Week 2
It's the second week of my one hundred days of Spanish challenge and I've already had some problems. My main problem it turns out, is that my ultimate goal of finishing the Duolingo Spanish tree is pretty intense. I started out very strong my first week, but this last week, I only hit one half of my quota, equaling fourteen lessons, which can be seen in the top picture at the bottom of this post. With that in mind, I think that I can reasonably change my goal to complete one half of the Duolingo tree at the end of my one hundred days, and be completely finished one hundred days after the semester. I had some pretty high hopes, but it looks like I should reign in my expectations a bit.
The other problem I face with my Spanish challenge is sheer boredom. The app is fun, but it gets repetitive if it's your only learning source. A lot of the time I worked on Spanish last week was through reading comic books in Spanish. My favorite right now is "FLOWAR: Flores y Guerra." You can find it on the webtoon app, and it is a really great read, with some fantastic art work. (It's a bit bloody though, just a forewarning.)
In our class readings, (Hassekkus pp. 22-23) we learned a lot about various definitions of occupation. Some of these definitions are very broad, like the one given by Zemke who said that occupations are simply activities that can be named in the culture. My Spanish learning can definitely be named, and so it fits his definition. However some of the other definitions would claim that learning a foreign language is not an occupation. Clark said that an occupation is an ordinary and familiar thing that people do every day. Well, you could argue that around here in America, picking up a language is not an ordinary thing that people do every day. The best definition I saw for what an occupation is comes from Wilcock. He said that "doing + being, becoming, belonging = survival and health" (p. 24). I really jive with his definition here. The whole reason that I picked Spanish as my new occupation was so that I could spend my time doing something that would one day turn me into a trilingual speaker. But not just for that purpose. I wanted to learn Spanish as my third language so that I could belong with my Hispanic patients. I will be able to understand them in their own words and in the language they are the most comfortable in. In summary, my learning this language is the perfect occupation for me. It appeals to my need to become something and to belong somewhere.
Hey Allen! First off, sorry for a late response. I responded to someone else's at basically the same time as another student so I effectively messed up the whole "respond to one other student" thing... I'll fix it in class! I empathize with you on having to lower your expectations. That's about how my occupation is going as well. What is your other language that you know? I might have missed it in one of your posts but I'm curious. Also, has knowing two other languages helped you with the process of learning grammar, syntax, conjugations, etc.? I speak Portuguese so learning Spanish has been a lot easier for me than Portuguese was initially (though the two are very similar, which helps a lot). One last question; how would you say you are "becoming" as a part of this occupation? I thought your view on "belonging" was really accurate to what could happen, so I'm curious if you can visualize the becoming aspect as easily. Great job man! I'm sorry you had to adjust your expectations but I believe in you!
ReplyDelete- Spencer Valentine
Hey Spencer! Thanks for the reply! Well my first foreign language I learned was Tagalog which is the national language of the Philippines. I served in a little province called Pangasinan. I would say it has helped knowing second language. The main reason is that I've already proven to myself that I can do it. Plus, you're right, it has helped me quickly grasp different grammar systems. That's awesome that you speak Portuguese!
ReplyDeleteI would say that my "becoming" part of the occupation is pretty straight forward. I'm becoming someone who internalizes Hispanic culture. The language a person speaks is a big part of where they come from. The idioms they use and metaphors they express themselves with all started with the culture and language they grew up with.