RUNNING HEAD: Autobiography 1
Shelby McKarns
TLS 416
September 8, 2015
Language Acquisition Autobiography
Growing up, I was surrounded by mostly English speakers throughout my
elementary school and middle school experiences. Neither of my parents speaks another
language nor do any of my family members. Although my family is not directly exposed
to languages other than English, my mother places great value in learning about other
cultures as well as traveling to experience different ways of life. When I was in the
seventh grade, I was given the opportunity to travel outside of the United States for two
weeks with a group from school. The choir teacher led the group and almost all of the
children brought along a parent or two. During this trip my mom and I got to experience
London, Paris, and Rome. While most of the language I came across in London is
English, I was able to observe French in Paris and Italian in Rome.
Being in a foreign place and not understanding the language can be scary and
exciting at the same time. Not having the ability to read street signs or really
communicate with locals around you to ask questions can be very difficult and confusing.
I remember having to really pay attention to body language, and other gestures people
would give off as they spoke to try and put the pieces together in my mind. It is
definitely not an easy task to be somewhere and not understand what is being spoken to
you, but it really made a difference when the locals were kind and tried to help with
directions. Even though there was a language barrier, you could tell by the tone of their
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voice and their body language when people were genuinely trying to help. This kindness
made a huge difference when feeling confused and out of place.
During this trip I experienced the most culture shock in the diverse foods that
were offered in the different countries. As a picky eater, I took great risks trying new
foods in the unfamiliar places. I did not always like the new foods that were placed in
front of me to eat, but I tried them and ate them anyways as not to be disrespectful to the
environment I was in. It was very eye opening to me to see the variety of food and
traditions that went along with each culture I experienced. I remember one specific
example of this when I was in Italy. At home, I would always eat ranch dressing with my
bread and pizza at restaurants. In Italy, it was almost disrespectful to ask for ranch
dressing to dip your pizza into. The Italians viewed ranch dressing as ruining the food
not enhancing it. In Europe, they also do not put ice in their soda drinks, and they find it
funny when you ask for a cup of ice. These examples may seem silly, but it is truly little
things such as these that are so different in the other countries I visited.
That trip really opened my eyes to different cultures and languages other than my
own. It was definitely more of a learning experience than a vacation and I am so thankful
that I was able to have that experience at a young age. Moving forward in my education I
started to pay more attention to other cultures around me in my environment. Going to
high school I met lots of new people with diverse beliefs, people who spoke more than
one language, and people who had different experiences than I had growing up. The new
diversity I had in my high school classrooms really broadened my way of thinking and
brought out great discussions where I learned so much more than what was just written in
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the textbook. Listening to others’ opinions brought on new perspectives that I may not
have thought of on my own.
Another experience I have had with a difference of language is my parents’
friends from Germany. This family had lived in the United States when their children
were in preschool but moved back to Germany when their children became school aged.
My parents have kept in contact with them throughout this time and when they travel
back to the United States they stop by my house. I do not remember interacting with
them when I was a little child, but I do remember their visits to Arizona when I was
older. Their family has two children, one of whom is deaf. This family exposed me not
only to the German culture, but also to the deaf culture as well. The parents are able to
speak English but the children only speak and understand German. To help us interact
with their children they would translate back and forth for us and teach us simple phrases
in German so we could try and understand what was being said. We even downloaded an
application onto our phones that helped translate our English words into German words.
Although we did not always know the correct pronunciations, it was a fun experience to
see our words translated and to try and speak them to our friends.
With experiences through school, travel, and friends I have been fortunate to be
exposed to many cultures other than my own. These experiences have taught me that
although every individual person is unique, humans as a whole have similar interests,
curiosities and instincts. It is those interests, curiosities and instincts that bring people
together no matter what language is spoken or where they have grown up. Learning
about people from other backgrounds gives us an understanding about the community we
are in and helps us recognize where people are coming from with specific believes or
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opinions. I hope that I am able to bring out children’s funds of knowledge in my own
classroom setting and help my students learn and appreciate other languages and cultures
that their peers bring into the classroom. I believe that it is these learning experiences
that create well-rounded and diverse individuals.