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This week has been a bit crazy for me! Ultimately, I focused on learning the Hebrew alphabet and numbers. Let’s just say I have a lot morework to do this week! Because Hebrew is completely new to me, I knew that thebest way to improve my pronunciation of certain words and letters would be to listento different videos and programs. Most of my studying this week, I would haveto say, was intensive. I focused primarily on YouTube videos that helped notonly with the pronunciation of Hebrew letters and numbers, but also how tospell them. Although I am not interested in learning how to write in Hebrew, itis still beneficial to be able to recognize how each letter looks so I canidentify them. In addition to focusing on the Hebrew alphabet and numbers, Ialso looked at some vocabulary. My goal is to learn roughly 3 to 5 vocabularywords a day, starting with a certain category. For instance, this week Ifocused on ‘family’ terms. A useful site that I used was called BYKI. This is awebsite that I know that I will definitely use throughout the semester. It hasall kinds of different Hebrew words, already separated into categories. Thesite will show you the Hebrew word and then show you what it means in Englishand then, at the end of the first set a words, it will test you to see how muchyou know; I cannot say that I know much at this point, but I’m getting there :)

As for my extensive listening activities last week, I did not really do much. I know that I am a beginner and still have to learn basicallyeverything there is to learn about Hebrew, so I feel like most of the listeningI do is going to be intensive, as opposed to extensive. However, I do know thatextensive listening is just as important. So, this week, my goal is tohopefully listen to some Hebrew news clips that I can find or to even watch theHebrew television channel that we learned about in class. I think that thesewill both be helpful listening activities and although I already know that Iwill not be able to understand much of what is said, if anything at all, theywill still help me become familiar with Hebrew pronunciations.

So, this was the first week that I actually began learning Hebrew. My goal was to learn how to greet people and how to introduce myself. Because I do not have a language
partner yet, I resorted to using YouTube videos. At first, I did not think YouTube
would be that great of a source to use, but I ended up finding a great video
that helped me out and that I downloaded to the Diigo website for other
students to use.

I learned really quickly as I was practicing my Hebrew introductions that I am going to have a very difficult time with the Hebrew accent. Most of the words end with a
certain sound (a sound that is produced from the back of one’s throat) that I
am not familiar using. I have taken both Italian and Spanish, but neither of
those languages required strong accents. French is probably another language I
would have trouble with. Because I did not grow up learning Hebrew, this
particular sound, which is hard for me to explain, does not sound natural when
it comes out of my mouth; it sounds completely forced and to be honest, a
little embarrassing. I spent the day yesterday
introducing myself and practicing greetings with my roommates, and although
they want to help, they could not help but just laugh at me. It actually was
quite entertaining!

I knew from the beginning that learning Hebrew was not going to be easy. I can read the words on paper, but I know that at this point, they do not sound the way they should,
but that is okay. After all, I am only just beginning. My hope is that by the
end of the year, everything will sound much smoother and not as forced. On a
side note, I met a student at the University this weekend who has taken Hebrew
before, so that made me happy!

Here are the words that I have learned thus far… ( I have not mastered them yet, but I will in due time )

My shlomkha : how are you (male)

My shlomekh : how are you (female)

SHALOM!!! : hello, goodbye, peace

Toda! : Thank you

Ve ata (male) : And you?

Ve at (female): And you?

Ma Shemkha? : What is your name? (male)

Ma shmekh? : What is your name? (female)

Anee…: I am

Kore’em lee ..: They call me

Lehtrao’ot : Goodbye

Ekh kore’em lekha: How do they call you ? (male)

Ekh kore’em lakh: How do they call you? (female)

As I am still in the early stages of learning the alphabet and basic vocabulary, I have yet to encounter any serious roadblocks in my language learning. For learning the alphabet and vowel markings, the most useful resource I have found is actually a site for teaching Hebrew to children, www.akhlah.com. It has coloring pages and practice sheets for the letters of the alphabet, as well as coloring sheets for learning seasons, months, colors, etc.

