Hello! Welcome to my vblog #2.
For this vblog, I interviewed one
of my friends Ben Alverez. Ben was born and grew up in Venezuela until the age
of six. When he turned six, his family decided to move to the United States and
start a life here. When Ben was put in school he had started off in a full English-speaking
class. This is where he and his parents realized that class was not the best
fit for him due to the fact that he spoke and had no knowledge of English.
As I was interviewing Ben, he was
telling me how at first, he first started to learn English. Since his parents
also did not speak English, he learned first from his teacher in class. Then,
it moved to family friends starting to help him. Ben was saying that with the
family friends he in a sort copied the way they would speak and how they spoke.
This process reminded me of the text in which Gass (2008) says that “one-way
internalization occurs is through imitation, which can be both immediate and
intentional” (p. 284)
As ESL’s learn English or any new
language, having them interact with peers is a helpful tool in progressing
their learning. The more interaction the child gets from other children their
age or near their age not just helps their speaking, but it also lets the
children get more comfortable being/talking around others. As Gass (2008)
states, “learning a language involved imitation as its primary mechanism, the
language that surrounded learners was of crucial importance” (p. 304). The more
interaction that children have with their peers and even adults plays a position
that is inherent to their learning development.
Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kIVmhShi-r3asFiI3Xuu9ht9sQGzddaK
