A. Current Abilities:
I can recognize letters and vowels
I can sound out words
B. Goals:
To be able to understand what I'm reading in a children's book
To be able to speak in a simple conversation about my name
To be able to talk about family
To be able to order food at a restaurant
To be able to talk about when things are- weeks, months, dates, etc.
C. Tasks
Speak with language partner about culture and slang
Look at a calendar and be able to label it
Watch shows in Hebrew
Based on my experience as a language learner, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn something new. It’s awesome to be able to speak a language other than my own. It provided an opportunity to deeply connect with native speakers and break the image that I am an outsider to them. From my experience, most individuals were usually accepting of outsiders who attempt to learn their language. I enjoyed how learning a new language reduced the awkwardness that I would have felt when being surrounded by native speakers. Additionally, it’s pretty amusing to see the look of absolute surprise on their faces when I read something or respond to something they said in their language. Overall it’s great being able to understand a language to such an extent where I would be able to travel to the countries associated with the languages and test my skills.
I disliked the quickness that came with learning a new language. I definitely felt overwhelmed when being in a classroom. The pace was just too fast for me to fully comprehend and retain the information. I was uncomfortable speaking and learning in a large group setting with individuals who have an easier time in learning. There were times where I felt that I was going too slow and not as skilled as others. I definitely preferred to learn on my own and with a great deal of practice. I hated having to learn so much information in a short period of time. It most likely hindered on my ability to retain this information. Another part that I disliked is when the teacher or instructor would speak quickly in the language, making understanding difficult. When this happens, I felt inferior for even asking questions about it when I should have been able to comprehend it.
I am a visual learner so I prefer to see images associated with the word or be given examples to really see a clear connection. I can’t memorize very well. Just because you say a word in a language doesn’t mean that I necessarily know what the word means or the object associated with it. Only unless an individual indicates that this word is equal to this object do I retain this new knowledge. Activities such as demonstrations and drawings suit my learning style. I also am an aural learner. I pay close attention to the pronunciation of the words. In doing so, I am able to mimic the sound and the way that the word is pronounced. I prefer activities where I can hear and practice saying the words to a native speaker. I realized that a word can be pronounced differently than what is written and so it’s much better to focus on listening. Learning activities should not include open-ended questions. However worksheets that provide consistent practice should be incorporated as one of the activities. Throughout a course, I expect it to be clear and concise so I know exactly what should be done and when. While I dislike surprises and freedom to do whatever, I think this would be a great opportunity for myself to be in control of what I learn. Through this way, I can learn at my own pace and hopefully feel comfortable learning. Therefore with this new-found freedom, I have the opportunity to create a learning schedule tailored to my needs that incorporates activities that I know will optimize my learning experience. Expanding to other learning activities would require some time getting used to and incorporate trial and error. When expanding, I should be open to new ideas and be willing to take risks.
My experiences as a language learner have been great overall. I studied French throughout my middle school and high school years. My teachers always taught their classes in very straight-forward and easy to understand manners. I would practice at home by repeating words and sentences to check on my pronunciation and enunciation. I would also read my notes over again and usually go over workbook exercises. Based on the FIRE model, I connected with many of the descriptions for the different types of language learners that one can be. In relation to the factual, I believe that I learn best by starting with the concrete and moving toward the abstract in a step-by-step progression. I also value practical knowledge, and I want my own work to be precise and accurate. In regards to being insightful, I value time to plan and think things through before beginning to work. I want to be empowered by material that I have mastered as well. In relation to the rational, I appreciate being recognized for personal insights, discoveries, and for finding unusual solutions to difficult problems. Finally in regards to the evaluative, I appreciate being recognized for personal insights, discoveries, and for finding unusual solutions to difficult problems. I generally dislike an overly competitive learning environment and being forced to speak on the spot a great deal.
In order to expand my learning activities, I am open to trying new ways to study and learn. I would enjoy group study sessions with peers and drilling vocabulary.
As a language learner, I have, accumulated from in and out-of-class, learned a total of four languages. As a child, I learned how to speak English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese dialect. Because I am an American-born Asian, it is difficult for me to maintain skill in Mandarin or Taiwanese, so it is unfortunate that I was not able to learn how to write. English, thankfully, was taught to me as my first language. I am thankful because English tends to be a difficult language to teach to foreigners and it is also a difficult language to learn for foreigners. Nevertheless, it is wonderful to be able to communicate with parents of my Chinese friends as well as my own relatives.
Entering middle school, I took on my first attempt at learning a secondary language in school. I learned Spanish from the time of seventh to eleventh grade. When I was a twelfth grader in high school, I took on the role as a teacher's aide and learned many more things, specifically the Spanish culture. Not only had I developed an ability to speak Spanish, but I could read Spanish articles and finally gain a stronger understanding of everything.
As a language learner, it was awesome learning about the culture after gaining a grasp of the language. I was fortunate enough to be fully immersed in Chinese and Taiwanese culture as a child. My understanding from one of my friends, who is a student of the Japanese language, is that there is a huge difference between being a tourist of Japan and being a full Japanese-speaking resident of Japan. With Spanish, I never had the opportunity to visit Spain; however, my Spanish teacher in high school was a native Spanish speaker and I believe gave me a good grasp on its culture. Overall, I enjoyed almost everything about being a language learner.
