Describe your relationship with the Arabic community.

I: how old were you when you lived there A: um very young I was probably (.) like uh I lived- I moved there probably when I was three month old and then would come back and forth during the summer and go back to Cairo for the year uh probably until I was like six or five I remember quite a bit but I don’t I didn’t really pick up the language at all I: what were you- what do you remember then A: I remember the people I remember experience I remember my family but I was more I was put in private schools where they usually spoke English (.) so I never really had an opportunity to learn the language

Reflections – Notice that a student’s self-identity as a heritage language learner may be more culturally than linguistically rooted, and, thus, less visible in the classroom. How do your students identify themselves? Do you feel that understanding identity plays an important role in the language learning classroom to either you as the teacher or to the students themselves? Why or why not? Have you noticed ways in which student identity has positively or negatively affected the classroom dynamic? Explain.

These students as language learners are motivated to enrich their cultural heritage to build on a cultural immersion, or pursue a general interest in language. What other factors may motivate your students? How do these factors differ for domestic versus heritage learners? Do you find one group is typically more motivated than the other? How are you able to build on student motivation to enhance language learning in the classroom?

Aladdin 3

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