Blog Post 1

One thing that gives the most impression to me in this week’s reading is when Destin Sandlin telling about his story of learning backwards bike. In his video, he mentioned about “knowledge does not equal to understanding”. This story reminds me of learning English Grammar when I was in China. Most student start to learn English Grammar (word, phrases, clauses, and sentences) since middle school. I am definitely not a “A” student in English learning when I was in China. Grammar is confusing to me even until today. The biggest confused part is verb tenses as there is not a verb tenses in Mandarin Chinese. When I start learning English, my mind is still working as Mandarin mode. I feel it is really hard for me to understand how English sentence group together. Usually when I given my answer to questions, I was based on the existing pattern in my mind (Mandarin). Although the instructor was teaching English Grammar “Knowledge”, my mind is still in my old pattern. Also, as a person who learns better when I’m practice in real world environment, I feel it is really hard for me to switch how I react and speak English. This is a great example of behaviorism learning pattern. Although I can react to the simulate situation (English test) but not all my reaction a correct as I was translating my answer from Mandarin to English in my mind and then answer.

Photo by Clarissa Watson on Unsplash

After I move to Canada, speaking and reading English become a daily routine. I have to switch my mind from thinking as Mandarin first then translate to English, then think straight through as English mind set. And after 5 years, sometimes I still have problem with him/her when I am trying to talk to another person too quickly. In Mandarin, although we have different character for he/she/it, but they sound exactly same when we pronouns them. Usually, when I have conversation with others, I have thought about who I’m referring to first in my mind and then speak. This reflect to how I try to apply Constructivism learning in my learning process: “An emphasis on learner control and the capability of the learner to manipulate information [actively using what is learned]”(Ertmer & Newby, 2013).

A funny fact as how Destin learning backwards bike I found during my learning process is: sometimes I feel I forgot how to speak/write Mandarin if I’m trying to express something supper quick. Since I’ve been live in Canada for several years, English come my daily “first language”. When I try to response to friend quickly in Mandarin, for some words, I feel it is supper hard for me to translate the word’s meaning to Mandarin and express it quick. It feels like I suddenly forget how to speak Mandarin. But, if give me a little time (several minutes), I will be able to pick it up again.

Reference

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.