My students are required to set goals at the beginning of each semester about how they will become 'Life Long Learners'. I love the assignment, even though a lot of them don't take it very seriously. At the end of the semester, they have to report on what they have done to become a life long learner, and what they will do differently. While grading today, I got this response:
To become a life-long Spanish learner, I have been reading some Spanish picture books I got from the local library. Although I couldn't understand much sometimes, it did help me practice some words I knew. In the future, I want to converse more with my Spanish friends. They, after all, know much more of/about it than I ever will. Also, I have always wanted to visit Spain. I think that seeing these things firsthand and being able to be in a place where it's all about Spanish might really help me grow as a Spanish student. Another thing is, I really need help with my hearing. I am not as good as picking up Spanish words as I am at reading them. To get better at this, I think I'll watch some Spanish films/movies. I tried doing that before, but since I was a newbie, I didn't understand much. Now, I think I can watch some little kid movies where they go, "Hola! Queiro tu amigo! Lalalalalala." << I'm sure I can understand that. There are so many professions that require multiple languages. It's amazing how much you can do with an extra language. Jobs like translators (translating for people), missionaries (being able to talk to people in their own language is always a comfort), doctors (treating patients that aren't English), journalists (spying on people who are speaking a different language so nobody catches their secrets) and many more can use the help of an extra language any day. Also, if you know another language, your friends will double (probably - I'm not making any promises), because who doesn't like chatting with your friend and seeing people go "Whaaaaat?" You'll be able to converse with more people and also understand more around you - many people speak Spanish. Personally, it's cool to know another language. Almost all of my friends are English, Russian or Spanish - and now I'll be able to converse with all of them!
You might not think it is that funny, but I could not stop laughing. I hated the switch from High School down to Middle School, but the change is starting to grow on me.
