My Experience with Learning Language

When I was three years old, I told my mother that I wanted to learn to read. I have a sister three years older than me and she could already read, so my impetus was to be like her. Another factor in my desire to read was that my father was the editor of the local newspaper, a job that relies heavily on the manipulation of an assortment of language abilities; at that point, I had aspirations to take over my father’s job one day, so these skills were ones I would have to somehow obtain. (I was quite an ambitious three-year- old). Despite my initial frustrations, I mastered the alphabet quickly and then moved on to assigning sounds to each letter with the help of my parents. My mother can still remember the first book I read by myself – it was about beavers building a home. I remember that as I learned to read, the vocabulary that I used in my day to day speech multiplied and diversified. Along with the development of these skills came advances in my writing; I loved to write and illustrate my own stories either with friends or by myself.

By the time I got to kindergarten, I was way ahead of most of my peers in terms of my language development. I was bored in class even though I had wonderful teachers. I can remember having worksheets to do after recess, where we would have to look at a picture and then write the word for the picture on the lines below. Most days, I would scurry around the room telling everyone the answers, per their request, before the teacher came in, and then barely have time to scrawl down my own letters. I loved the feeling I got in helping others find the answers (although at that point I suppose I was just supplying them with the answers).

I was taught by means of a mix of the word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic views; our class would identify vocabulary words before reading together each day and phonics was a separate class. With regards to my writing development, my teachers had us do a lot of writing projects starting from a relatively young age. I don’t remember ever dictating sentences to my teachers, although I probably did, but I remember doing assignments like book reports and projects about my family or my favorite things to do. Therefore, I think that my teachers held more of an acquisition view of teaching writing. Furthermore, I was taught reading in a mostly traditional sense, where the words we learned were separate from the books we read and were not connected to our lives, per se.

Looking back, I think our curriculum was very structured, with little leeway. Worksheets were big, and repetition was the main teaching strategy.

As I reflect on my own experiences with learning language, I am struck by the realization that much of how I teach language and view the teaching of language has its basis in my past. I am lucky enough to currently be the aid in teaching Eli, the seven year old boy that I baby-sit for, how to read. Eli has been a large part of my life for almost two years now, and I have been there to see him grow and develop immensely in his reading, writing and general language abilities. More recently, as reading and writing become a more intensive part of his school day, Eli and I have begun to read together each night before bed, focusing on the skills that he learns in school.

I am always doing little things to enhance his language abilities, such as using new words in my own speech with him and then defining them for him or by teaching him synonyms for common words he uses. When we read together, I encourage him to sound out the words and am always positively reinforcing his attempts. I also ask him a lot about what he is doing in school so that I can make connections at home to what he is doing in the classroom. I get so excited to see the changes in Eli’s language development, whether it is a new word that he incorporates when telling me about his day, or a new word that he masters when reading.

All in all, reading, writing and other components of language are where my passions lie. I am more excited about teaching language arts than any other subject. Language arts is a huge part of my life as I am still an avid reader and writer, so I am excited to pass on my love for it to others. My experiences in language acquisition have had a direct impact on the way I teach language and view the teaching of language.