SDLAP%20Learning%20Plan.docx

Shopping

I decided to write a post about shopping culture in Turkey, since it is extremely different from that os US. Firstly, except for large international chains such as Starbucks, prices can be largely negotiable. Many stores, especially clothing, will not specify the prices of the items and will tell someone a price based on whether they are natives or tourists or based on whether they look well off or poor. Especially when someone sells rugs, souvenirs or fruit in the streets, prices can be extremely negotiable. It's important to tell the seller that you have already seen the same item somewhere else with a lower price in order for them to decrease the prices. It is also easier to bargain if one is buying several units of the same item. For instance, if something costs 15 Turkish liras and one ways 5 of those, the price can be negotiated to 60 liras. This being said, tourists can often be deceived with more expensive prices compared to what locals usually give, however the prices in Turkey are generally lower compared to the US, related to lower wages and salaries. Therefore, the tourist might not even realize that they are paying twice the actual price of the souvenir or the rug. Nevertheless, why pay more if you can pay less?

I also learnt a few vocabulary words related to shopping stores. 

My goals/objectives for this week:

• A review of Level 2 bahasa Indonesia (from University of Melbourne class)
• Chapter 1 "Teman Lama" in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Met with my language partner to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills.

This past week, I have completed:

• A review of Level 2 bahasa Indonesia (from University of Melbourne class)
• Chapter 1 "Teman Lama" in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Met with my language partner for three hours to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills.
  Reflection:

I spent about 2-3 hours this past week going over my notes in my bahasa Indonesia (level 2) notebook. Specifically, I spent a lot of time on reviewing passive and active verbs, but I covered a great deal more. To re-acquaint myself with the material, I simply read through paragraphs and other items I had written so that I can sharpen my fluency and reading pace.

I also finished Chapter 1 in Indonesian Grammar In Context. I learned the following:

• Nominalization of verbs using -nya
• Indefinite pronouns formed from question words plus saja
• Review of passive verb forms
• Review of the active and passive verb forms

The chapter included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partner for 3 hours. Some of that time was spent on reviewing old topics learned previously; the rest was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary. 

            These readings were very interesting because I think we often take our native language for granted in the sense that I had never stopped to think about the structure and science of the English language because it comes so naturally to me. When I started to learn new languages, I also didn't have to think deeply about the meaning of words, because I would just give them meaning based on their English translation. This being said, I think a more effective way to move forward this semester is to focus on meaning over translation. When I see a table, I want to think of it as "thakja" instead of "That is a table in English, so in Korean it's thakja." This is easier said than done, but it is a good mindset to have in language learning to recognize that different languages have different meanings. I'll also have to be aware that there will be words or phrases I learn in Korean that don't have a direct translation to English or that have different meanings. For example, I know that in Korean there are different words for "bye" depending on if you are the one leaving somebody's house or the one whose house somebody is leaving. Meaning also comes so much from cultural awareness and context. I've found myself being corrected in Spanish because I say something that translate perfectly to the way I would say it in English, but it's not the way natives speak. For example, in English we can say "sorry" for a variety of situations, and the most direct translation to Spanish is "lo siento," but you would never say "lo siento" if you bumped into somebody in a crowded area like you would say "sorry" in the same situation.

            According to the article, as a right-handed person, my language skills are probably controlled by the left hemisphere of my brain. The localization theory states that, even more specific than just hemisphere, that there are certain locations in the brain that process specific functions such as sensation, writing, speaking, comprehension, etc. There are many areas that work together to form language. An interesting thing in the article is about how complex communication is, when it can be such a seemingly mindless activity for us. The example it uses is saying "Hi how are you? I'm fine thanks" in passing with someone. It's something I do every day without consciously thinking about my intention to communicate, conceptualize my idea into the proper English syntactic structure, and sending the signals to the muscles I need to say those words out loud.

