The Second Language Teaching
The first semester of Mrs. Grant’s tenth-grade Latin class was devoted to vocabulary memorization and sentence completion, leaving me with memories of chiming, “Matella est mater. Flavius est pater.”
Although I had never studied a foreign language before, I remember thinking, “Even if Latin is a dead language, there must be a more lively way of learning and teaching it.” I have since traveled extensively, lived in other countries, and learned other languages. As my current passion for teaching developed, I often thought of Mrs. Grant’s Latin class as the antithesis of what I aimed for my classroom to be like.
At age twenty-four, I was building a career as a restaurateur and earning a lucrative living when I rediscovered my passion for learning and for teaching through evening courses in French and seminars in teaching English as a second language. In particular, I realized my profound interest in teaching English to speakers of other languages, and so I made the difficult but ultimately invaluable decision to study in the Second Language Teaching program at the University of Ottawa.
In this program, my interest evolved from a focus on teaching young adults to teaching adults at the post-secondary level. Opportunities to apply my knowledge in the classroom, in combination with my experiences learning two languages in foreign contexts, have served as integral guides to the development of my own approach to teaching second languages.
In the classroom, it is particularly important for me to understand the second language learner’s point of view and use humor and real-life situations to get a point across. Yet a teacher's work goes beyond these techniques. In order to further understand the political, economical, social, and cultural issues underlying educational policies and procedures, I wish to join the Master of Education program at Columbia University. This foundation will serve as the critical bridge needed to further my career as an educator.
Through my undergraduate studies in second language teaching, I developed my interest in pursuing research on the question of how sociocultural factors impact awareness in second language design, implementation, and assessment in a multicultural community versus those in a culturally homogeneous community. In my experience, moreover, sociocultural factors affect schooling in a variety of areas, including culture, gender identities, power roles, class markers and social markers. Research in this area as part of my studies at Columbia will therefore help fill a pressing, practical educational need.
Finally, while conducting this research, I hope to expand my analytical, statistical and examination skills, and later to bring to my teaching an increased awareness of issues currently affecting educational pedagogy. The Master of Education program will therefore provide me with the educational foundation to fully realize my professional and personal goals.
点评：
文章开篇点出第二语言教学的精髓。随后阐述了自己对这个专业兴趣产生的原因，并从个人兴趣转移谈到了第二语言教学的教学方法，并且从不断的实践中对教法有了不断的深入。对于自己技能的提高过程给了一定的说明。最后在实践中发现了第二语言教学的精髓所在就是“社会与文化的因素如何影响第二语言在那些类似同等的文化团体中的计划”。
文章主要让读者能了解到，他对该专业的兴趣并且为这一兴趣作了哪些工作，而且逐渐专业经历的积累又让他明白了该专业精髓所在，而此时又明确了未来专业学习的方向。作者没有象其他作者只是详细的描写一些过程，是深度对教学方法进行了说明，而第二语言教学正式看重申请人在教学方法的钻研和兴趣。
这篇文章主要的成功之处在于能从专业自身的特点出发，结合自己的兴趣明确未来专业学习方向。
译文：
第二语言教学
Grant夫人第十级的拉丁课第一学期的单词技艺和句子完成，给我留下了很深的印象，“Matella est mater. Flavius est pater.”。
虽然在这之前我从来没有学习过外国语，我记得那个思想“即使拉丁语是死语言，仍然有更活跃的方式来学习和教授它”。之后，我进行了广阔的旅游，生活在了其他国家并且学习了其他语言。对教学方式挖掘的热情，让我经常试图让我的课堂成为Mrs. Grant的拉丁语课堂那样。
在我24岁的时候，我是一个参餐馆老板。那个时候当我通过夜校法语和英语作为第二语言教学的学习让我重新发现我对学习和教学的热情。重要的是，我意识到我对给非英语母语的人教授英语有浓厚的兴趣。因此我做了一个虽然很艰难但是很坚定并很有价值的决定，我要去Ottawa大学去学习第二语言教育专业。
在这里面的学习，我的兴趣从教小孩转移到教成人。结合我学习两种语言的经验，我很好的提高我的对第二语言教育的能力的提升。我在课堂上的知识和我前后学习两种外语的经验，给我自己第二语言的教授方法的发展有完整的指引。
在教室里，了解第二语言初学者的观点、用幽默和真诚达到共识对我来说尤其的重要。但是教师的工作还不仅仅是这些技巧，为了进一步更好地了解基于政治，经济，社会和文化制定出的教育政策和程序，我请求进入哥伦比亚大学攻读教育硕士。这个阶段是必需的、迫切的对于进一步促进我成为一个教育家的职业生涯。
通过我在大学期间对第二语言教学的学习，我更进一步的拓展了我的兴趣对于从事研究这样一个问题：社会与文化的因素如何影响第二语言在那些类似同等的文化团体中的计划，执行和估价。以我的体会而言，社会与文化的因素推动着学校教育涉及了多个领域，朝着多元化发展；包括文明，性别身份，权力角色，班级标兵和社会标兵。因此作为我在哥伦比亚大学的学习的一部分，研究这个领域是紧迫的，实用的，必须的。
最后，当开始这个研究的时候，我希望扩展我的分析，统计和考察技巧，这个教育学硕士项目将提供给我一个教育基础对于完全的实现我的我的职业和个人目标。
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