Book Talk: The Mists of Avalon

In Days Past: Drafting

Althalos eased himself back into his chair in the study. Once, he had been a spry, able-bodied man, capable of making the trek across the Ka’el Plains in little more than a week. Now Althalos rarely ventured outside of his corridor in the Castle of Drüweis. Althalos muttered something under his breath while flicking his finger towards the hearth and a warm, cozy fire erupted, the scarlet and golden flames gently licking the surrounding stone.

He meandered over to his bookshelf, half searching for a particular title, half seeking to ignore the correspondence that had appeared on his desk. He could tell from the seal that it was from King Terryn, and Althalos knew that he would have to respond sooner or later. But for now, the elderly mage was content to rummage through his old, leather bound books and perhaps for today, he could escape from his responsibilities in the world. It was just as Althalos was beginning to actually enjoy his time studying his bookshelf that the momentary peace was disrupted by one of his books falling to the floor.

Althalos walked over to it, puffing in annoyance as he stooped down to pick it up. The book was certainly far larger than any other book in his keeping. So large was it, that he found it hard to believe that he had no recollection of a book this big. He turned the binding to face him and blew off the dust that wasn’t knocked off when it fell. Ad Mysterium Fati it read. Aha! thought Althalos, and suddenly he did remember. This book had belonged to Fendrel, Althalos’ mentor. He remembered the many moons he had spent poring over this book, learning its every secret and teaching by heart. He had spent so much time in reading it in fact that he had memorized whole chapters of the book in an attempt to impress Fendrel.

Oh Fendrel, if only you were here, surely you could help me. With a sigh that carried the weight of many lonely years, Althalos turned back to his desk and opened the letter that rested there. He knew it was about his taking on of an apprentice, a task he was not nearly as eager as the King to have happen. But Althalos knew that he was old and that he did have to pass on his knowledge and wisdom to a new student, and knew even better that Fendrel would encourage him to do so. The letter, as it turned out, had a myriad of names that Terryn had collected from the various sorcery schools throughout Drüdægen, and it read”

 

Dearest Althalos,

 

In honor of your noble and heroic service to the land of Drüdægen in years past, I have been patient and allowed you time to yourself. I granted you a corridor of my own castle to have to your studies and pursuit of every study under the heaven. As your King, I feel I must make this request of you.

 

But as your close friend, I must say that it is with a heavy heart that I ask you to take on an apprentice. The Great War was a terrible time, and I know that it took Fendrel the Wise, may he rest in peace, from us, but especially from you. He was your mentor and your closest confidant. And even more than that I know how heavily the immense cost of the war was for this whole kingdom.

 

Althalos, venerable Althalos, it is time for you to take on an apprentice. You are aging and I fear for the day that your health will fail you. As is the tradition and right, being the Grand Mage and Defender of Drüdægen, you must pass on those deep magical secrets that Fendrel taught to you, as was taught to him in his time. You knew full well when accepting apprenticeship the burden and honor it would be to become our Grand Mage. I know that you will choose the best apprentice and no instructor shall be your equal.

 

In an attempt to be kind and to hasten the process, I have collected 10 names of the most promising students from our Sorcerers Guilds throughout Drüdægen. Each of these fine young men have received the highest marks in their classes and have showed a capability to master advanced spells and I am told that they have the most earnest commitment to the Sacred Art..

 

Merek, from

Sadon, from

Rulf, from

Cedric, from

Janshai, from

Berinon, From

Tybalt, from

Borin, form

Terrowyn, from

Cassius, from

 

Any one of these should be a most fine assistant and apprentice to you. Choose well, friend

 

Your King and

Your Friend,

Terryn

 

Author’s Note:

My piece is currently in its final stage, more or less, for the purpose of this class. What I wanted to focus on in this piece was how some heroes reject who they are as heroes and only see their failures, and how that can affect them after their heroic times. Also, I created a perpetually benevolent “hero” of sorts to show a kind of comparison between two ways heroes can “age” for lack of a better word. It’s focusing on what happens to a hero after the fact of their actions, and how it affects them (the heroes) and those around them. I think the story is a good mix of plot and background that creates some interest for the reader and that the commentary on heroism isn’t outright said, but rather is left for the reader to discover. I’m rather proud of this piece, it’s long and I have a lot more to say on the story, but that’s for another day. Some feedback that I’m looking for is whether there’s too much or too little background/set-up and the same for plot, and then also if I need to add more overt things about heroism.

 

Expanding Spanish Curriculum and Cultivating Success

The world at times might seem like it is growing smaller and smaller. Inventions like planes and cars and radios have brought the world closer and foreign peoples to new lands. The Internet, too, has connected the modern era, allowing people across the world to communicate at the mere click of the button. It is in this world that the ability to speak a foreign language, and speak it proficiently becomes of increasing importance. And it is for these reasons that Lincoln Lutheran should both offer a middle school Spanish program and provide more outside-of-class help to struggling high school Spanish students, so that students at Lincoln Lutheran will have the proper skills to communicate in an ever-globalizing world.