For basic phrases, I have found Byki to be very helpful, especially in the area of learning how to pronounce words. Simply looking up phrases and memorizing them usually isn’t productive unless I can hear the phrase pronounced by a Hebrew speaker. Eventually I hope hearing the word will no longer be necessary for me produce accurate pronunciation, but as of now when I have yet to associate what sounds letters or groups of letters make it is essential to hear the words spoken.

Usually flashcards are the best way for me to assess my progress; I will keep going through a set until I make no more mistakes, often writing out the answer instead of just saying it in order to practice
spelling and the ability to recognize the words. This of course is the concept of Byki, which uses constant repetition with a type of flashcard system. However, Byki has its limits, and eventually will no longer be useful as my vocabulary expands past what it offers.

Looking ahead, I am intimidated by the idea of learning grammar. I have two basic options, 1) finding a good textbook or system of learning that presents Hebrew grammar step by step, or 2) listening to native speakers through podcasts, Israeli TV, etc., and trusting that an understanding of grammar will come as a result of becoming familiar with speaking patterns. At this point, the second method sounds more appealing. In my experience with learning Spanish, I have found that when I have studied grammar from a textbook it doesn’t become natural, and I often forget the rules rather quickly, especially when I do not practice them. However, when I traveled to Spain I found myself becoming more and more comfortable with speaking Spanish not because I knew all the grammar rules but because I had heard the way sentences and phrases worked in context. Learning grammar through listening and interacting with the language seems to be a much more natural way of learning than from a grammar textbook.

I didn’t find much in the reading that I disagreed with or found surprising. It seemed to mostly say that learners can be more successfulif they take an active role in the process, which requires more motivation andindependence. These days, there’s much more of an emphasis on self-directedlearning, especially through the internet. And this view doesn’t bother me atall because that’s how I prefer to learn. I’ve always liked finals week becausethere’s no classes and I can schedule everything myself in order to learn whatI think is important. Actually, in my fourth year at university, I’ve come tothe conclusion that college isn’t about teaching students things; it’s aboutteaching students how to teach themselves. Anyway, it’s what I naturallygravitate towards doing, if I have a block of free time and a laptop withinternet, so I’m pretty excited about the prospect of self-directed Turkishlearning. :D

There are so many resources available, whether online courses, or internet-streaming radio, or books in the InternationalCenter, that I really am not worried about being able to get enoughinformation. The one worry, especially in regards to things posted on theinternet, is reliability. Ease of access means that plenty of information onthe internet isn’t credible, so that’s where my language partner could help meout, by verifying whether a site’s content is actually helpful and accurate. Thataside, I’ve found some good sites so far, bookmarked on the Diigo, includinglinks to the alphabet with pronunciations, foreign-language TV and radio, music& talk radio, grammar layouts, dictionaries, news sites in Turkish, and onlinelessons. I also plan to have a Turkish dictionary, and I should have RosettaStone at my disposal as well, so my next order of business is to check outexactly what is available in the International Center’s book resources.

While reading from “How Language Works” and the article “What is Learner Autonomy and How Can it be Fostered?” I was surprised and a little intimidated by learning how much thought and effort goes into becoming an autonomous language learner. The learner must be highly motivated to take the initiative to move forward in the language and continually evaluate his or her progress. HLW analyzes how words, or lexemes, possess meaning, and the article states that “the autonomous learner is a self-activated maker of meaning” (Thanasoulas 2). In short, the autonomous learner is finding his own way of understanding the meaning of words, from the context of his life and previous language learning experiences. This is a great undertaking, but also a very freeing one. The learner is able to direct his language study in the ways best suited to who he is and how he learns, but he is also responsible for evaluating himself, and learning to understand when he is going wrong in his study and how he can improve.

One of the most intimidating parts of self-directed language learning for me is knowing where to start. HLW covers the idea of “selective focusing”, in areas such as vocabulary, grammar, or phonology, “selective focusing of this kind . . . is an essential part of the business of discovering how language works, and is also a helpful way of simplifying the task of description” (HLW 181). Having categories in which different parts of language are separated helps one navigate the sea of options, providing direction and order. Although the language learner is still responsible for choosing where to begin and where to focus, having ideas of how language can be divided is very helpful.

