Some things that the people want to do in their life are to write a book, to have children, to plant a tree, or perhaps to travel around the world. But in somes cases the people wants speak other languages. I am into this kind of people. It can look a stupid thing because a lot of people speaks two, three, four or more languages, but when you study a language and you don´t get speak it, it becomes an important challenge.
I feel that I am lucky. In this moment, I am in a place to 8,548 km / 5,311 miles from my home in Madrid. I am in Cheney, a little, quiet and friendly village near to Spokane, Washington State, USA. I have the oportunity to improve my English.
My group and me arrived here last saturday and we are doing a lot of things together. But I haven´t said that the reason of my trip is for study. I am in Eastern Washington University for five weeks. We are studing many things about the educational systems of USA and from diferents educational systems from Europe, because in my group you can find people from France, Germany, England and Scotland.
After this, I can explain the two dimensions of my learning of English as the criteria that Professor Petrie has taught us.
First, I am developing one kind of habilities related with social interactions. Altought we are in classroom 9 hours a day, the rest of the time we are speaking English about several topics. It was experts such as Jim Cummins called Basic Interpersonal Communitation Skills (BICS). It does not require a efford cognitive but is important to several things. It is important to integrate in a group, to feel that you are able to ask a coffee or ask address of a place. It is necessary to not feel alone in a country that is very diferent from yours.
By other hand, I am acquiring important skills for my academic instruction. They are called Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) , and I can acquire them in the class that we have everyday. The principal diferent with the others one is that in this case is not enought understand what the profesor is saying. Besides this you must elaborate the information and to do something with it.
I feel that I am lucky. In this moment, I am in a place to 8,548 km / 5,311 miles from my home in Madrid. I am in Cheney, a little, quiet and friendly village near to Spokane, Washington State, USA. I have the oportunity to improve my English.
My group and me arrived here last saturday and we are doing a lot of things together. But I haven´t said that the reason of my trip is for study. I am in Eastern Washington University for five weeks. We are studing many things about the educational systems of USA and from diferents educational systems from Europe, because in my group you can find people from France, Germany, England and Scotland.
After this, I can explain the two dimensions of my learning of English as the criteria that Professor Petrie has taught us.
First, I am developing one kind of habilities related with social interactions. Altought we are in classroom 9 hours a day, the rest of the time we are speaking English about several topics. It was experts such as Jim Cummins called Basic Interpersonal Communitation Skills (BICS). It does not require a efford cognitive but is important to several things. It is important to integrate in a group, to feel that you are able to ask a coffee or ask address of a place. It is necessary to not feel alone in a country that is very diferent from yours.
By other hand, I am acquiring important skills for my academic instruction. They are called Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) , and I can acquire them in the class that we have everyday. The principal diferent with the others one is that in this case is not enought understand what the profesor is saying. Besides this you must elaborate the information and to do something with it.
I am sorry that this blog looks like a diary, but my experience in learning English is happening now, in this moment, everyday here.
Juan,
ReplyDeleteYour blog entry is great! A blog really is like a diary. I liked how you turned describing your experiences here at EWU in terms of BICS and CALP. Do you notice growth in your social skills more than your academic skills right now? Or vice versa? I look forward to following your blog.
Best wishes,
Gina