Even though the world seems to be growing more and more connected, a person may still choose to not learn a language because it simply might not appear practical for them to do so. It may be that there aren’t any speakers of the target language for the student to talk to, or simply that “everyone speaks English anyway, so why learn it?” Either way, this simply isn’t the case. Locally (that is, in Nebraska), Spanish is a very practical language for someone in Nebraska to learn. There are currently 167,000 native Spanish-speakers in the state of Nebraska out of its 1.8 million people population (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”). And according to the Omaha Center’s for Public Affairs Research, this number is only growing. It is predicted that by the year 2050, Spanish speakers will make up about 25 percent of the Nebraska population, which translates to about 538,900 speakers out of 2.24 million people in Nebraska (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”).

If that number weren’t enough, the national statistics are even more convincing. As of summer 2015, the U.S. eclipsed Spain as the second largest Spanish speaking country (in terms of population) with 37 million Spanish speakers currently living in the United States (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). This correlates back to the Nebraska statistics, by the year 2050 America is predicted to eclipse even Mexico in terms of having the most Spanish speakers. On top of all of that, there are 329 million native speakers in the world (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). So, it is plain to see that when it comes to learning a language, Spanish is very applicable- both at the state and national levels.

Undoubtedly, with so many people speaking Spanish, knowing the language has to provide some advantage to a person able to learn it. Huffington Post’s 17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish provides a menagerie of reasons to learn Spanish- 17 to be exact. Of all of them, perhaps the most prevalent is how it can help a person to be hired. In California alone, the demand for jobs of people who can speak Spanish fluently is high, but the state still has a (rather high) 10 percent unemployment rate. The state needs more people in the information sector, but is lacking in people who are skilled in government positions and can speak Spanish. So, in California, speaking Spanish certainly bolsters one’s chances of getting a job significantly.

Another boon to learning Spanish is that it can help one understand English better (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). It seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense in a way. By approaching a different language, one must familiarize themselves with the grammar structures of the target language. The simplest way to understand the construct of another language is through one’s own, and so important details in Spanish like Direct and Indirect objects help an English speaker understand the purpose of them in their native tongue.

When talking about Secondary Language Acquisition, or SLA, it is important to understand how the process works. Now, it should go without saying that everyone’s mind works a little bit differently. That means that some people can acquire more languages, speak more fluently, and do it in much less time than others, while on the other hand some people may just not be able to learn a language at all. Bearing those in mind, language acquisition research has determined that, in general, there are five stages that a person will go through when learning a language. The first of the five is known as the “Preproduction” stage. This stage usually takes place from about zero to six months of studying a language. In the Preproduction stage, the student still has minimal comprehension of the target language. As a result, a student will often shake their head “yes” or “no” in response to questions and will draw and point in an attempt to aid their lack of ability to verbalize (Hill and Björ).

Following immediately after the six month to one-year point, the student is in the “Early Production” stage. The student, while in general lacking, will begin to gain some comprehension during this stage. However, he or she will still not be fluent. There are 3 distinct verbal cues to signify this stage. The first is that the student will make extensive use of key words and phrases that are often the base of class activities. For example, in Lincoln Lutheran, the Spanish phrase “voy a” (I’m going to) is commonly used by students in this stage to express some action that will happen in the future, as opposed to the use of the future tense itself. And that fact lends itself to the next cue- in the Early Production stage; students will generally only use present tense verbs in talking, and this limits one’s ability to converse productively. The last verbal signifier of the Early Production stage is that students will often produce one to two word phrases in response to questions, again building off the idea of keywords (Hill and Björ).

For the next two years of study, the student is then classified as being in the “Speech Emergence” stage. And as the name suggests, students in this stage of language acquisition begin to form simple and perhaps even complex sentences. This is largely due in part to the fact that now the student has started to comprehend the language and the format and formulas the language follows. However, the student is still not very proficient in this stage. They will often make grammar and pronunciation errors when writing or speaking and jokes that are amusing in the target language, will often “go over the head” of the student (Hill and Björ).

The fourth stage is known as “Intermediate Fluency”, and it takes place from the third to fifth year of study of the target language. After years of study, the student should now have a fairly decent comprehension of the language of study. As a result, sentences are often more complex and contain verbs in a variety of tenses such as: subjunctive, past, imperfect, or future, just to name a few (this is not to say that all of these tenses are in the same sentence, as that would be very difficult to do). This is also corroborated in a study done that analyzed learning Spanish in a standard classroom setting versus studying abroad. The results of the study found that “At higher levels of ability, learners are able to use more complex grammatical elements without a corresponding increase in speech output”, which go along perfectly with what Hill and Björ are saying (Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed).

