Onthefirstdayofmylinguisticsclass,Iknewhowdifficultitwasgoingtobe.

Ifelt

likeIwaslearninganewlanguage.EveryTimetheteachertaughtusalessonIwaslearning

somethingnew.Theotherstudentsseemedtobeabletounderstandthecontenthowever,Iwas

absolutelylost.Ihadtogohomeandreteachmyselfthelessonbywritingdowntheterms,

practicingwiththehomeworkassignmentsandevengoingonlinetodofurtherresearch.What

wassoconfusingaboutlinguistics?Iwaslearningaboutphonology,morphology,syntax,and

semanticsallatthesametime.Knowingthedifferencebetweeneachandbeingableto

understanditinordertobeabletoteachittostudentsisveryimportantandagoalthatIhave

madeformyself.

Growingupinabilingualhouseholdmadereadingandwritingverydifficultforme.Idid

notmemorizetherulesforwritingorreading.AllIdidwassoundoutthewordsandtrytofigure

outthemeaningbyrereadingthetext.MaybeifIhadpaidmoreattentiontomyteacherIwould

haverememberedphonemicrules.However;Englishwasanewlanguagetomeandhalfthe

timeIstruggletokeepup.AsImentionedbeforeLanguageandlinguisticswasoneofmymost

challengingclassesbut,Ididlearntremendouslyaboutlinguistics.

Inthiscourse,IlearnedtheinfluenceoftheL1onsecondlanguageacquisition,therole

oferrorsandtargetedcorrectivefeedbackontheL2acquisitionprocess.Ilearnedthediversityof

registersthatstudentsemployandencounter,anduseallofthesetoshapemyinstruction.The

twoartifactsthatIchooserepresentthebesttwolessonsIreceivedfromthisclassandhowI

haveplaceditintopractice.Bothartifactstaughtmeabouthomophones,homonyms,

homographs,understandingsoundsandhowtotranscribethemandtheyallowedmetoreflecton

astudent'swriting.WhatdidInotice?Whaterrorsdidthestudentmakeandwhy?Reflectingon
astudent'sworkallowedmetomakereflectionsonadailybasisnowasIamteaching.Itallows

metounderstandwhatIneedtoteachthestudentinordertohelphim/herwiththeirreadingand

writing.

OneofthebestprogramsIhaveusedwhilestudentteachingwasFundations.Itwasa

phonicsprogramthatallowedstudentstolearnlettersounds,blends,digraphs,etc.Iwishmy

schooldistrictwouldinvestinit.IstillusesomeofthestrategiesIlearnedinLinguisticscourse

aswellasintheFundationsprogram.Iteachthestudentshowtopronouncethesound.Where

shouldyoutonguebeplaced,whatshapeyoumouthsoundmake,thedifferencebetween/p/

and/b/,etc.Whenstudentslearnitandunderstandhowthesoundismadetheyareableto

rememberit.Thiswasagreatprogrambecauseitallowedthestudentstotaketheirtimein

learningthesoundsandthenusingittoidentifyanunknownword(soundingitout,chunkingit,

etc.)Itteachesthestudentstheskillstheyneedtobeabletoreadandwrite.