Spanish through Experience will meet on October 29 at 3pm when the topic will be Multiculturalism.
Spanish through Experience Meeting Notes
Halloween decorations greeted us as we walked in Melodye’s door for a haunting Multicultural experience. Three members presented their experiences and reflected on the topic of Multiculturalism: Melodye Rooney, Ema Genijovich and Shaké Balian. Because the UWC is in it- self a multicultural organization with English as a common language connecting us all, we shared stories and experiences while enjoying refreshments.
Melodye was interested in language acquisition as her children grew up in a multilingual environment. One theory suggested that learning a second language should only be considered once a child learned their first language. Now the belief is that children are able to learn a second language concurrent with the mother tongue. We heard from people who had both experiences and found in certain circumstances both views are valid. Ema shared her experience when she was obliged to move to two different countries. She learned to cope with the cultures, one where she shared the same language as the country and the other with a new language. We discussed how an immigrant or a migrant is viewed by members of a host country. Lastly, Shaké shared the odyssey experienced by her own family and how they were able to succeed in Argentina, their final destination. In closing, Ema reminded us that in the past, a person’s identity was symbolized by a tree with its roots firmly grounded in one culture but she preferred to compare us to an orchid, as Melodye did, with its roots in the air searching for new experiences.
Patricia Caviezel