Then from five to seven years and on up, the student has reached the stage of “Advanced Fluency”, that is to say the language is more or less fully learned, and the student should have a level of fluency and comprehension near that of a native speaker (Hill and Björ). This last stage is especially hard to quantitatively measure because language acquisition is an ongoing process, especially in a non-native tongue.

The math on this is simple. According to The Stages of Secondary Language Acquisition it takes at a minimum five years to develop a passable amount of fluency. Currently at Lincoln Lutheran, students are only offered classes up to Spanish 4, or four years of learning. Since the primary goal of learning a language is fluency, the research shows that students at Lincoln Lutheran who learn at an average rate won’ achieve fluency while in High School. The easiest and perhaps most efficient way to solve this would be to create an optional Middle School curriculum, so that students who are so inclined can pursue and advanced pace of study in Spanish.

In a study conducted by Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed also provided some insight as to what else could help a student in the Speech Emergence stage of SLA. Following along with a student being in Speech Emergence, the study recommends the use of “key content” words (Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed). Remember, the Speech Emergence stage is characterized by the use of key phrases and words (Hill and Björ). The study found, though, that the use of these key words helps non-native speakers who started learning after the age of 14- the average high school freshman- retain vocabulary better. But note, the age at which repetitive usage of key phrases becomes beneficial is 14, and by adding a middle school curriculum, this can be circumvented and students’ learning will be more similar to those who learn the language at home.

Naturally, a large amount of learning a second language is done in the classroom. Nebraska is no exception to that, and thankfully, the “Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Framework” is readily available online. What this means is that people can easily see the guidelines that the state of Nebraska has laid out for teachers of Foreign Languages. The Frameworks help guide teachers in multiple facets by setting goals, setting standards, and providing progress indicators. These Frameworks also contain examples for teachers to use in class, sample learning scenarios for teachers to analyze, and sample assessments for teachers to model their own off of. So while the Nebraska Foreign Language Frameworks provide guidance, they do still leave a lot to the teacher’s discretion. Perhaps most importantly, or at least most pertinent to Secondary Language Acquisition, are the five goals that the Framework sets up. After all, there must be some end game in mind when learning a language.

The first goal is rather obviously to “Communicate in a Language other than English” (Blair, et. al). The Frameworks provide three “stages” or “tiers” so to speak of this goal. The first level is to have “students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.” This effectively does two things- first it says that communication is of the utmost importance. But secondly, it defines what communication is, or at least communication that should be sought after. Communication, according to the Framework in its most basic form is to exchange information, especially about the human experience. The second level of goal one is to have students be able to read and write the target language, thus expanding their ability to communicate. The third tier of goal one is to progress into more abstract forms of communications (Blair, et.al). Specifically, the Framework wants students to “convey information, concepts, and ideas to listeners and readers for a variety of purposes.” This is the third tier because typically, abstract thought takes more advanced language skills.

The second goal, only containing two tiers, is to “Gain Knowledge and Understanding of other Cultures” (Blair, et.al). It should go without saying that foreign languages are accompanied by foreign cultures. So an important, and often useful, part of learning a language is to learn about the culture of the language. The first tier says that “students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the perspectives and practices of cultures studied and use this knowledge to interact effectively in cultural contexts” showing the importance of culture. And while it is important at the base to understand a culture, the second tier of goal two aims for positive thinking about the given culture. It specifically wants, “Students to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the perspectives and products/ contributions of the cultures studied.” (Blair, et. al) It is good to understand a culture, but then understanding the contributions it’s made to the world is only beneficial.

The third goal is a common education goal. It is to “Connect [foreign languages] to with other disciplines and acquire information.” (Blair, et.al) Another two-tiered goal, this goal seeks to have SLA bolstered by other subjects. The first tier wants “Students reinforce and further knowledge of other disciplines through foreign languages. “An example of this would be to imagine that a history is class is learning about Christopher Columbus. This goal says that to learn about him in Spanish class would be beneficial for the learning of both subjects. The other tier of this goal is for “Students to acquire information and perspectives through authentic materials in the foreign languages and within the cultures.” (Blair, et. al). Learning Spanish or Russian or Greek is a good thing, but this argues that to read Miguel de Cervantes, Dostoevsky, or Aristotle helps the study of both the writing and the language itself.

The fourth goal laid out by the Framework is to have students “Develop insight into the nature of Language and Culture.” (Blair, et.al). That is to say, it is important for students of a language to make connections between the language and culture. The third and last of the two-tiered goals, the first one wants “Students to recognize that different languages use different patterns to communicate and can apply this knowledge to their own language.” (Blair, et. al) This makes a great connection back to how learning a foreign language can actually help a student learn their native tongue better as well. The second tier of goal four is for students to “recognize that cultures use different patterns of interaction and can apply this knowledge to their own culture” which is to say that learning about other languages and cultures can help us to see that there are similarities between ourselves and others (Blair, et.al).

