Homework 1

Describe your own language learning experience and knowledge using the terms BICS and CALPS

My parents are from Turkey. They immigrated to Germany 40 years ago. Therefore my first language is Turkish. I learned Turkish by BICS and was able to use my mother tongue for oral communication with my parents and my brothers. I have three brothers and could only communicate with them in Turkish because they are older than me and they could actually talk German.

My second language is German. When I went to the kindergarten with 4 years I learnt German by BICS. At the beginning I learnt how to say things like "I´m hungry" or I "want to play". Later I observed my friends and learnt more and more to communicate with them. When I went to primary school I learnt German by CALP. I was taught reading and writing in German so that I used increasingly German and couldn´t improve my language abilities in Turkish. But when I was 8 years old I went additionally to a turkish school twice a week and thus learnt Turkish by CALP, too.

When I was in 5th grade I learnt English by CALP. At that time my English teacher taught me grammar and vocabulary but he didn´t teach us useful and conventional expressions. That´s why I had problems to make sentences in the English language. Later I tried to improve my oral and writing skills by listening and reading to English music and literature. At university I didn´t attend many English lectures yet so that I had not the opportunity to push my language skills in English.

My fourth language is French. I learnt in 7th grade French by CALP and had lessons for 6 years. I had a French neighbor and relatives in France so that I improved my French by BICS, too. Now I´m out of school for more than 8 years and more and more realize that I´m forgetting lots of my vocabulary and try to preserve my French skills by BICS (talking with relatives in France).