Research Book 1/5

So after reading about 1/5 of  The Scientist in The Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About The Mind, it is difficult to view babies and young children the same anymore. The very beginning of this book was more of an overview of what we originally thought we knew about babies  and of what we have come to discover years later through various forms of research and close observation. This book pointed out to me that unfortunately, the study of  children’s development, Developmental Psychology is a fairly recent field of study and the ground work was put together mostly by two people in particular, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Thanks to their earlier work, and recent research we have now adopted a new theory that an infants’ brain is like a computer, and not a blank slate as it was thought of before. Technology has also significantly affected Developmental Psychology because, now we have what Piaget and Vygotsky did not, camcorders and now psychologists have learned new amazing facts about babies, like the fact that six-month-olds can tell the difference between Swedish and English! Fascinating stuff. I also learned that babies start to understand that they are similar to others, and that we can feel upset or happy about certain things. Babies are so much smarter than I actually thought, this book finally explained to me why the “terrible two’s” are in deed so terrible, and it’s for the simple fact that children do (bad) things just because we don’t want them to. I think this shows a deep understanding of other people, and how they feel, because this demonstrates that children are acting with a purpose. So far into the book there hasn’t been much talk concerning language, but I skimmed through the table of contents and it’s coming up soon, in chapter 4 approximately 3/5 into the book, but meanwhile I will be reading all the other cool elements about “What children learn about things” next.

Research Project

While reading down the list of books from which to choose from for our research, I was immediately drawn to two specific books, You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation and The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind . After a few minutes of internet research and a brief reading of the first chapters I decided that the second option was going to be my book of choice. There were certain key factors which assisted me in my decision. First of all, after reading a page or two I saw that it was a bit witty, which was a major attraction because who doesn’t like some humor in their life?. Secondly, this book is very captivating and full of interesting facts about children that will not seize to shock you, and this is what this book mostly consists of. It explores the world of young children and infants and tries to explain to us as adults and parents that they are not what they seem. That children are curious minds and think about issues just as we do, perhaps not the same issues but the point it that they think. I personally do not have children of my own, but I do hope to someday have a family and this book seems to be a great tool to help me through the undiscovered journey of parenthood. Lastly, I am going to be sincere and say that I am also taking a developmental psychology course and this book is closely related to the material, that I felt inclined toward this book in an endeavor to kill two birds with one stone.

        

Honestly Speaking

Michelle Barreto

Professor Dr. Maria Jerskey

ELL 101.0971

9/15/10

            While growing up I remember one afternoon, I was digging through some old folders filled with my kindergarten and first grade school work. I recall it mostly compiled of colorful drawings and pictures, until I came across a school letter informing my parents that my English speaking skills were in need of improvement and they recommended my parents to help me out at home. The letter humored me at first, but then I became upset because, how were my parents supposed to help me if we were a Spanish speaking family, and  they were new to the country and barely spoke English themselves?. Although, I apparently wasn’t such a great English speaker, I am glad to announce that I am fluent in English and have the benefit of also speaking Spanish, thanks to my parents.

            I suppose that Spanish would be considered my first language, since it’s what I grew up speaking, but at this moment I would say that English is my first language since it is what I feel most comfortable with. However, I do understand, speak, and read Spanish fluently but unfortunately I can’t write it as well. Since English is more in my comfort zone, it’s what I speak on an everyday basis at school, work and with my friends with the only exception being when I’m at home. When I am with my family I mostly speak Spanish, I’m saying “mostly” because I do tend to speak “Spanglish”. After all the years of  regularly speaking English I have come to forget  and mispronounce certain words in Spanish which has made my mother feel a shred of disappointment on the grounds that, her future grandchildren will not speak the same language as her.

             I believe that language is something that occurs naturally, not the language itself but how we learn it as children. I can’t seem to recall a point in time when my parents sat me down and actually attempted to teach me Spanish, I feel as if I just picked it up along the way, even though I know this isn’t the way it works for adults but it’s similar to how it happens with younger children. To this day I do not fully understand how children learn to speak and process a language so easily with no consideration of  the complexity of the language whether it’s a gendered or geographic language. As Guy Deutscher’s article “You Are What You Speak” has made me realize that languages are not just different in the way they sound and are read, but they also vary in terms of space and time. Recently I have uncovered that the Japanese don’t use the same sense of time as English speakers do, and that they are not as concerned with details as Americans are. This was a huge surprise since details are what make a story, as well as a conversation all the more appealing to the reader or listener. Deutscher’s article has brought to light how different and intriguing each language can be.