UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE SINALOA

CENTRO DE IDIOMAS UAS

TUTOR: JOEL PAZUELOS
ENGLISH V

SUSANA ELENA BOJORQUEZ INZUNZA

MOODLE II
BA IN ELT

Certain activities challenge us to work hard and take the best out of us. During this activity I
challenged my patience, my technological skills, listening skills, reading and research skills. I
believe this assignment was excellent to take out our best English speaking skills. It was also a
passive way to understand our speaking problems and how to identify them.

Jorge: Good afternoon Susy how are you?

Susana: Im okay, So do you want to start?
Jorge: Well, I guess. What is your our opinion on using on using only English in your class? So you
do that, or do you sometimes have to use Spanish to make yourself more understandable?
Susana: amm yes, amm. I have like ammm a really close opinion about that because my students
were very small and I could use body language and all that, to make them understand, pictures and
all the materials. But now my students are university students, and they are not really into it you
know? Even though I make them use body language and all that,I believe I have to tell them in
Spanish what they have to do because otherwise they wont do it.
Jorge: Which grade are you teaching?
Susana: Im teaching University.
Jorge: Yes uhm, this place I work at uhm, they tell us to use only English but I sometimes find it
difficult because it I have young learners like 5th graders so I sometimes find, have for example I
have these two fifth grade groups and they are uhm, differently skilled. Some more, some less and
if I go
Susana: I cant hear you, you know! Jorge! Hello!(clears throat) were having some difficulties to
record, Uhm, I think Im going to continue, my topic is what is wrong on using the mother tongue in
learning English, in my opinion I think it promotes learners autonomy and helps to make a logical
connection to define meaning of words in English and to decode assignments.
Jorge: Que onda se cort o que paso?
Susana: Uhm I think we have to share ideas but it is difficult for us to connect, were trying, this is
like the 10th time weve done it, we werent able to record the other conversation we had, today we

found out how to, and Im asking him if hes going to come back and continue our conversation
about English.
(some seconds go by)
Susana: I have another idea. When we teach English, I think as learning students use their mother
tongue in a way it helps them, you know, in a way that is stable then they use it too much just to turn
words and phrases, things like that, I have some pros and cons that I want to share with Jorge, I
have told Jorge but no through here, another pros that I say, defends the idea of the mother tongue
is used is this, assumptions that language transfer is important on the second language acquisition,
they are supposed to know how to say what they are thinking, another think is that cross linguistics
similarities and differences between L1 and L2 can produce positive and negative transfers, I think
that is a pro, because students work fast and effectively, or under production, they could get stuck
on a word or phrase for what it means in English. (Seconds go by) OK!
Susana: Do you wanna talk Jorge?
Jorge: La llamada se cort, no la tengo activa, creo que tienes que hacerla otra vez.( is not part of
our video)
Susana: He says that we have to start over, Im going to stop this transmission and wait to see if he
comes back.
Jorge: (I was speaking but could not be heard)
Susana: Not really! Can you talk louder?
Jorge: Yes, the last, previous time, it showed here in my phone that it was being recorder, it was
recording, its not this time.
Susana: Yeah, its recording, its live.
Jorge: OK, should we start again?
Susana: Yes, well it kept going, Uhm, What you think is the role of the mother tongue in teaching
English?
Jorge: OK. I think that the role of the mother tongue in teaching English is a support, is ah is
ah its providing a context in which a student can base the understanding of a second language,
for example if Im going to explain something in English I would probably use uh.. previous

experience relating it to how students learnt their mother tongue, I mean, I think it can very helpful
to explain in an initial way, some aspects of English, that cannot really ne translated or you cannot
} mimic or act to be understood. What is your opinion?
Susana: I was talking to myself right now, in case you came back, I see it as an advantage, you
know? To come up with a meaning of a word or phrase, because there are some words similar in
Spanish and English and it is our job to make sure students understand, sometimes is an
advantage but sometimes is not, it could be whatever, wrong or right.
Jorge: Well yeah, its how you communicate, definitely, is you can use it for a limited time, just to
find the correct way to use it to make yourself more understandable, thats OK, but making it clear
to the learner that only youre going to use it for special occasions, because you are in a classroom
to practice and develop your English communication skills. I was doing some research on this topic,
you know? On bilingualism and I find out, I found about this uhh.. professor called his name is
uuhh.. Wolfgang Butzkamm, hes German and he works in the University of Aachen in Germany
and he says that the mother tongue is the greatest asset people can bring to foreign language
task and that mother tongue should be seen as an ally and not as an enemy and I insist its OK if
you use it, its OK if I use it, its OK if teachers use it in special occasion to make a concept clearer
than it should be.
Susana: Yeah, I was reading and I found something like that, it says that Uhm.. that translation is
natural thing, and when we are learning, students translate it because they want to know what they
mean, and I have another thing right here, similar that it says, translation is sometimes referred to
as the fifth language skill alongside with the other four, listening, reading, speaking and writing.
What do you think about that?
Jorge: Yeah, definitely, definitely, I think we use translation to understand concepts and vision what
happens to us when, if you go to, if are faced into a text, we do it unconsciously, you are reading
and you are translating unconsciously and you are understanding a text, sometimes as this is our
second language, we come across some information that is not clear so, we have to search for
more information to understand it, so I totally agree, translation is also an ability we have to develop
and the problem is that, the problem I can see in translation is that, we can we could translate