            Analyzing and conceptualizing "meaning" is something we do a lot in higher education, but it's more typically "the meaning of the stock market crash" or "the meaning of Hamlet," and less so "the meaning of the word chair." It's actually much more difficult to explain the meaning of something so simple, because we think of its meaning as a given, even though at one point in our lives we had to conceptualize the meaning of the word chair. Focusing on meaning this semester will hopefully help me see the world through the lens of a new language, not just the English lens translated to a different language as directly as possible.

An important part of Ethiopian and Eritrean culture is coffee. Coffee in Amharic is buna. Most people drink coffee everyday, as is done in other cultures, but the process of making it is what is unique. First fresh coffee beans are used and are roasted then grinded. While the beans are being roasted, the person making it brings the pan around to let everyone smell. Then a special coffee pot called a jebena is used to brew the coffee. The coffee is served in very small cups and each person adds sugar to their own cup. The beans that are roasted are used three times and are diluted more each time.  The first batch of coffee is called awul, the second batch is called hulettenya, and the third batch is called sostenya. Coffee is drank at all times of the day, but from my experience, most drink it in the middle of the day after lunch. When you go to another person’s house, they always offer to make you coffee. However, I don’t like coffee, so I usually ask for tea, another popular drink. In restaurants, there is always coffee (and tea) on the menu and in Ethiopia there are people whose sole job is to make coffee all day in the restaurants using the traditional method. Coffee is not only used as a drink but as a way for people to spend time with one another.

How have you organized your self-directed learning plan, and what have you learned so far? How will your studies allow you investigate your target language and culture more deeply? What first prompted your interest, and motivated you to start learning?

After receiving feedback from your classmates and Dr. Marsh-Soloway, what changes do you anticipate making? 

As I’m finishing up my learning plan, I’ve become very appreciative of the “task-based” learning method. This way of organizing allows me to focus on specifically what I think is practical and necessary for my future endeavors in the target language. I know I want to live with a host family during my time in Dakar, Senegal. Therefore, I’m focusing interpersonal communication, interpretive listening, and presentational speaking. I think it would be to my greatest advantage to be able to understand and verbally communicate basic phrases in Wolof. In this way, my studies will provide me with the tools to have a more meaningful experience will I’m abroad.

Additionally, I plan on adding more resources to my plan. I want to peruse my options in terms of multimedia available such as movies and TV series.

I’ve organized my learning plan to include the basics of what I need to know in order to communicate effectively in Amharic. So far, I have learned greetings, how to introduce myself, numbers, days of the week, simple weather phrases, colors, and simple questions. My studies will allow me to investigate Amharic and Ethiopian/Eritrean culture more deeply by giving me more insight into the specific ways that everything is described. I know that is not the best way to put it but there are certain things in other languages that are hard to translate so by knowing the language, one can get a better understanding of cultural aspects. I have had an interest to learn Amharic my whole life because I have grown up hearing it spoken. There were always times where I would be surrounded by my family speaking Amharic while I sat and listened with no idea about what was being said. My interest to learn has grown as I’ve gotten older because I really want to be able to speak to my grandma, who knows about 3 words in English. I haven’t had enough time to devote to learning, however, because of my load of school work. Now that I can actually learn Amharic and have it count as a unit, it has really motivated me to start learning and learn as much as I can while I have the time to devote to it. As for my learning plan, I want to make it more specific and include more sub-tasks in each task. I also want to find better artifacts like conversations that I translate or letters that I try to read. I also want to find more ways to test my knowledge than just having conversations with my language partner.

This week my learning goals were to learn how to tell time, ask the simple who/where/what questions, learn the days of the week, and basic colors. I accomplished these goals with much more ease than I thought I would. I was able to form some short sentences by building off of what I have already learned. I learned these words and phrases by speaking with my language partner.  I have come to realize that my language partner is the best resource for me because I like to hear what each words sounds like so that I can write down my own phonetic transcription.  After going over these terms and forming sentences, I have been practicing on my own. Even though I am still at a beginner level in Amharic, I think I am on the right track to be able to complete all of the tasks I included in my learning plan.