The fifth and last goal of the Framework is the true endgame of learning a language- to “Participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.” (Blair, et.al) One of the most beautiful things about learning a language is that it does open so many doors for a person. And by studying both the target language and culture, one is prepared to participate on a potentially global level in a multilingual community. The single tier of this goal is simple. It is for “Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting for a variety of purposes.” (Blair, et.al) The Framework understands the global nature of language and as such desires for Nebraska students to use and develop the skills learned in the classroom to make connections for all sorts of purposes; this is perhaps the most noble aspect of SLA.

When it comes to the classroom, there are a variety of different ways that a teacher may approach teaching a foreign language. As mentioned above, the Nebraska Frameworks provide guidelines for teachers and goals, but they do not say exactly how a teacher has to go about running their classroom. However, there appears to be something to a classroom procedure known as the “Orbital Experience”. For those who don’t know, the Orbital Experience is a methodology of teaching a foreign language, in this scientific study, it was a Spanish class (Gomez, et. al). The study was conducted in a Spanish class of 41 students, so that makes it a comparable class size to those at Lincoln Lutheran (around 25-30 students). The way an orbital experience works is like this: students break off into small groups, around five or six students. Each is allowed to research a topic they are interested in or passionate about and then presents to their small groups in Spanish.

The study itself outlines in particular the story of a baseball player at the high school where the Orbital Experiences take place. It details how he tells “in halting Spanish” shares the highlight of his baseball career: pitching a no hitter. Despite the impressiveness of this feat, he still seems “shy and sheepish” (Gomez, et. al). The study continues to outline how only one person at his group was aware of the feat, but that everyone congratulated him on his accomplishment and the student later went on to say how it made him feel good that other people took an interest in what he did.

In fact, that is one of the main goals of an Orbital Experience- to provide a sense of community and accomplishment (Gomez, et. al). A survey was presented to the students after the study was done to help with data analysis. Overwhelmingly, the students gave positive feedback about the experience. Several students noted how “many of their peers’ Spanish skills improved from the first to second round of Orbitals.” And many others noted how it was easy to continue talking in Spanish because it was a topic that they were passionate about (Gomez, et. al). Also, the data analysis at the end of the study found that the scope of topics increased from one round of Orbitals to the next, pointing to a growing sense of comfortableness and mastery of Spanish.

Now, this isn’t to say that Lincoln Lutheran needs to exactly copy the Orbital Experience step-by-step. But, it is what is at the heart of the Orbital Experience that is really important. The study proved that by giving students the ability to learn and present about what they wanted to, learning was increased as well as fluency. Going forward, this is something that could easily apply to all classes, because the study shows that the more say a student has in his or her learning, the more they will benefit.

All-in-all, SLA is no easy feat, nor is everyone meant to be bilingual or multilingual- much like how not everyone is meant to be a carpenter, an accountant, or any of the multitude of professions and hobbies available to people. But, the world is globalizing and becoming connected. The plane, Internet, and countless other inventions have brought the world closer together. It is because of this, providing strong SLA class environments and stressing the importance of SLA is a necessary task that must be undertook to help ensure the quality of the international and local community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Blair, Marie, et al. “Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Frameworks.” Ed. Gordon
Culver. education.ne.gov. Nebraska Department of Education, 1996. Web. 30
Mar. 2016

Gomez, Diane, Joan Gujarati, and Rick Heckendorn. “The Orbital Experience: Building Community Through Communication And Connections In High School Spanish Classes.” American Secondary Education 41.1 (2012): 96. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

Hill, Jane D and Björ, Cynthia L. “Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator’s Guide”. The Stages of Second Language Acquisition. Web. 06 Mar. 2016

Planas, Roque. “17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed. “CONTEXT, CONTACT, AND COGNITION IN ORAL FLUENCY ACQUISITION: Learning Spanish in At Home and Study Abroad Contexts.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition Stud. Sec. Lang. Acq. 26.02 (2004). Web.

Tobias, Mike “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050.” Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050. NET, Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Far Over the Mists of Avalon

I’m still chugging away at The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It’s a very large book, split up into four sections and I’m about 100 pages from halfway through the book (876 pages). As I said in my earlier blog about this book, it’s the Arthurian Legend retold from the female perspective. And Zimmer Bradley does a fantastic job of using her writing style to give the book the feeling of the Middle Ages. When I’m reading the book, I truly do feel like I’m in Medieval England, where the concerns of my life are no longer college or making sure my phone is charged, but instead of how can we keep the Saxons out of Britain and how much longer until midsummer night’s eve. What I’m saying, is, that she does one of the best jobs I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading of putting me in the time period of the book.

And one of the key aspects of the time period is the struggle between Paganism and Christianity. The main character in this retelling is Morgaine le Fay, the priestess in line to be the next Lady of Avalon and half-sister to High King Arthur. As a priestess of Avalon she is only loyal to their Goddess, and then to the Druidic religion. On the other end of the spectrum we find another main character, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), High Queen of Britain as a devout and pious Christian. Constantly throughout the book, Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar clash over how the Kingdom should be ruled and to which God or Goddess Arthur should look to for guidance.

