Proficiency Path Ava De Jonge

My proficiency path has been nonlinear, especially throughout my college experience. I

started learning Spanish in 10th grade to meet graduation requirements. However, after just one
semester of Spanish, I found out that I enjoyed learning a language and the cultures associated
with Spanish. So for the rest of my high school experience, I took the subsequent Spanish
courses.

In 11th grade, I was given the opportunity to travel to Panama and stay with a host
family. While the trip abroad was not long, I lived with my host family and attended school
along with my host sister. This time abroad was very influential in terms of where I am today. I
found that just three weeks abroad impacted my language use, flourishing my vocabulary and
reinforcing my grammar. While I was not very proficient at the time, my host sister guided me
with the language I had.

During 12th grade, my teacher shared this opportunity to be declared bilingual through
ACTFL testing. I was able to take the exam during the second semester of 12th grade. Before
graduation, I received the exam results, declaring me bilingual.

Upon arrival at Winona State University, I was placed into 200 level Spanish courses. I
mapped out the courses I needed to take and a study abroad opportunity for my junior year. I
took the necessary courses leading up to my junior year; however, the pandemic rearranged my
plans. During the transition to online-only courses, I could sense my proficiency growth to be
plateauing due to the lack of opportunities to use my language. Online schooling had a negative
impact on my proficiency growth, so I made a change. I began journaling in Spanish to reinforce
the language I had and focus on my weaknesses, such as narration in the past and the use of the
subjunctive.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I got word that my study abroad opportunity was
canceled due to the high risk and uncertainty. While I believe one year immersed in Spanish
would have made my proficiency unrecognizable, little things like journaling have allowed me to
critique and analyze my points of strengths and weaknesses within my language use.

One day, once it is safe again, I hope to study abroad before graduation and student
teaching. I believe that an immersive experience would be extremely beneficial toward the
growth and development of my language use. I want to continue challenging my proficiency
throughout life to expand my ability and understand the associating cultures within our world.