In this month’s readings, podcast, and videos I have obtained a lot of knowledge that I never knew before or knowledge that has now expanded. I found many things interesting and many things resonated with me. In week 5 I read about four pages on something I have never heard of. It was the Guide to Using the Common Framework of Reference. As a student who is going to become a teacher, I felt as though understanding what it is about is very important. On page four I thought it was interesting to see what qualifies for each of the levels; Basic, Independent, and Proficient. I strive to be a teacher who can help and support my students in any way that they need. Therefore, understanding that students may be at different levels of speaking a language will only open my eyes to finding ways that I can help them to understand what is being taught or said in the classroom. I definitely want to use this guide when I become a teacher and will find it a great resource when I come across students who struggle to speak the English language
In Russ Fayant’s Interview, he talked about his program and it made me very happy. I thought it was great how they decided to move the program out of a classroom setting to make it more engaging. From personal experience, learning a language that is new to you for a few hours in a classroom here and there can not always be fun as your mind tends to wander off or it can get boring. I wish I had the opportunity to be put into situations as they did in the program and learn from how Old Ones did; hunting, getting medicine, etc. I liked how he referred to the “Old Ones” instead of Elders because when you refer to them, most believe that they know how to do First Nations ceremonies and that is not always the case. I would have never known to call older people that and I love that reference. Instead of making it seem like they all need to know how to do a ceremony, that term Russ uses allows everyone to feel valued and accepted no matter what their knowledge is. I find the Michif language very interesting as it is both Cree and French. In all honesty, I have never heard of the Michif language until this semester and I want to know and learn more about it. Learning a new language is exciting and fun. Hearing and seeing the way it is written is so fascinating it makes me want to learn how to speak it.
In the podcast “Lexicon Valley #24: Do you creak?”, something I found interesting is the words they use to express emotions. When using a breathy tone of voice, you are in shock and what they are saying is incredible. When using a creaky voice, you don’t believe that what they are saying is true. After hearing this I stopped the podcast and thought of times that I have done this with other words other than “get out”. As someone who speaks English fluently, I would never think anything of this because it is normal to me and the people I do it around understand. But, I never thought about how it would be to those trying to learn our language and understand certain sayings. As you have probably heard, many people find the English language hard to learn because of how many different words sound the same but mean different things. For example, their, there, they’re or by, buy, bye. This opens my mind up for when I come across situations in my classroom to just understand and support my students on their journey. I will never get frustrated with a student for not understanding what a saying means or what they are supposed to be doing in the class because that will only shy them away from the language rather than engaging them.