Reflect on the readings. What parts of the brain are most important for the production and comprehension of speech? How do you conceptualize or process meaning? Do these readings bring to mind any questions or motivations that could help promote your foreign-language abilities, retention, and recollection?

Language is loosely tied to several (if not all) regions of the brain including Wernicke’s area, Heschl’s gyri, Broca’s area, and Exner’s centre. These areas are related to speech production, encoding of speech, auditory reception, and motor control of writing. Reading Crystal D.’s work made me quickly realize how interdependent our brains are when it comes to language. The conceptualization of a message is the first thing that happens before speech production. All the steps that occur between conceptualization and speech production occur in Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas. Our environments and norms, however, also inform how we internalize meanings and messages. As Crystal says, “different languages talk about the world in different way.” As we learn more languages, we expand our repertoire of senses and references begin to mean more than one thing. I think being conscious of this concept will both help me understand what learning another language means and facilitate the process.   

During the first meeting with my language partner, Lena, we were assessed on our skills of the language basics since we are paired at a beginner level.  Using a variety of worksheets about Korean consonants, vowels, and combinations of the two, Lena figured that we are both pretty far ahead in the novice level.  We breezed through the other activities she had for us in a short amount of time, so we were able to progress into more advanced concepts.  During our meeting, I was hoping to figure out the organization and structure of our time together and assess where we each stand in the language which is exactly what happened. 

The current task I am working on is going through Chapter 1 and 2 of the Korean for Children book to grasp sentence structure.  I am also practicing a self-introduction and some vocabulary words.  Because I am an auditory learner, I read all my materials out loud and note the grammatical differences and similarities in the sentence structures.  This will prepare me for learning grammar later on with explanations by familiarizing myself with the different formats. 

For the vocabulary, I'm making flash cards and posting them around my room so that every time I come across one during my daily activities, I can test myself.  The words are food themed, so they will prepare me for when I get to the section about restaurants later in the semester. 

The best way for me to learn the self-introduction is to read it out loud repetitively sentence by sentence and slowly compound them until I finish the small paragraph.  After I finish memorizing how to say it, I will proceed to write it.  In the next meeting with Lena, we will practice introducing ourselves with her.  This will be incredibly useful when I reach my ultimate goal to go to South Korea and be able to communicate with the natives.  Something I found interesting when learning the introduction is that some of the phrases don't translate into things we say in English when meeting someone.  For example, in Korean, they make the statement, "We are meeting each other for the first time," and, "Please have a fond opinion of me".  These seem strange to us, but it's very common to use those phrases in Korea.  I enjoyed learning a bit about their culture.  

I'm really excited to continue with this semester learning Korean because I have been wanting to come up with an organized structure for learning the language for years and never really got the opportunity.  I am currently keeping up with my task goals and hopefully will continue to do so as the weeks progress.  

• First Cultural Post:  What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?
  • Which one or two topics will you explore during the course of the semester?
  • How do you expect to explore these topics?
  • What do you hope to learn through your exploration of these topics?

I would like to know more about Korean family and dining cultures and customs as I would like to know how to be respectful of my girlfriends parents and how to act at meals with them and at restaurants in general. One fun way to explore these topics could be going out to eat at a Korean restaurant with my girlfriend or my language partner and having a practice meal where we go over customs. 

Another aspect of Korean culture that I find really interesting is their work life. The difference between western self-centric life with a clear divide between work and personal life is very different from Korean work environments where coworkers tend to socialize together after hours. I think that this is a very interesting difference that is very telling of larger differences between the cultures. 

My Learning Plan

Where are you now?  What can you do?  What do you know?

Use the Levels of Competence document and the LinguaFolio® checklists to assess your current abilities in your language.  For more information, see the SDLAP Wiki.