Insofar, I have only had a few minor things that I dislike about being a language learner. For two years in college, I took Mandarin Chinese as a language. I had the ability to speak because I grew up with the language, but I was no where close to fluent and I did not know how to write. I had the will to learn; unfortunately, some classmates around me clearly had much less motivation, and as a result, made learning the language with other peers more difficult.
According to the FIRE model, I am a Factual learner. I learn best by starting with the concrete and then moving towards the abstract in a step-by-step progression. I prefer everything to be objective with worksheets and drills that teach me how to specifically use certain words and grammar. I am uncomfortable with open-ended questions, but this may be only the case when I am new to the language. As I grow as a learner and speaker of Korean, I become more evaluative. If I am to grow, I seek personal attention and evaluation of my progression. I cannot work in a competitive environment as I feel too much anxiety. I prefer concrete teachings, but I also like to make sure I can eventually apply what I learn to a practical scenario in real life.
According to my personal experience, the Learning Styles, and Multiple Intelligences Survey, I am a visual learner. I prefer things to be laid out in nice tables, charts, or diagrams. Fill-in-the-blank and repetition exercises are my preference as it tends to be more visual. I believe I can expand my learning activities by being more verbal and talk with my tutor once I meet him/her. Most people I know are able to read and write their language of choice; however, when it comes to speaking, it is easy to tell that they do not speak often and are weaker in this area.
This is my cultural presentation on hijras. And below the link presentation I included the annotated bibliography from my Gender and Work class. I got my information from those sources.
SDLC%20111%20Hijra%20presentation.pptx
Bibliography
1.
Abdullah, Muhammad A., Zeeshan Basharat, Bilal Kamal, Nargis Y. Sattar, Zahra F. Hassan, Asghar D. Jan, and Anum Shafqat. "Is Social Exclusion Pushing the Pakistani Hijras (Transgenders) towards Commercial Sex Work? A Qualitative Study." BMC International Health and Human Rights, November 19, 2012.
This research article explores social exclusion leading hijras (in this case, Pakistani hijras were studied) towards sex work which in turn puts their health at risk. Social exclusion generally makes work opportunities unavailable to the hijras and so they turn to sex work in order to make a living. The stories and research in this article will help me identify which types of social exclusion hijras in Pakistan face and how they deal with it. Moreover, I will learn more about the nature of their sex work and the risk/effect of AIDS on the hijra community.
2.
Baig, Rabail. "Foreign Policy Magazine." A First for Pakistan's Third Gender. March 30, 2012. Accessed November 18, 2013. http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/30/a_first_for_pakistans_third_gender.
This article discusses the advancements hijras in Pakistan achieved and which rights they now have. It has information on new policies that the Pakistani government implemented for their hijras, such as affirmative action. I will use Pakistani’s achievements as a model for what Bangladesh can and should achieve in granting hijra rights.
3.
Hossain, Adnan. "Beyond Emasculation: Being Muslim and Becoming Hijra in South Asia." Asian Studies Review 36 (December 2012): 495-513.
Hossain explains the dynamics of Hinduism and Islam in hijra lifestyles and practices. He delves into the origins of the hijra identity within those two religions and compares them. The process of emasculation is also explained (for the non-intersex hijras). This article is insightful in its explanations of how hijras fit within the religious-social construct of specific South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh and how their religious and hijra identity affects their employment. Hossain mostly uses Bangladesh for his examples and compares them to that of India’s.
4.
Karim, Mohosinul. "Hijras Now a Separate Gender." Dhaka Tribune, November 11, 2013. Accessed November 18, 2013. http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/11/hijras-now-separate-gender.
Karim reports a major recent advancement for hijras in Bangladesh—Bangladeshi hijras being recognized by the government as a separate gender. They do not have to register themselves as either male or female, but they now have the right to register themselves as hijra and receive a national ID. This means that they are being recognized as citizens of Bangladesh and will no longer go formally ignored by the government and most importantly they have access to things such as healthcare. This is the beginning of a huge change and movement for hijras. I will use this article to compare to the changes that had been made in India and Pakistan for their hijra population and identify methods that can improve employment opportunities for hijra in Bangladesh.
5.
Khan, Sharful Islam, Mohammed Iftekher Hussain, Shaila Parveen, Mahbubul Islam Bhuiyan, Gorkey Gourab, Golam Faruk Sarker, Shohael Mahmud Arafat, and Joya Sikder. "Living on the Extreme Margin: Social Exclusion of the Transgender Population (Hijra) in Bangladesh." Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 27, no. 4 (August 16, 2009): 441-51. doi:10.3329/jhpn.v27i4.3388.
This article looks at how the social exclusion of the hijras in Bangladesh society affects their lives. It includes 20 key informants, 10 focus group discussions, and field observations of hijras and their community. Those will be primary sources for identifying issues in the hijra community in Bangladesh and I will tie those into their work lives and also link them to issues hijras in India and Pakistan face.