exactly how we want to say things in Spanish and this is a, the feeling we can make erroneous
assumptions that cannot help us learn properly, that is the problem when we use L1 exactly the
same way in the second language, this case, English.
Susana: Misinterpretation of the context, I have some positive and cons, I have underproduction
when students get stuck on a word, I have another, one that says, Linguistics similarities and
differences between L1 capitalize transfer, thats true, we have students thinking they know what
something means because of the similarity of words in English and Spanish, and I have another I
have a question.
Jorge: Yes.
Susana: Do you think schools should teach English and use students first language?
Jorge: Can you repeat it please?
Susana: Yes, why should teach English and use students first language?
Jorge: Why, well first because I think it should be used a kindergarten levels, if you have like small
children, because it would be like the starting point, if you go into the classroom with kindergarten
kids speaking 100 percent English, yeas they can associate if you show them flashcards, and stuff
like that, theres going to be a point in which you have to use Spanish or the native language to
make yourself understandable, and if youre working with teenagers or adults like you are, but
again you can be working with a housewife or a person that has never been in touch with English
and you start speaking English a 100 percent, they probably going to feel lost and they probably
would be uhm lost encouragement in the leaning process, so why should schools use L1 to teach
English? Precisely for that, to help students learn the language but making it clear that you are only
going to use to solve any possible question they can have in the classroom.
Susana: Something that I found out about that is that, eliminating native language does not
guarantee acquisition, even though it eliminates Spanish 100 percent, it does not guarantee that
students will learn English, its not an excuse.
Jorge: I totally agree with you, totally agree with you!
Susana: And I want to end up the conversation, if its OK with you with this thing I came up with,
uhh When do we know if our students are using their mother tongue correct when this is what I

said, when students rely on their logistics of mother tongue, when they balance in a right way, when
they use logic and when they dont need a teacher to translate for them and.. What else?
Sometimes students need a little push and guidance from the teacher to activate the logic part of
his and her mother tongue language.
Jorge: OK, so let me know if I got your answer correctly, youre saying that, it comes a time or it
comes a moment in which an English learner doesnt need to translate precisely, but that do it
unconsciously, they are reading or hearing, listening and they can make the translation in their
mother tongue and they can uh understand the concept without translating to their mother
tongue, let me say it again, it comes a moment in a learner in which they dont have to translate
precisely, but he does it unconsciously, something like that?
Susana: yes, when they use the logic part of the mother tongue to translate or understand.
Jorge: yes because it triggers your previous knowledge in your mother tongue so you are able to
understand, like you are talking to me right know and I dont have to look for meaning because we
have been in touch with the language for some time.
Susana: yes, and I just came up with this. It is positive because without first language, theres no
second language, correct?
Jorge: Riiiight. Excellent, yes! I think the mother tongue opens possibilities and is always
awakening new

This is the end. There is more dialogue but related to how we were going to complete the task.

Link to video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzug1kSf8kE

Some of the problems encountered were some phonological features, in some parts we had some
pronunciation issues, and we could see some fossilization issues of words to pronounce. Another
problems with had was grammar structure, when we tend to say an idea or opinion we usually try to
say the word fast and made simple mistakes in sentence grammatical structure. I believe we did not
had any interactional and communication issues due to our previous work, we have done other
assignments and we recur to previous knowledge to finish this task. One thing that I did notice is the
sounds we made before speaking, amm, umhh or others this was a trigger to think about the topic.
A lexical issue we had was to unify our opinions, it was difficult to put into words what we were
thinking, for example in some sentences we had grammatical mistakes, this made us have fluency
problems. One thing that helped us was the practice, investigation resources and timing we had to
conclude this assignment. I believe is of use to self-evaluate us, and other to become self-aware of
our positive and negative understanding of the language.

At the beginning I started researching possible topics, one that was extended and were we could
have a conversation about. We as teachers have seen many of these topics, and we had to choose
one we both agreed on. I believe that it was chosen wisely. It was difficult to get familiar with Google
hangouts since Ive used the video call. After researching watching many tutorials, and finally
agreeing on the time of the video call we started talking. I believe our conversation was ok, and we
had some important moments that we can rescue and go back to and reflect on them.

At the end self-evaluation is positive when is used correct. It is healthy to once in a while observe
each other and challenge our English Skills. In this activity we had to recall many of the skills we
had forgotten like, listening, and asking questions, about our professions to someone that is
experienced and it is on the same level that you are. Its interesting to learn from other teachers,
observe, and listen to their experiences on their teaching. Any debate with a good topic and two
people willing to talk about it, will have positive results.

References.

Koucka, A. (2007). THE ROLE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING [Abstract].
Kavaliauskien, G. (n.d.). PROS AND CONS OF TRANSLATION IN LEARNING
ENGLISH [Scholarly project].