Nick 2

What motivated you to study Arabic?

I: so when you met your- your friend in high school

N: uh huh

I: was he here uh just short period of time studying or

N: oh no he he’s um (.) both of his parents grew up in Morocco (.) and u:m (.) it is actually like a weird story his his- mother lived in a house near Rabat the capital and (.) his father grew up in a small town (.) u:m without a big high school back then so he came to live with his mother’s family and that’s how they met so they’ve known each other since childhood and then they both got opportunities to come to the US and his father had uh a good career here in computers and all that so he’s lived here whole life he’s born here actually his- two sisters weren’t but he’s the only member of his family that was but he is proficient in in Moroccan not necessarily standard Arabic but he knows Moroccan perfectly (.) and u:m so he he knows English perfectly so he wasn’t an exchange student or anything he’s just our friend for forever really

I: uh huh

N: since I moved here at least


Reflections – Both Nick and Serem were inspired to study a second language due to real-world encounters with language and culture outside of the classroom. Do you find that your students have had similar experiences or encounters? Do you feel that cultural connections are an important component of language learning in the classroom? What proportion of a language course should ideally be devoted to cultural awareness, learning, and sharing? Have you found ways to make these connections in the day to day lessons? If so, what are some examples? How do students respond to these types of activities? How have you or might you incorporate students’ experiences into the cultural aspects of language learning?

Nick 3

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