The conflict, in fact, grows so intense that Gwenhwyfar has a dream about it while visiting a convent in Cornwall. In it she dreams that she was on the Isle of the Priests where she was raised as a child, and high on the tor of the Isle, she sees Morgaine wearing robes and a crown. And Morgaine says to her “I am Morgaine of the Fairies, and all these kingdoms will I give to you as their High Queen if you will fall down and worship me.” And this clearly comes from when Jesus was tempted in the desert, and I believe it was Zimmer Bradley trying to throw that reference in, as Gwenhwyfar being pious would have well understood that story.

But what really strikes me as interesting in this book is how it is almost pro-pagan. So many retellings of the legend paint the pagans in an evil light as sorcerers and tempters. So I’m not saying it’s good one way or another, merely refreshing to have a new take on the religious aspect of the book.

A Day as Any Other

It started a day as any other

Well, I should say,

As any Saturday in spring would.

The hour was early, but not so early

That it was unpleasant to rise

Check my belongings-

Once, twice, third times’s the charm-

It’s all there and I’m out the door.

Practice is brief

We run

We kick

As I say,

We SOCCER (Insert dinosaur roar here).

Afterwards is the mad scramble to the cars

Who goes with whom?

How many fit in a car?

It matters not, I’ve got all

I can take in my Car

 

The Drive is short and fast

First subway, gotta eat after all

We did just have practice

A spicy sriracha chicken sandwich

For me, I’m not sure what the others got

And once more we’re off

Off to our service-

 

Sorting

It’s not hard work

But does that take away

From its validity?

Helping is helping

After all. The hours begin to

Tick by. Time is measured by

Toys in a bag; is measured

By the shoes in a box.

It’s all thirty or so of us

Smiling, Laughing, Serving.

The joy of being with my brothers

Far eclipses the negative feelings

I had that day-

The day that started as any other

And in fact wound up

In a much different spot
than I had imagined.

It had taught me the joy

Of service and it

Reminded me of

The Privilege to serve.

The Mists of Avalon- Review Part 1

The Mists of Avalon is an intimidating book to look at. It is 876 large pages of very small print. Then once you begin to dig into the book, it becomes somewhat more daunting. This is because The Mists of Avalon is a retelling of the Legend of King Arthur, except with a small twist. This time, author Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote the book from the perspective of the females in the legend. Characters like Igraine, Viviane, and Morgaine take the main stage. The Arthurian Legend has a very big place in the history and lore of Britain and to read through any variant of it is quite an undertaking.

Now, because the book is Arthurian Legend, Zimmer Bradley chose to write it in a somewhat archaic version of English. That isn’t to say that there are “thee”s and “thou”s thrown in there, and verbs aren’t ending in “-eth”. But, the sentences are much longer than the English we write in today. Also, the writing employs archaic syntax in its sentences, for instance Viviane when talking to Morgaine says, “I doubt not that the Saxons find them four times as fearsome when they fight side by side.” It’s the little details like putting the “doubt” before the not and using words like “Saxons” and “fearsome” that give this book the “old-timey” and adventurous feel of an epic novel.

Contained within the masterful writing of Zimmer Bradley is an incredibly unique story. As I said earlier, it is the Arthurian Legend, but from a feminine point of view, and as far as I am aware, this is the first and really only story to have done so. In the Legend, the female characters are often cast aside. Igraine is merely the wife of Gorlois then Uther and father to Arthur. Viviane and Morgaine le Fay (of the Faeries) are sorceresses and a constant thorn in the side of the men. Uther, Lancelot, Arthur and the other paladins usually take center stage, but no more in this retelling.

The women in this book are heroes, but not necessarily heroes in the same sense that the men are commonly portrayed as. Instead of being valiant warriors and brave leaders, Zimmer Bradley makes them more subjects of Fate. She presents the women with incredibly difficult tasks, and has them follow through with their sense of duty, instead of a sense of self. So even though what the women are doing might be irksome to the men, it really is all for the good of Britain and of Avalon.

It’s a very interesting and new portrayal of heroism to me and I’m curious to see how Marion Zimmer Bradley utilizes and expands on this theme.

What’s the Deal with Spanish- Post 4

This will be the last post (sad face) in this riveting series about Spanish and how we as human beings learn other languages. I know that if you’ve made it this far, you must absolutely be enthralled by the amazing information that I have collected. I applaud and commend you for being such a dedicated reader. God bless you.

This last post outlines a study conducted in which students partook in “Orbital Experiences”, or quasi-socratic small groups where students research a topic and present in Spanish. The study looked into comfort levels and fluency of students who were able to learn about topics they so desired.

I bid you all adieu, for now.

