Video: https://youtu.be/62Y4RiIgKb0
Hello everyone,For this week Vlog assignment, I got to interview my classmate, Jeanette Nguyen. She was born and raised in the United States, but her first language was Vietnamese. As she grew older, English became her first language. Jeanette mentioned in the video that she started learning English in preschool, and she was lucky enough to have a Vietnamese teacher to translate for her. According to Ortega, “Naturalistic learners learn the L2 through informal opportunities in multicultural neighborhoods, school, and workplaces…” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6) and “Instructed learners learn additional languages through formal study in school or university, through private lessons and so on.” (Ortega, 2013. Pg. 6). Jeanette would fit into both the categories because she first learned English in her preschool class continued to develop more English words/phrases through social involvement.
During the conversation, Jeanette said as she grew older, English eventually developed into her first language, and she would only speak Vietnamese to her mom since her mom does not speak English. But when she talks to her dad, she would speak both English and Vietnamese. Ortega stated that"the bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires."(Ortega, 2013, pg. 4) For Jeanette, she can easily switch back and forth between the two languages.
During my interview with Jeanette, I was able to make many learning connections with her, such as having the experience of learning a new language. Those learning experiences gave us great opportunities to help our future English learner students.
Refrences:
Ortega, L.(2013)Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Routledge
