Kat 3

Describe your experiences of Arabic culture.

I: tell me about the cul- your cultural connections

K: um (.) well as far as culture goes there was in- (.) I was in- like I grew up a Christian Arab which is really different because most of the people from the middle east today are Muslims and so um I grew up with a lot of the Christian influences instead (.) um both my parents have been to Jerusalem to the holy city and to the holy ( ) Koran all that kinda stuff um and (.) so I know like all the food and all the dances I grew up an Arabic dancer um from through my church like we have dance groups and I was Arabic dancer so all that kind of thing

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?

Kat 4

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