Acho que eu estou triste. Por que Gary?  Porque agora não tenho aula de português. (I think I am sad. Why Gary? Because now I do not have Portuguese class.)

I must thank Mike Peto for the amazing experience this summer learning another language. As I posted in my first post about this class, I have been waiting for an opportunity like this for quite some time. This was a perfect summer experience for me and I am going back to the classroom re-energized and recharged for a great school year. Thanks again Mike for being such a wonderful teacher and inspiration. Now for One Post More!  

“AHA” Moment ~ Day 21: The Importance of Hearing Good Portuguese

In an effective ADI (Acquisition Driven Instruction) / CI classroom for novice and even some intermediate classes, the best Input given is from me as the teacher or video/audio sources. There are times when, as students, we want to say things that we just cannot say and most ADI/CI teachers would be happier if students just quickly said something in English and then the teacher would just tell the class in the correct way in the target language. In Portuguese class, we heard some really messy Portuguese when trying to articulate our thoughts. The “AHA” moment for me, as a student learner, is I wish the students would just have said their quick comments in English so I did not have to hear incorrect Portuguese. 

My “AHA” moment here as a teacher is every time I make my students listen to each other speak Spanish (like each time I make them listen to each others’ weekend experience or any other round robin speaking task) – they might be listening to really messy and bad Spanish. So even though I want to build some confidence in my students speaking aloud and also so I can hear from them all – are the rest of my students all suffering? In addition, if I make them listen to all of that Input and then require them to finally listen to my Input, perhaps I have destroyed the maximum focus time on a very ineffective use of time with regard to hearing all of the answers from their peers in again not-great Spanish. This “AHA” moment will keep me awake these next few weeks before the school year begins!   

“AHA” Moment ~ Day 22: So Many Words of Wisdom from Class this Day

This day was filled with wise words and many “AHA” moments for me to remember. 

-Teacher Tip: We watched a great video in Portuguese about the origins of Brazilian Portuguese. I loved it and understood the majority of it. With regard to all topics of linguistics, I love them. I think these are important aspects to share with students within reason. In bitesize nuggets all aspects of linguistics should be discussed and/or explored by students, but again in bite-sized parts or Pop-Up Linguistics.  

-Teacher Tip: Use Write and Discuss to show students the writing process. Take something you have written and then start to add to it and craft it into a truly “written” piece. 

-Remember this: This learning experience for us reminded us how our students feel with regard to wanting to express themselves as they do with their first language and they just cannot.  

-Remember this: It is our goal as language facilitators to help students recognize, comprehend, and communicate using quick language, which will help move them to more critical thinking in the language. 

-Remember this: Students must understand their own culture in order to start to understand and compare another culture.

“AHA” Moment ~ Day 23: Pop Culture References and Authenticity

Honestly as a teacher, it is hard to even make any pop culture references with my students. For our adult class, it was probably not as hard of a challenge, but Mike – I gotta call you out on this one. In class we read: 

“Acho que agora estamos sozinhos.” which means “I think we’re alone now.” 

At which time, Mike says “Oh I’m getting Debbie Gibson vibes.” 

Well, Mike I am a huge Debbie Gibson fan; I might even consider myself a Deb Head – and this line should give you a “Tiffany vibe” and not a Debbie one 🙂 LOL Since I was an on-demand student, I could not let you know this in real time, but I certainly was paying attention 🙂 Nonetheless, I think this was such a wonderful comment and a great example of the authenticity that you brought to the class each day.  Thank you.  

“AHA” Moment ~ Day 24: My Final Free Write

On the last day of class, I decided to assign myself my own assessment. I completed a second 5 minute free write. So after 24 hours of class spread out over 36 days, I wrote “120” words in 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Sure there were a few spelling errors that I saw after reading over it, but holy smokes that was impressive. I was writing and being creative in Portuguese. It was way beyond what I had learned in the past, for example just taking 5 hours of a language at a conference. This experience really has helped me become a communicator in another language. I am at the point that I cannot wait for the next steps I will take, and more importantly, it is pushing me toward planning a South American adventure that will include a stop or two in Brazil.

Thanks for reading all of my summer reflections. Be sure to subscribe to be notified when I post something new, which is not as often during the school year. 

Gary