The SLP as Second-Language Learner

Abstract

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderFirst Person on the Last Page1 Aug 2011The SLP as Second-Language Learner Sheila C. CullenMA, CCC-SLP Sheila C. Cullen Google Scholar More articles by this author , MA, CCC-SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.LML.16082011.39 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2011/110705/First-Person-on-the-Last-Page--The-SLP-as-Second-Language-Learner.htm “I’ll see you next eggs,” I said to the principal of the small Mexican elementary school where I volunteered years ago. Realizing that my sloppy pronunciation of “Thursday” (jueves) sounded like “eggs” (huevos), I thought I understood his expressions of momentary confusion followed by true amusement. It was just a tiny vowel error, really, a sin any non-native speaker might commit. A moment later I became even more horrified with my “tiny” error when I remembered that “huevos” is also the slang word for “testicles.” Although it would have been a fantastic stroke of luck to grow up bilingual, learning a second language as an adult has offered me special insight into language learning I missed as a child. As both learner and teacher, I have come to observe my own process with a certain degree of fascination. I now view words not as simple referents but as living beings with their own unique and complex personalities. My first language serves as the anchor that allows me to lodge words in their proper cerebral habitat, but I must spend much more time together with my new words in many different places before we truly become friends. In my practice, I share these insights with my students’ families. I explain the importance of family field trips to the beach, library, zoo, or farmer’s market, because in each setting new words sprout into existence, while others are refined with new associations. I, too, must expand my social-linguistic contexts to give exercise to less familiar words. Thanks to Skype, I continue to benefit from regular communication with my Mexican teacher, who challenges me to step out of the practiced linguistic arena of my work. With a textbook knowledge of Spanish grammar, I am now very well equipped to identify those particular syntactic markers that are red flags for language impairment in Spanish-speaking preschoolers. Interestingly, their persistent errors are often the very ones I struggled with in Spanish. From word-finding to word order, I am empathetic to the challenges of second-language learners. I feel compassion for the child who just can’t seem to remember the difference between “walk” and “walked.” After all, it’s just a tiny phonetic distinction, like “jueves” and “huevos”—right? Author Notes is a bilingual speech-language pathologist working with Spanish-speaking preschoolers through the Santa Barbara County (Calif.) Education Office. She can be reached at [email protected]. Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 16Issue 8August 2011 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Aug 1, 2011 Metrics Downloaded 100 times Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagleader-topicsasha-article-typesCopyright & Permissions© 2011 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...