Weekly Journal of Language Skills - Essay Example

I carefully reviewed how we attempt to make people comfortable. After reviewing our procedures, I became increasingly impressed by their effectiveness. I became more conscious of the means we use to make our parents and clients comfortable, and the necessity for incorporating that into the educational environment. I considered how it’s necessary to establish a friendly environment by staging the initial meeting in a comfortable library room with a fireplace. This removes the issue of being over authoritarian.

In my own experience with language learning I remember "No hacer gestos obscenos", and how I figured out "gestos" means gestures and "absences" is obscene, intuitively using cognates. The articles motivated me to begin web searches to obtain lists of cognates and to look for additional methods for implementing them while working with ELL learners. I’d like to develop a lesson plan that would appeal to Junior and High School language-learners, rather than just primary students. My theory is that within the lesson on cognates the actual nature of grammatical differences between the languages could be addressed.

For instance, pointing out to students that English allows consonant endings wherein Spanish you will consistently see cognates ending in vowels. This is a key distinction in the Helman article and I believe consistently addressing this in lessons, as a supplement to the lesson on cognates, would be of great effectiveness to older students. As I compiled a list of words that will be helpful to students, I developed a new understanding and empathy for ELL learners. I realized first-hand the effort it takes to complete work in a language that isn't my own, and how it is very easy to discredit the home language.

Attempting to do classwork in a foreign language, acquire vocabulary and develop proper syntax in a foreign tongue is intensely challenging and all methods of sheltering should be used to promote cultural literacy.