Leticia is not coming up with examples all on her own, which involves a lot of translating in her head. Instead, the textbook holds a lot of content and she can show me the parts that are helpful to what she wants to teach me. (We can also make fun of the textbook’s overly formal examples and she can teach me the casual way to say things when you’re actually in Brazil). Nonetheless, it is definitely concerning for if I were speaking with a native Portuguese speaker because they can shorten a lot when they want to!