When it comes to the classroom, there are a variety of different ways that a teacher may approach teaching a foreign language. As mentioned above, the Nebraska Frameworks provide guidelines for teachers and goals, but they do not say exactly how a teacher has to go about running their classroom. However, there appears to be something to a classroom procedure known as the “Orbital Experience”. For those who don’t know, the Orbital Experience is a methodology of teaching a foreign language, in this scientific study, it was a Spanish class (Gomez, et. al). The study was conducted in a Spanish class of 41 students, so that makes it a comparable class size to those at Lincoln Lutheran (around 25-30 students). The way an orbital experience works is like this: students break off into small groups, around five or six students. Each is allowed to research a topic they are interested in or passionate about and then presents to their small groups in Spanish.

The study itself outlines in particular the story of a baseball player at the high school where the Orbital Experiences take place. It details how he tells “in halting Spanish” shares the highlight of his baseball career: pitching a no hitter. Despite the impressiveness of this feat, he still seems “shy and sheepish” (Gomez, et. al). The study continues to outline how only one person at his group was aware of the feat, but that everyone congratulated him on his accomplishment and the student later went on to say how it made him feel good that other people took an interest in what he did.

In fact, that is one of the main goals of an Orbital Experience- to provide a sense of community and accomplishment (Gomez, et. al). A survey was presented to the students after the study was done to help with data analysis. Overwhelmingly, the students gave positive feedback about the experience. Several students noted how “many of their peers’ Spanish skills improved from the first to second round of Orbitals.” And many others noted how it was easy to continue talking in Spanish because it was a topic that they were passionate about (Gomez, et. al). Also, the data analysis at the end of the study found that the scope of topics increased from one round of Orbitals to the next, pointing to a growing sense of comfortableness and mastery of Spanish.

Now, this isn’t to say that Lincoln Lutheran needs to exactly copy the Orbital Experience step-by-step. But, it is what is at the heart of the Orbital Experience that is really important. The study proved that by giving students the ability to learn and present about what they wanted to, learning was increased as well as fluency. Going forward, this is something that could easily apply to all classes, because the study shows that the more say a student has in his or her learning, the more they will benefit.

All-in-all, SLA is no easy feat, nor is everyone meant to be bilingual or multilingual- much like how not everyone is meant to be a carpenter, an accountant, or any of the multitude of professions and hobbies available to people. But, the world is globalizing and becoming connected. The plane, Internet, and countless other inventions have brought the world closer together. It is because of this, providing strong SLA class environments and stressing the importance of SLA is a necessary task that must be undertook to help ensure the quality of the international and local community.

Gomez, Diane, Joan Gujarati, and Rick Heckendorn. “The Orbital Experience: Building Community Through Communication And Connections In High School Spanish Classes.” American Secondary Education 41.1 (2012): 96. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

 

What’s the Deal with Spanish- Post Tres

This next segment is going to be about the Framework that the Nebraska State Board of Education has set up for foreign language curriculum. It outlines the goals and subgoals (called “tiers” in the paper) that the State Board has laid out for teachers.

Naturally, a large amount of learning a second language is done in the classroom. Nebraska is no exception to that, and thankfully, the “Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Framework” is readily available online. What this means is that people can easily see the guidelines that the state of Nebraska has laid out for teachers of Foreign Languages. The Frameworks help guide teachers in multiple facets by setting goals, setting standards, and providing progress indicators. These Frameworks also contain examples for teachers to use in class, sample learning scenarios for teachers to analyze, and sample assessments for teachers to model their own off of. So while the Nebraska Foreign Language Frameworks provide guidance, they do still leave a lot to the teacher’s discretion. Perhaps most importantly, or at least most pertinent to Secondary Language Acquisition, are the five goals that the Framework sets up. After all, there must be some end game in mind when learning a language.

The first goal is rather obviously to “Communicate in a Language other than English” (Blair, et. al). The Frameworks provide three “stages” or “tiers” so to speak of this goal. The first level is to have “students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.” This effectively does two things- first it says that communication is of the utmost importance. But secondly, it defines what communication is, or at least communication that should be sought after. Communication, according to the Framework in its most basic form is to exchange information, especially about the human experience. The second level of goal one is to have students be able to read and write the target language, thus expanding their ability to communicate. The third tier of goal one is to progress into more abstract forms of communications (Blair, et.al). Specifically, the Framework wants students to “convey information, concepts, and ideas to listeners and readers for a variety of purposes.” This is the third tier because typically, abstract thought takes more advanced language skills.

The second goal, only containing two tiers, is to “Gain Knowledge and Understanding of other Cultures” (Blair, et.al). It should go without saying that foreign languages are accompanied by foreign cultures. So an important, and often useful, part of learning a language is to learn about the culture of the language. The first tier says that “students should demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the perspectives and practices of cultures studied and use this knowledge to interact effectively in cultural contexts” showing the importance of culture. And while it is important at the base to understand a culture, the second tier of goal two aims for positive thinking about the given culture. It specifically wants, “Students to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the perspectives and products/ contributions of the cultures studied.” (Blair, et. al) It is good to understand a culture, but then understanding the contributions it’s made to the world is only beneficial.

