Eng 345 Post # 6

The readings from this week were very interesting to me due to the idea that I could relate to them. To begin with, in the Cary article, there was a focus on the benefits of bringing diversity in to the classroom along with culture. Diversity and culture are huge proponents in successful second language learning. Due to L2 learners of the English language all being diverse, it it smart to bring in their own culture to make them more comfortable and have a better understanding of their identity. It is already frustrating and challenging to learn a new language and be exposed to culture aspects that are diverse from your own. By having the familiarity of ones own culture when learning a language helps for them to compare and identify as well as feeling more comfortable in the classroom that leads to more motivation put towards learning an L2. The teacher in the article did a good job in supporting the other cultures that existed in the classroom. Along with this, as Kumar emphasizes in chapter 5, is the interaction between the student and teacher. Having the learners and the teacher negotiate through out the class and maximize learning opportunities will also increase this motivation and success. In order to maximize these learning opportunities, we, as teachers will need familiarize ourselves with our students and how they learn.
The reading from Brown, in regards to speaking and listening, is the reading that I could relate the most to. He talks about the difficulty and also the aspects of ease in the speaking aspect of learning a second language. I myself have trouble with speaking in my L2. I can get very timid and reflect on every little mistake that I make which sometimes makes me not want to speak. The techniques that he discusses were not only a benefit to me for helping teach students, and to see the levels that they were at, but to also help myself. The characteristic that ideally helps listening and speaking easier was redundancy. When learning my L2, I definitely repeated things over and over to fully understand and feel comfortable with it. This is one of the things I plan on doing in my classroom. I do believe that these two components, listening and speaking, are the two most important in learning a language. In order to communicate one needs to not only comprehend but also produce.