6.
Malti-Douglas, Fedwa. "Hijras." In Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, 695-96. Detroit [etc.: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2007.
Gives a cultural and religious definition of what a hijra is. However, it does not encompass all religious aspects of who hijras are as it relates it mostly to Hinduism. It would be effective in putting to perspective the roles of hijras in India as opposed to Pakistan and Bangladesh. I can use this definition and details to compare it to an “Islamic” inspired perspective hijras and their role in Pakistani and Bangladeshi society.
7.
Nanda, Serena. "Hijra and Sadhin: Neither Man nor Woman in India." In Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations, 27-36. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2000.
This includes information such as their social organization and economic adaptation, hijra prostitution, their social status in India, and so forth. All these are pertinent in my research to identify the issues that hijra face in society and how the issues contribute to their lack of work opportunities. This is one of my main sources for the hijra in India.
8.
"Need for a Hijra-friendly Development Process." Dhaka Courier, November 23, 2012.
This article talks about issues the hijras in Bangladesh face in government policy and the social structures. Since this article is very recent it is extremely helpful in highlighting the issues at hand and it will lead me towards what types of change is needed for the hijra community. I will use this as another supporting document for the types of oppression and issues hijra in Bangladesh face.
9.
Patel, Amisha R. "India's Hijras: The Case for Transgender Rights." George Washington International Law Review.
Patel describes the ritual of emasculation in India and human rights matters as it applies to hijra and what types of measures should be taken. It discusses visibility as a technique to get them above social exclusion. I want to take the legal aspects of this argument and apply it to human rights for hijras in Bangladesh.
10.
Stewart, Chuck. "Bangladesh." In The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide, 333-46. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010.
This explains the nonexistence of LGBT recognition in Bangladesh and how the hijra fit into that social structure. It looks at the hijras from a Bangladeshi cultural perspective and defines who the hijra are and their role in Bangladeshi society. It has information on education, work, community, government policy, family, health, religion/spirituality, and much more regarding the hijra. Since it encompasses various topics in relation to the hijras in Bangladesh, I will use this as my go-to for information on hijras in Bangladesh.
11.
Suthrell, Charlotte A. "The Hijras of India." In Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-dressing and Culture, 75-113. Oxford: Berg, 2004.
The chapter that I will be using from this book has various stories of hijras in India and their personal accounts in facing harassment and their lifestyles. It is very much similar to the stories of Bangladeshi hijras. I will use examples from some accounts to contextualize the types of harassments hijras face as well as to learn about who counts as a hijra and who does not. This can be comparable to the hijras of Pakistan that has two schools of thought.
12.
Usmani, Basim. "Pakistan to Register 'third Sex' Hijras." The Guardian. July 18, 2009. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jul/18/pakistan-transgender-hijra-third-sex.
This article discusses the Pakistan government’s movement to help integrate hijras into Pakistani society by registering them as part of a survey. Hijras are normally kept away from the public eye as they live in hijra specific communities. By making them part of a survey, they become more visible to the public along with the issues they face. I want to use this to display the kinds of changes and advancements that hijras are achieving in the south Asian region. I will add more from Bangladesh and India in order to support the different types of advancements as well as setbacks.
For my final artifact I have recorded a short monologue about my favorite Hindi movie. artifact%204.mp3
This is a short monologue about my Christmas break plans. artifact%203.mp3
Here I am learning to conjugate verbs (feminine and masculine) and use them in a sentence (present and future tenses)
For my first artifact I posted a picture of the me beginning to learn how to start a conversation.
At the beginning of the semester my goal was to learn five words a day which sounded reasonable and very doable to me at the time. Soon I realized that it was not as easy as it seemed. Not having enough time to practice was one of the issues but also remembering the old ones while learning new ones was also a problem. Since most of the words are not used in daily conversations, practicing them is not possible, and trying to simply memorize them only worked for a short term. I would remember them for a couple of days but since I didn’t use them I would eventually forget them. At this point I have realized that my goals are pretty unrealistic so I have switched to learning fewer vocabulary words and also learning words that I would use in daily conversations.
I think the small cultural presentations are a great idea for us to not just learn more about the culture of our target language but also about the cultures and languages that our classmates have picked. Learning about the Swedish Fika gave me a tiny glimpse into the Swedish culture, traditions, and language. The presentations are like windows from which we can view life in a different country and learn something new that we wouldn’t have bothered to otherwise. The presentations were not only interesting but they also expanded my horizons: before learning about Fika I would have never even thought about Sweden. The country was simply a dot in the map but after learning something about their culture I have a tiny piece of information that I can associate it with.
Body language plays a tremendous role in Indian culture to supplement the spoken Hindi. In a highly gendered society it is better to avoid confrontations and misunderstanding by simple body language. For example a female will need to avoid eye contact in order to not draw attention to herself. Men for their part don't shake hands or touch women in public. Any pointing of the finger during a greeting should be avoided because of its accusatory connotation. They point with their chin to avoid offending anyone. These are just some basic signs and gestures that would help a non-native Indian to avoid confrontations while interacting with the natives.
