Thursday, November 29, 2012

The shock between my knowledge and motivation learning Slovak.


            At the beginning as a bachelor in languages I thought I was really motivated to learn Slovak, but when feeling came up from excitement and interest to frustration because I could just understand a few of words but it was impossible to communicate at that time with accuracy when the teacher asked us to play some roles, I did not want to speak because I was afraid I was going to say something wrong or my partners mocked me. Before that class I had a motivation because I was going to be exposed to a new and unfamiliar language but later on I realized I did not have any reason to learn it.  I felt that visual aids were really necessary to make me familiar with such a language in order to associate words with images to retain some words

            Having this enriching experience has helped me reflect on my learners’ emotions when everything they hear, read, write and say is in English, particularly for beginners this situation can make every day in class a very frustrating situation.  It is disappointing to sit in a class and you understand only a little, and when you want to say something but you are unable doing it in English.

             In this type of situation to avoid the emotional and behavioral problems, it is necessary to work through sociocultural and affective factors to help them quickly adjust to their new second language acquisition experience, to show the opportunities they can have in the academic and labor market. Learners must be aware that this is a natural reaction when we are exposed to a new language in our life. 

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