The third goal is a common education goal. It is to “Connect [foreign languages] to with other disciplines and acquire information.” (Blair, et.al) Another two-tiered goal, this goal seeks to have SLA bolstered by other subjects. The first tier wants “Students reinforce and further knowledge of other disciplines through foreign languages. “An example of this would be to imagine that a history is class is learning about Christopher Columbus. This goal says that to learn about him in Spanish class would be beneficial for the learning of both subjects. The other tier of this goal is for “Students to acquire information and perspectives through authentic materials in the foreign languages and within the cultures.” (Blair, et. al). Learning Spanish or Russian or Greek is a good thing, but this argues that to read Miguel de Cervantes, Dostoevsky, or Aristotle helps the study of both the writing and the language itself.

The fourth goal laid out by the Framework is to have students “Develop insight into the nature of Language and Culture.” (Blair, et.al). That is to say, it is important for students of a language to make connections between the language and culture. The third and last of the two-tiered goals, the first one wants “Students to recognize that different languages use different patterns to communicate and can apply this knowledge to their own language.” (Blair, et. al) This makes a great connection back to how learning a foreign language can actually help a student learn their native tongue better as well. The second tier of goal four is for students to “recognize that cultures use different patterns of interaction and can apply this knowledge to their own culture” which is to say that learning about other languages and cultures can help us to see that there are similarities between ourselves and others (Blair, et.al).

The fifth and last goal of the Framework is the true endgame of learning a language- to “Participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.” (Blair, et.al) One of the most beautiful things about learning a language is that it does open so many doors for a person. And by studying both the target language and culture, one is prepared to participate on a potentially global level in a multilingual community. The single tier of this goal is simple. It is for “Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting for a variety of purposes.” (Blair, et.al) The Framework understands the global nature of language and as such desires for Nebraska students to use and develop the skills learned in the classroom to make connections for all sorts of purposes; this is perhaps the most noble aspect of SLA.

Blair, Marie, et al. “Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Frameworks.” Ed. Gordon
Culver. education.ne.gov. Nebraska Department of Education, 1996. Web. 30
Mar. 2016

What’s the Deal with Spanish- Post 2

This next post gets a bit more technical than the last. Because this paper is about SLA, this segment will be about quantifying how humans learn a foreign language. It outlines what researchers have come to determine are the 5 Stages of SLA. It also provides an argument for adding a middle school program here at Lincoln Lutheran Jr/Sr High School.

When talking about Secondary Language Acquisition, or SLA, it is important to understand how the process works. Now, it should go without saying that everyone’s mind works a little bit differently. That means that some people can acquire more languages, speak more fluently, and do it in much less time than others, while on the other hand some people may just not be able to learn a language at all. Bearing those in mind, language acquisition research has determined that, in general, there are five stages that a person will go through when learning a language. The first of the five is known as the “Preproduction” stage. This stage usually takes place from about zero to six months of studying a language. In the Preproduction stage, the student still has minimal comprehension of the target language. As a result, a student will often shake their head “yes” or “no” in response to questions and will draw and point in an attempt to aid their lack of ability to verbalize (Hill and Björ).

Following immediately after the six month to one-year point, the student is in the “Early Production” stage. The student, while in general lacking, will begin to gain some comprehension during this stage. However, he or she will still not be fluent. There are 3 distinct verbal cues to signify this stage. The first is that the student will make extensive use of key words and phrases that are often the base of class activities. For example, in Lincoln Lutheran, the Spanish phrase “voy a” (I’m going to) is commonly used by students in this stage to express some action that will happen in the future, as opposed to the use of the future tense itself. And that fact lends itself to the next cue- in the Early Production stage; students will generally only use present tense verbs in talking, and this limits one’s ability to converse productively. The last verbal signifier of the Early Production stage is that students will often produce one to two word phrases in response to questions, again building off the idea of keywords (Hill and Björ).

For the next two years of study, the student is then classified as being in the “Speech Emergence” stage. And as the name suggests, students in this stage of language acquisition begin to form simple and perhaps even complex sentences. This is largely due in part to the fact that now the student has started to comprehend the language and the format and formulas the language follows. However, the student is still not very proficient in this stage. They will often make grammar and pronunciation errors when writing or speaking and jokes that are amusing in the target language, will often “go over the head” of the student (Hill and Björ).

The fourth stage is known as “Intermediate Fluency”, and it takes place from the third to fifth year of study of the target language. After years of study, the student should now have a fairly decent comprehension of the language of study. As a result, sentences are often more complex and contain verbs in a variety of tenses such as: subjunctive, past, imperfect, or future, just to name a few (this is not to say that all of these tenses are in the same sentence, as that would be very difficult to do). This is also corroborated in a study done that analyzed learning Spanish in a standard classroom setting versus studying abroad. The results of the study found that “At higher levels of ability, learners are able to use more complex grammatical elements without a corresponding increase in speech output”, which go along perfectly with what Hill and Björ are saying (Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed).

