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Standard 10 – Partnerships
The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger
community to support students' learning and well-being.
Name of Artifact: L2 Justification Essay "Crossing Over: Does Learning a New Language
Rationale
A partnership is two or more players who are on the same team and who are working
toward a shared goal. As a student in the MATL program; my partners are my professors, my
fellow MATL students and the University of Southern Mississippi at large. Our shared goal is
the acquisition of knowledge for the betterment of all individuals in our society. If any member
of my ‘team’ is unable to thrive it not only affects the team, but because of our shared goal, it
On December 10, 2009, Dr. Joanne Burnett sent an email to her students in FL561 –
Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice which stated that our college dean had “gone
on the record stating that she believes that the study of foreign languages should no longer be a
requirement in our college's BA” (J. Burnett, personal communication, December 10, 2009). In
addition, she stated that the dean, USM and the academic councils were allowing departments in
the college of arts and letters to offer it (the study of languages) as an option (J. Burnett, personal
communication, December 10, 2009). Dr. Burnett’s fear was that the department might drop
foreign languages all together. She asked us, if possible, to send her an email stating our beliefs
about the value of studying languages and cultures, for which she planned to use as a rebuttal to
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Standard 10-Partnerships Artifact 1 Joely Rogers 2
any attempts at reducing the study of languages in the college curriculum (J. Burnett, personal
Even though my undergraduate major is not in languages the idea of having a college
curriculum lacking in foreign languages fills me with dismay. How can we call ourselves
scholars, or function as businesspersons and public individuals in our globalized society without
knowledge of other languages and cultures? Such a mentality is hubris in the truest sense of the
word. I decided that an email wasn’t enough. I needed to support my team. To do so required the
use of a more powerful medium than a bullet-pointed email. I needed a personal essay stating the
The finished essay was submitted to Dr. Burnett in January 2010. It is called “Crossing
over: Does learning a new language transform our sense of identity?”, and I have included a
copy of it at the end of this rationale. In the essay, I argue that global enlightenment results from
three things: trust, communication and transformation; all of which result from learning a new
language and integrating with a new culture. Dr. Burnett placed the essay on the content page of
FL694 – Practicum in Second or Foreign Languages, where it remains to this day under the
Hello Class,
I have placed a very moving essay by our fellow student Joely Rogers on the Course
Content page. I asked students in FL 561 for some assistance last semester during USM's
budget crisis and Joely came through with this lovely essay on the importance of learning
about second languages and cultures. I thought you too would enjoy reading it.
Hi Joely,
I read your essay that Dr. Burnett posted for us and I just wanted to let you know how
much it affected me in such a positive way. Your words were eloquent and deeply felt. It
reminds me of how far I have come in my Spanish learning and what a wonderful gift
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Standard 10-Partnerships Artifact 1 Joely Rogers 3
that I have to share with my students :) My whole life has been transformed by learning
another language and I want to thank you for reminding me of this incredible journey, the
challenges and the blessings of traveling to foreign countries and who I have become as a
foreign language teacher in this global community.
Did the essay serve its function of supporting the team? I believe that it did, and that
while it did not prevent budget cuts from affecting at least two professors in the language
department; it hopefully at least opened some minds to the importance of studying foreign
languages and cultures. I have included this essay as an artifact for Standard 10 – Partnerships
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Standard 10-Partnerships Artifact 1 Joely Rogers 4
Crossing Over: Does Learning a New Language Transform Our Sense of Identity?
Traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language is a humbling experience.
Commonplace activities, such as ordering lunch at a restaurant or casually conversing with the
checkout person at a grocery store, abruptly become major undertakings. Your comfort zone
demolished, a nervous, child-like state surfaces, suddenly you must TRUST again. Trust that the
individual taking your money is being scrupulously honest about the price, and trust that your
waiter has not decided to play “entrails of the day” entrée with the gullible, unsuspecting
foreigner. Later in the journey, the enthusiasm for trust alone may wane, giving rise to a new
requires a release of hubris about the presumed “superiority” of your native language, and a
return to the tabula rasa of infantile youth. You must crawl before you can walk, and the humble
act of crawling; whether on the floor in the corporeal sense, or linguistically through a maze of
The scenario portrayed above may be deeply familiar to anyone who has traveled abroad
from their land of birth. My first trip out of the United States was a twelve-day cultural
liaison, in addition to the tacit rules for cheese-course selection – one cheese is boorish, two or
three is perfectly courteous, more however, is gluttonous. On a later trip to Portugal, I discovered
that the cute little symbols above letters, the diacritics, were actually pronunciation helpers – this
along with the utility of a spit bucket if you attempt to taste 18 varieties of Porto in one sitting!
Regardless of the country visited or language attempted, the pattern – trust, communication and
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Standard 10-Partnerships Artifact 1 Joely Rogers 5
this reoccurring pattern that I can say without a doubt “learning a new language, or even
attempting a few words in a new language, transforms a person’s belief about who they are”.
They emerge with greater appreciation for life on this planet, and hold a greater respect for all its
inhabitants.
English, to those individuals desiring a personal transformation of their own. The best teachers
are those who can relate to what their students are feeling, and intuit how best to help them with
their potential struggles. Intuition is product of experience, and warrior-like training. I feel my
experiences learning a foreign language and struggling to adapt to a different culture will aid my
While writing this essay the Buddhist term, “satori”, Japanese for “enlightenment” came
to mind. Certain texts assert that the path to enlightenment is not an ascent heavenward, but a
descent down - downward into the masses of humanity. In my opinion, the mastery of an
additional language(s) is a huge step down this path to global enlightenment and its resulting
peace. The path to enlightenment lies not in superiority, but in TRUST, COMMUNICATION
and TRANSFORMATION into a state of genuine human connection and profound appreciation
for our shared experience in our communal home, this wondrous blue planet called Earth.