Ashley's Adventures in Applied Linguistics

When someone smiles at us, we generally smile back. When someone is hostile towards us, we tend to react with hostility. But what if we flip the script? Do the unexpected? Treat hostility with kindness? Assume the best in everyone?  Yesterday I listened to an Invisibilia podcast from last July – “Flip the Script” . I highly recommend giving the entire podcast a listen, but at the very least, read this transcript of the introductory segment (from http://www.npr.org/2016/07/15/485904654/read-the-transcript): ALIX SPIEGEL, HOST: This story starts in Washington, D.C., on a warm summer night. There were eight friends gathered around a backyard dinner table. They were toasting family and friendship. And everybody was having a good time. MICHAEL RABDOU: Kind of one of those great evenings - lots of awesome food and French wine. And it was like a magical night. SPIEGEL: That's Michael Rabdau. He was there with his wife and his 14-year-old daughter Khyber. And he says it...

My 2017 mantra for myself: There's always room for growth. Hi. My name is Ashley. I am a recovering perfectionist. I recently discovered the wisdom of Carol Dweck, a psychologist who has been researching  "growth mindset"  for over 30 years. Some of the big takeaways from her research: Students with a fixed mindset often perceive difficulties as catastrophic. They run from errors. Students with a growth mindset often perceive difficulties as a learning opportunity. They bounce back after setbacks. Telling children they are "smart" encourages a fixed mindset. Praising children for their effort and perseverance encourages a growth mindset. I have had a perfectionistic, fixed mindset for most of my life. I am working on changing that to a growth mindset. I went for a hike today in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Hiking is my me time, my meditation, my church. Last summer I got lost while hiking on an unmarked trail, and my 2-hour hike turned i...

The Prompt was to write about 500 words about how I might approach teaching differently or view students differently as a result of what we read and discussed in this class. My Response: As a result of what I have read and learned about critical pedagogy this semester, I am more aware of the importance of recognizing the cultures my students are from, as well as the importance of helping my students learn to think critically. When I go back to teaching high school, I will try to be more cognizant of my students’ varying beliefs and backgrounds. I will provide opportunities in my lessons for them to compare what we are studying to aspects of their own lives and encourage them to verbalize their ideas and try to help me and their fellow students to see the lessons through a different lens.  I will also seek out continuing education for myself in critical pedagogy. One training I would seek immediately is something to help teachers encourage respectful discussion in the classro...

Our instructions were to design a "multicultural event" and try to think outside the box - go beyond the usual potluck-of-various-styles-of-food type event.   My response: High School Culture Show and Tell Hypothetical Scenario: I am a high school language teacher organizing a school-wide multicultural event. I am designing a “Culture Show-and-Tell” with specific instructions towards the end of this post.  Rationale: Culture can be represented in so many ways; it is a shame to limit it to a traditional dish or costume from one’s home country. “Culture” isn’t necessarily even about being from a different country or eating different foods than someone across town. Everyone comes to the school with their own particular cultural capital. Cultural capital can be represented by “ways of talking, acting, modes of style, moving, socializing, forms of knowledge, language practices and values” and more (McLaren, 2009, p. 80). In an attempt to recognize and value each of my stu...

“You’re a linguist? How many languages do you speak?” “You want to study linguistics? I’m embarrassed to write a letter of recommendation for your application; my grammar is horrible.” When I shared with my friends and co-workers that I wanted to get my Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics, those are some of the comments I heard. They illustrate a couple of the misconceptions about this field. Linguists study language; they are not necessarily polyglots . Some learn several languages just for the love of it, but it is not at all a requirement. And along the same vein, linguists study language; they don’t prescribe it . We study how a language functions and how people use language, but very few linguists try to tell people how they should use language. Take the title of this post, for example. There are linguists who study how textspeak (things like “WTF” and “LOL”) has become a part of our spoken language. “WTF” in particular cracks me up (makes me LOL, if you will) beca...