ENTRY 2: INTERVIEW WITH MOTHER

I found out more about my mom’s upbringing and her transition to living in America than I knew before. It was an eye-opener to hear that she felt like she needed more support in the classroom. Maybe it was because of the school she was at, but maybe back then, teachers did not have the resources or research to help support English Language Learners. She expanded on the fact that English grammar rules are really hard to learn as a child. When connecting this theory to research, “Japanese college students would learn an English grammar rule better without or with rules,” which shows that you can learn English grammar more through immersion of the language (Ortega, 2009, p. 100). This applies my mom’s experience with learning the English language. She also mentioned that she thinks casual conversations helped her learn more than being in the classroom. Her experience going to school was negative, and she spent most of the time simply listening and observing to help her. She paid attention to body language and facial expressions. I can only imagine how confusing it would have been for her. Maybe if she used the strategy of talking to American born Vietnamese peers who “share the same ethnic background,” it would have helped her more (Ortega, 2009, p. 249). This is because having the same ethnic background and sharing a common ground can help someone feel more comfortable speaking another language. We also discussed how we thought that learning another language as an adult was harder, when Ortega says that it is actually easier. It was interesting getting to understand my mom’s second language acquisition.  

Here is a link to the interview:

https://youtu.be/zQSz4J5SbwM