Brieanna Olsen

Teaching & Leaning

3-11-15
Activity 4b

When I talked to Maysoun, I learned a lot about her culture and about herself. She informed

me about a lot of different things that I would have never known about if I did not get the

opportunity to talk to her. She was a very kind woman and she loved to talk about her

experiences and give me advice. She was originally from Libya and her primary language is

Arabic. One of the most important things that I learned from her experience about learning

English was that she was put into isolation while learning. She was in a program where she could

not speak to anyone outside of the program and she was not able to watch any television rather

than one station. She used the grammar translation method where she would often learn words by

looking over lists of vocabulary words and practiced them until she knew all the new words. She

also learned from stories, which I also found to be very interesting. Maysoun did admit that she

felt awful when she was in that isolation period because she felt like she was being put out of the

loop. I also found it to be very interesting that her children grew up only knowing English and

that she was going to put them into an Arabic language class next year. The class was only once

a week on a Saturday for four years. Her children learned more from their peers at school than

they did from her at home about English and they would often learn from watching cartoon

shows. All of these concepts are important to me because I like to see how differently cultures

learn English. I also think that it is very important to know things about other cultures rather than

just my own, especially because I am going to be a teacher someday. I can apply these concepts

in my classroom by explaining different cultures and sharing the ways they learned English. I

also like the idea of watching informational videos for the students to learn words and how to use
them in context. I will end on a note of something that Maysoun said about what she thought

culture meant. She told me, Language means Culture. You can be defined by what you look

like, what language is your primary one, and how well you can speak English. I think this is a

very important to teach to my students that they should not have to feel this way. Just because we

speak a little differently, we are all still human and should all be treated with the same respect

and given the same opportunities. I believe that the concepts in the book can help people like

Maysoun because of the information and materials that they suggest. The readings mention

several programs that are very similar to the one that Maysoun ecperienced, but not as extreme.

Although programs should be utilized like the book says because they are important and very

helpful.
Brieanna Olsen
T&L 333
3-4-15
Activity 4: Comparisons of Beliefs
I got the privilege of interviewing a woman by the name of Maysoun during our class time on
Monday. She is originally from Libya and her first language is Arabic. When I asked her what
her ways of learning English were, she said that she used the grammar translation method. She
said she was in a program where she was given a list of vocabulary words and learned and
practiced those words until she knew them all. She also read books and stories which were also
very helpful when it came to learning. I asked her how she felt about her process of learning
English and she said it felt awful to be isolated. When she says that, she means that she was
isolated from the World while learning English. She wasnt allowed to talk to people outside of
the program and she could only watch one channel on the television. She did not like that she
wasnt able to know or see what else was going on in the World. When it comes to her children,
she said they attend the public school in Pullman and they only know English. She said that since
they were in daycare, they learned a lot of English from their friends and teachers at daycare and
school. Maysoun said that they also learned a lot from watching cartoons that spoke English,
such as Spongebob. When she was asked about how she was going to teach her children Arabic,
she said she is going to put them into a school next year that is once a week on Saturday and they
will learn how to speak Arabic in that four year program. She said that she thinks it is important
to learn English because of job opportunities. When asked about culture, she said that Libyas
culture is very rich and that it was a very broad question to be asked. Some of the things that
celebrate are a day when they slaughter sheep and have a feast with it, making things such as
hotdogs. They do it to celebrate their God, Mohamad and also for obeying all laws. She also
mentioned that they have a month, that varies every year, all adults fast all day from sunset to
sunrise where they cannot eat at all. It represents that they know how it feels in other counties
what it is like to not have much food. She also mentioned that if someone was going to learn
either English or Arabic, English is a lot harder!

*Next two sections are on the page below.

 Maysouns Beliefs
My Beliefs
-Learn by experience Similarities -Special programs
-Learn by Experience,
environment, -Isolation
environment
programs, support, -Watching
-The people around
practice television
you teach you most.
Example: parents. -Reading books
Differences
-By practicing certain programs, -Practicing
-Having patience and television,
-Environment
a positive attitude listening, attitude,
about learning. how the experience
is/should be

Readings Beliefs

-Programs
-Utilizing facilities and
extra help
-Experiences
-A lot of practice in a
time period
-Support: by peers,
teachers, parents.

I felt like there were many similarities between myself, Maysoun, and the books beliefs on how
people learn a second language. One of the main differences that I noticed was I believe that you
learn by experience and talking with other people. If you listen to others talk, you will pick up
connections and be able to learn that way. Maysoun shared with me that she was put into a
program where she would mainly have to teach herself English and she was isolated from
everyone until she learned. She did not like the learning process because of the isolation, and I
do not blame her. The book talks about many different programs that students use while they are
in schools. I personally like the programs mentioned in the book more than the ones I heard
Maysoun talk about. Like I mentioned above, she is going to put her children into a program that
is only once a week for four years for her children to learn Arabic because they have only
learned English from growing up in Pullman. She likes that they know English and that it comes
easy to them, but she still wants them to know what they would originally speak in their culture.
I also thought it was unique how she talked a lot about how she and her children learned by
watching cartoons and television shows along with reading books. Many parents do not like their
children watching too much tv, but I think it was very helpful for her that her particular situation.