Another week has gone by, and this one marked the halfway point in the fall term. So, as I always do at midterm, I had my students write and reflect on their progress in the course. I figure it's not a bad idea to take my own advice and write about my own goals and what I have done to achieve them thus far.
I gave myself a couple of goals before coming to Morocco. Here they are:
1. Learn Derija (Moroccan Arabic)
2. Improve Fusha (Standard Arabic)
3. Memorize poems in English, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese
4. Do some volunteer work
5. Hike and/or exercise regularly
6. Develop teaching techniques
7. "Make new friends, but keep the old ones..."
8. Read and write as much as possible
9. Learn some Tamazigh
To this original list, I have added a few more:
1. Develop an appreciation for Egyptian cinema
2. Develop a passive knowledge of French with the least amount of effort
3. Learn all I can about mosaic tiling
4. Learn about discipline without having to discipline
So far, I think I am pretty on target. Except for learning derija. I'm feeling pretty frustrated again. I know I have learned a lot so far and made a lot of progress, but the past few days I have been feeling pretty defeated. I mean, aside from my Arabic teacher and my mosaic tiling teacher, no one even speaks to me in derija. They prefer to speak to me in Spanish, or in crappy French which I don't even speak, or sometimes English. It's like I'm trying so hard, but the other person in the conversation isn't trying at all. Sometimes it hurts my feelings, sometimes I find it just insulting. And after so much of it, it really starts to hurt my motivation. Why should i even bother to try ? I know it's the normal ups, downs and plateaus of language learning, but from where I am now, it looks like a loooong way to the top.
I gave myself a couple of goals before coming to Morocco. Here they are:
1. Learn Derija (Moroccan Arabic)
2. Improve Fusha (Standard Arabic)
3. Memorize poems in English, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese
4. Do some volunteer work
5. Hike and/or exercise regularly
6. Develop teaching techniques
7. "Make new friends, but keep the old ones..."
8. Read and write as much as possible
9. Learn some Tamazigh
To this original list, I have added a few more:
1. Develop an appreciation for Egyptian cinema
2. Develop a passive knowledge of French with the least amount of effort
3. Learn all I can about mosaic tiling
4. Learn about discipline without having to discipline
So far, I think I am pretty on target. Except for learning derija. I'm feeling pretty frustrated again. I know I have learned a lot so far and made a lot of progress, but the past few days I have been feeling pretty defeated. I mean, aside from my Arabic teacher and my mosaic tiling teacher, no one even speaks to me in derija. They prefer to speak to me in Spanish, or in crappy French which I don't even speak, or sometimes English. It's like I'm trying so hard, but the other person in the conversation isn't trying at all. Sometimes it hurts my feelings, sometimes I find it just insulting. And after so much of it, it really starts to hurt my motivation. Why should i even bother to try ? I know it's the normal ups, downs and plateaus of language learning, but from where I am now, it looks like a loooong way to the top.
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