Interpersonal Communication: (Novice Mid) I can understand basic words and phrases concerning myself and others when speaking slowly and clearly.  I can communicate using simple words and phrases that I have learned

Interpretive Listening: (Novice Mid) I can pick out some common words and phrases about immediate surroundings when spoken clearly.

Interpretive Reading: (Novice Mid) I can read and pronounce all letters and can recognize some familiar words and phrases on announcements and signs.

Presentational Speaking: (Novice Low) I can provide some information about myself and know some colors and numbers.

Presentational Writing: (Novice Low) I can write the alphabet and various words and phrases that I have learned.

What is your ultimate goal?  What is your goal for this semester?
What do you want to be able to do with this language at the end of this semester and in the future?

Ultimately, I would like to visit South Korea and be able to converse with natives and find my way around the country.  I also listen to a lot of Korean music and watch Korean dramas and I want to be able to understand everything without subtitles.  By the end of the semester, I hope to be able to give a brief bio about myself, write and speak in complete sentences, grasp basic grammar, increase my vocabulary, and begin to understand more of what I listen to and read.  

What tasks will you complete and what activities will you do this semester to meet your goals?  How will you document and evaluate your progress?

Novice learners should consult the ‘Language Tasks’ page of the SDLAP Wiki and incorporate the required tasks in their learning.  Be as specific as possible when planning activities, e.g., “I will watch YouTube videos to learn how to talk about the family.” or “I will consult a grammar text to learn about possessives.”  Make sure you include some tasks that are relevant to your interests, e.g., “I will learn to understand soccer commentary.” or “I will learn to talk about the stock market.”  Culture and language are, of course, inseparable.  It is expected that all your language will be culturally appropriate and that every task will contribute to your cultural competence.

Cultural learning goals for the semester.

Since I spent significant amount of time last semester in exploring everyday life of Turkish people, traditions, cultural expressions and traditional words, this semester I am planning to spend more time in exploring geographical aspects of the country, along with history and modern politics. In order to enhance my cultural understanding of the country, I will take a look at western and eastern parts of Turkey-they are significantly different ethnically, culturally and politically. I will look at different cities, geographic locations, ethic groups in those cities, political developments in the area, historical sites etc. I will also try to explore some economic aspects of the country and what each region is specialized in. 

Turkey has an extremely rich cultural history and a vast number of historical sites worth reading about and exploring. I will try to familiarize myself with the most ancient and popular cultural and historical sites, mosques, churches etc. If my cultural exploration goes as planned, I will design my end of year cultural presentation around Turkish archaeology and history, how the country started to be modernized after the first republic was established in 1923, how the dressing code and even alphabet changed and how well this transition worked in the country as a whole. 

For my exploration, I will rely on online resources and my language partner's help. I will try to ask questions to him to get a full primary source information and will combine that with the online resources(news articles, pictures, encyclopedia articles etc.) to get the full picture. These goals will provide me with the full understanding of the country, starting from old times and progressing through modern days. I believe every country is shaped by its history, and getting to know some of the Turkish history will make me understand the country and traditions in a much better way. 

• Summarize your assessment and goals in a blog post in your learning journal.

I am at Level 3 or the NCSSFL-ACTFL's equivalent intermediate low-intermediate mid. I took Bahasa Indonesia (level 2) at the University of Melbourne last semester, and I received a grade equivalent to a later "A" grade here.

I will briefly describe some of the larger goals I have for myself this semester with regard to learning the language. My strategy and structure for learning and the scope of the content mirrors my Indonesian language class at the University of Melbourne. I did quite well in the class, and more importantly, I learned a great deal. So, my learning content will be sourced from the same book, and my weekly strategy for learning the material will be similar to that in my language class. I will spend four hours a week covering a chapter and a half (there are ten chapters in total). There will be no homework outside of those four hours -- except for studying for an exam or completing a weekly artifact.

Indonesian Grammar In Context is a fantastic book, and, besides its focus on grammar, it delves deeply into Indonesian culture.

