Expanded SLA Reflection

My first language (L1) is English, and my second language (L2) is Spanish. I

was surrounded by the Spanish language at home, in church and with
extended family members. Although my parents spoke Spanish in the home, it
was just with each other. They always spoke to us (my 2 sisters & I) in English. My
parents L1 is Spanish and my mom didnt want us to suffer as they did in school. I
could sing (church hymns) in Spanish before I could speak the language. Ive
attended the same church since infancy and at that time it was all Spanish
speaking, and now it is bilingual.
I became interested in learning the Spanish language when I entered into
the 6
th
grade. It was offered as a foreign language semester course. This was the
beginning of learning my L2 in a classroom setting. If Im not mistaken, Mrs.
Moreno gave us a list of the Spanish alphabet with the phonetic spelling of each
letters pronunciation. I believe we learned the alphabet through repetition. First,
she would say the alphabet, and then we would repeat it after her. We would
do this whole group and individually. Then we learned the colors, family
members, body parts and other words in related groups. Mrs. Moreno would
introduce the lesson in English and then teach us how to say it, read it and write
it in Spanish.
Mrs. Moreno used the processes involved in second or foreign language
learning consisted of imitation, and reinforcement of grammatical structures
(Peregoy & Boyle 2013). I learned my L2 through the behaviorist perspective of
imitation, repetition and reinforcement (Peregoy & Boyle 2013). She did correct
errors immediately to avoid forming bad habits that would be difficult to
overcome later (Peregoy & Boyle 2013). For example, when teaching us the
articles el and la, she would correct us immediately if we used it incorrectly. In
Spanish the words are either male or female unlike English words not having a
gender.
I continued my Spanish foreign language classes in high school from 9
th
-
11
th
grade. I began with Spanish I (one) which involved learning the basics,
again, and building upon it through each grade level. The activities were
effective for me to learn the L2. The activities helped me understand the
language and grasp the concepts of my different teachers lessons. For
example, I had fun learning how to conjugate verbs. It was one of my favorite
things to do. I cannot speak my L2 as fluently as I would like. As much as I would
like for it to flow from my tongue, I am able to communicate and converse in my
L2.
I contribute my success to acquiring my L2 to my family, church and
education. All 3 played an important and vital role to help me get to where I am
today. I use my L2 daily at work in the classroom, communicating with parents,
and translating for the teachers.