Then from five to seven years and on up, the student has reached the stage of “Advanced Fluency”, that is to say the language is more or less fully learned, and the student should have a level of fluency and comprehension near that of a native speaker (Hill and Björ). This last stage is especially hard to quantitatively measure because language acquisition is an ongoing process, especially in a non-native tongue.

The math on this is simple. According to The Stages of Secondary Language Acquisition it takes at a minimum five years to develop a passable amount of fluency. Currently at Lincoln Lutheran, students are only offered classes up to Spanish 4, or four years of learning. Since the primary goal of learning a language is fluency, the research shows that students at Lincoln Lutheran who learn at an average rate won’ achieve fluency while in High School. The easiest and perhaps most efficient way to solve this would be to create an optional Middle School curriculum, so that students who are so inclined can pursue and advanced pace of study in Spanish.

In a study conducted by Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed also provided some insight as to what else could help a student in the Speech Emergence stage of SLA. Following along with a student being in Speech Emergence, the study recommends the use of “key content” words (Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed). Remember, the Speech Emergence stage is characterized by the use of key phrases and words (Hill and Björ). The study found, though, that the use of these key words helps non-native speakers who started learning after the age of 14- the average high school freshman- retain vocabulary better. But note, the age at which repetitive usage of key phrases becomes beneficial is 14, and by adding a middle school curriculum, this can be circumvented and students’ learning will be more similar to those who learn the language at home.

Hill, Jane D and Björ, Cynthia L. “Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator’s Guide”. The Stages of Second Language Acquisition. Web. 06 Mar. 2016

Segalowitz, Norman, and Barbara F. Freed. “CONTEXT, CONTACT, AND COGNITION IN ORAL FLUENCY ACQUISITION: Learning Spanish in At Home and Study Abroad Contexts.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition Stud. Sec. Lang. Acq. 26.02 (2004). Web.

 

What’s the Deal with Spanish- Post 1

My first post is about how prevalent the Spanish language really is, even if it doesn’t seem like it. It provides some national and international statistics to show the scale of Spanish. Along with that, it also will have some of the benefits to learning Spanish, or any foreign language, for that matter.

The world at times might seem like it is growing smaller and smaller. Inventions like planes and cars and radios have brought the world closer and foreign peoples to new lands. The Internet, too, has connected the modern era, allowing people across the world to communicate at the mere click of the button. It is in this world that the ability to speak a foreign language, and speak it proficiently becomes of increasing importance. And it is for these reasons that Lincoln Lutheran should both offer a middle school Spanish program and provide more outside-of-class help to struggling high school Spanish students, so that students at Lincoln Lutheran will have the proper skills to communicate in an ever-globalizing world.

Even though the world seems to be growing more and more connected, a person may still choose to not learn a language because it simply might not appear practical for them to do so. It may be that there aren’t any speakers of the target language for the student to talk to, or simply that “everyone speaks English anyway, so why learn it?” Either way, this simply isn’t the case. Locally (that is, in Nebraska), Spanish is a very practical language for someone in Nebraska to learn. There are currently 167,000 native Spanish-speakers in the state of Nebraska out of its 1.8 million people population (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”). And according to the Omaha Center’s for Public Affairs Research, this number is only growing. It is predicted that by the year 2050, Spanish speakers will make up about 25 percent of the Nebraska population, which translates to about 538,900 speakers out of 2.24 million people in Nebraska (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”).

If that number weren’t enough, the national statistics are even more convincing. As of summer 2015, the U.S. eclipsed Spain as the second largest Spanish speaking country (in terms of population) with 37 million Spanish speakers currently living in the United States (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). This correlates back to the Nebraska statistics, by the year 2050 America is predicted to eclipse even Mexico in terms of having the most Spanish speakers. On top of all of that, there are 329 million native speakers in the world (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). So, it is plain to see that when it comes to learning a language, Spanish is very applicable- both at the state and national levels.

Undoubtedly, with so many people speaking Spanish, knowing the language has to provide some advantage to a person able to learn it. Huffington Post’s 17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish provides a menagerie of reasons to learn Spanish- 17 to be exact. Of all of them, perhaps the most prevalent is how it can help a person to be hired. In California alone, the demand for jobs of people who can speak Spanish fluently is high, but the state still has a (rather high) 10 percent unemployment rate. The state needs more people in the information sector, but is lacking in people who are skilled in government positions and can speak Spanish. So, in California, speaking Spanish certainly bolsters one’s chances of getting a job significantly.

Another boon to learning Spanish is that it can help one understand English better (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). It seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense in a way. By approaching a different language, one must familiarize themselves with the grammar structures of the target language. The simplest way to understand the construct of another language is through one’s own, and so important details in Spanish like Direct and Indirect objects help an English speaker understand the purpose of them in their native tongue.

Planas, Roque. “17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Tobias, Mike “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050.” Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050. NET, Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.