One characteristic of autonomous learners mentioned by the article is that they are “willing to take risks, i.e.,
to communicate in the target language at all costs.” (Thanasoulas 2). This is one area I know I need practice in, because for one reason or another I struggle with confidence in expressing myself in a foreign language, especially orally. Learning to take risks, and not being afraid of failure, is an essential part of being an autonomous language learner.

I found both the book chapters and the article to be very helpful in explaining the different tools and processes that can be used to better develop my skills as an autonomous learner. However, between the two, I thought the article presented information that was much more applicable. Since a young age, I have always considered myself an independent and self-sufficient learner. However, after reading over the article entitled ”What is Learner Autonomy and How Can it be Fostered” by Dimitrios Thanasoulas, I realized that this is the first class I have ever taken throughout my 22 years of education in which I will be completely teaching myself; an intimidating thought if you ask me.

The most useful aspect of the article was the skills and tactics it mentioned to promote learner autonomy. Throughout this whole process, I know there are going to be times when I am going to become frustrated and want to give up; after all, learning an entirely new language is never easy. However, the article mentioned that both diaries and evaluation sheets can be very useful, and I could not agree more. A diary will allow me to plan and actually monitor my progress with learning Hebrew. It will be a constructive way for me to see changes I need to make or problems that I may be having. It will also be great to be able to look at my diary at the end of the year and see how much I have improved, from starting out not knowing any Hebrew to hopefully being able to learn enough to actually be able to converse with others!

(I'm sorry for the late entry, Nuray Hocam, but I did not realize that you wanted this by Monday MORNING! My deepest apologies!)

I am a very independent learner by nature; when I find a potentially interesting subject, I often peruse the library or the Internet, devouring every piece of information I can find. In middle school I voraciously read all of the works of Piaget, convinced I would become a developmental psychologist. When I first became interested in Turkish culture, I would ask my friends of Turkish descent any question I could think of, and immediately scoured the Internet for language learning programs. When I discovered that I could teach myself a language at the University of Richmond,
I was as excited as anybody could be.

I was taught Spanish for five years in middle and high school, and although I had plenty of resources at my disposal, I was never so inclined to learn the language. I was rather detached from my heritage, living 600 miles away from my non-immediate family. Furthermore I was embarrassed: I am full-blooded Latina, both of my parents speak the language, but I could not put together a single sentence for most of my life. Spanish was the language that students took as the “easy A”, unconcerned with actual acquisition. Therefore, the honors and even the AP curriculum at my school was aimed for the student who did not care but merely took the class to fulfill the institution’s language requirement. Activities and lesson plans were noticeably contrived from the dying imagination of a teacher who had had the joy of teaching culture sucked dry from unsympathetic administration and even more uncaring students. They were, in summation, a joke. I did not learn much, and had to study strenuously and independently in order to pass out of the COM2
requirement this year.

While studying Turkish these past few months, I had been experimenting with different teaching strategies, and nothing worked better than drawing pictures and labeling them
with Turkish vocabulary words. Even if I stop learning Turkish, I think I will always remember the word for watermelon, “karpuz”, after having drawn a little watermelon and labeling
it. Also, seeing things in front of me and having them said to me works very well; I worked with Turkish students in carnival games, and they would point to prizes and teach me their Turkish names (I know the Turkish word for tiger, “kaplan”, like the back of my hand.

It was no surprise to me then that I am classified as a visual learner. I will certainly use this information to my advantage, and try to watch videos and look at diagrams more when attempting to learn new vocabulary or grammar. I also am a strong learner by writing, according to the text, and I think that the best way to incorporate both mediums is by drawing pictures and labeling them, as I demonstrated above.

Again, my Multiple Intelligence Inventory shows that I am strong in visual/spatial reasoning first-most, with secondary skills in linguistics. My third greatest strength is intrapersonal ability, so I will best utilize that information by creating my own inventory of my skill level and creating projects for myself to complete. I am happy to know I am an intrapersonal learner, as it will make SDLAP a lot more manageable personally!