Bradley%20Fischer%20--%20Learning%20Plan%20--%20112.docx

Learning Journal 3

I’ve found it interesting how every Sanskrit learning resource I’ve used (books and online) has approached the language from an entirely different starting point. Some have started with nouns and cases, other with the alphabet, some with samdhi, some without. I’ve been using two resources in particular this semester (an online and a physical book), and by using the two at the same time I’ve been able to increase my learning. I appreciate the exercises and examples in my textbook since I think learning by example and by doing exercises are the best way to drill in language into memory.

• First Cultural Post:  What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?
  • Which one or two topics will you explore during the course of the semester?
  • How do you expect to explore these topics?
  • What do you hope to learn through your exploration of these topics?

I want to learn more about the people of Brazil and Portugal. I would love to explore how Portuguese was created and how it spread. I also want to learn more about other countries that speak Portuguese, because I really don’t know anything about it. I will explore these topics by researching online, and in the library, and by asking my partner about her family history with Portuguese. I think understanding where and how Portuguese came to be will make me understand the culture better, and be more helpful to my learning experience. I believe it will help me understand the similarities to Spanish, and create a wholesome learning experience for me. I am also just fascinated by Latino culture, but I don’t know anything about Portuguese culture. I want to educate myself more about the language and the people through these topics.

• Summarize your assessment and goals in a blog post in your learning journal.

I don’t consider myself having any prior experience with Portuguese. I have taken Spanish before this class, but I feel as though it may help me a little, but I still don’t know anything in Portuguese, or anything about the language period. My goal this semester is to become a intermediate Portuguese speaker. I believe with constant practice and hard work I can do so. I am going to work and reading, writing, listening and speaking everyday, focusing intently on my learning goals. I want to travel to Portugal soon and I think taking this class will help me. I also think it will help me when I go to Brazil eventually. I am really excited to start this language journey!

• Summarize your assessment and goals in a blog post in your learning journal.

From the levels of competence chart I have assessed myself as a beginning 0 for all 5 skills. In terms of reading I am able to recognize most letters and sound out most words, although I needed a refresher at first and some characters were a little trickier than others like the complex vowels ㅕㅑㅐㅔ ㅠㅛ, and I don’t fully understand the difference between ㅐ and ㅔ. I can sound out many simple words and recognize words that I have heard or used frequently. 

In terms of writing I can write simple words that are sounded out to me with some degree of accuracy, but as I mentioned above I have trouble with complex vowels and am unfamiliar with the advanced forms of character creation like double consonants. I don't think I could write out the full Korean alphabet but I can recognize most of them to some degree. 

In terms of listening I can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet when spoken and can recognize frequently heard or used words like hellos, goodbyes, and some very basic vocabulary like yes and no. 

In terms of speaking I am vaguely familiar with a few basic grammatical structures and could get through a few simple sentences such as introductions, saying thank you, and goodbyes.  

Week 2

Reflect on the readings. What parts of the brain are most important for the production and comprehension of speech?

In speech production: Thought is generated in Wernicke’s area, encoded in Borac’s area and the signals are passed to articulatory organs. (Crystal, 2005)

In speech comprehension: The auditory cortex receives signals from ear and transfers it to Weirnecke’s are, where it is interpreted. (Crystal, 2005)

The Weirnecke’s area is the common denominator.

How do you conceptualize or process meaning?

The most common mechanisms for deriving meaning from a lexeme are:

• Grouping them – by field of meaning, or function in speech, for example.
• Observing the position and associated lexemes – where is it used? And with what other lexemes?
• Associating lexemes – either by similarity or opposition, associating words or phrases helps increase vocabulary.

Do these readings bring to mind any questions or motivations that could help promote your foreign-language abilities, retention, and recollection?

What I found most interesting in the reading was the idea of how different populations use their languages to represent the world around them. I think it showed a strong correlation between language and culture. Knowing that there are aspects in any language that are inherent to the culture where it grew is exciting, because now I see my language study as an opportunity to have a peak at a new foreign culture before I get the chance to travel there!