[nabs-l] "Conversation starter"/question related to the field ofstudy you are pursuing

Sat Apr 15 16:08:57 UTC 2017

Hi, all.

Sami, I enjoyed your post very much. I studied French and Spanish during high school and undergrad and enjoyed them very much. At the time I was majoring in education and specializing in education of the visually impaired. This was 20-ish years ago and I considered adding ESL as a second specialiation and took some of the courses. It was much harder at that time to get accessible texts. I also ran into some difficulties in the education department and ended up changing majors when I was one semester away from finishing. I would regret it, except that if I had stayed in that program I would not be where I am today. Life takes some strange turns sometimes.

I took some time off to recover from the experiences I had and to decide what was next. I was strongly interested in both counseling and theology. I went to seminary, thinking that I would focus on pastoral care and counseling. When I started doing well in ancient language classes, two things happened. Professors started encouraging me to consider changing my study track so that I could teach, and classmates started asking me for help with their language studies.

I realized because of those experiences that I needed to do what I was good at, and here I am. My doctoral degree is a broad ministry degree that allows me to apply both y language study and theology to my reflection and practice. This is a much different place from where I imagined myself during my undergraduate study, but I wouldn't be anywhere else now.

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sami Osborne via NABS-L
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2017 11:03 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sami Osborne <ligne14 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] "Conversation starter"/question related to the field ofstudy you are pursuing

Hi Corey and all,

This is a great discussion topic and I'll share my experience here.  I'm also currently a freshman in college studying foreign languages.  How I got interested in that subject is simple: I've always been interested in this subject.  I started out learning two languages at home - English and French (I have a French mother and American father).  My mom started speaking French to me before I was even born - when she was still pregnant with me, and we speak it with each other every time we're in private (away from my dad, who can speak French but doesn't really like to away from our relatives)! LOL.  In addition, we have always (and still do, by the way) go to France every summer to visit our relatives.  
I really enjoy these trips, because, for me, it enables me to further practice and reinforce my French skills, by speaking it 24/7.  When I was little, this was especially the case with my grandfather.  I would go out with him almost every single morning to do shopping, and we would talk about practically everything there was to talk about.  He was such a nice, smart, and funny guy, and definitely one of my greatest role models when I was a kid.  He has unfortunately since passed away in 2012 when I was fourteen, which I was really sad about, but he will forever be in my memories.  I also really enjoy just seeing the wonderful attractions that Paris, and just the country of France in general, has to offer.  (By the way, I chose my email address, ligne14, because I really like going on one  of the Paris subway lines!):( When I was in the first grade, I also had the opportunity to study Spanish.  When I was in fourth and fifth grade, I entered a Spanish spelling Bee that my teacher was organizing for the first time.  I won the Bee in fourth grade, and I got, I beealieve third place in fifth grade.  I was so proud of all those accomplishments.  When I started middle school, I continued pursuing Spanish, although, I'll admit, I did get into kind of a battle with my parents over whether I should continue with that or study French (they only offered both languages at the school I was attending).  I wanted to learn French because at the time, I could speak it, but wasn't very good at writing (I'm still not, by the way).  My parents convinced me that I should just keep taking Spanish, because they just thought that I'd be bored with the class since I already speak French fluently.  After sixth grade, I'd changed from public school to a school for the blind, due to major problems I had with my new TVI as well as some of my teachers.  It was at the school for the blind where I really made the final decision to pursue languages o a potential career goal.  
I started that school in the seventh grade, and I had to take Spanish, which was the only language they offered.  I've always gotten high 90;'s in my Spanish classes every year.  A year after I started at the school for the blind, in the eighth grade, my social studies class took a field trip to the UN.  During that trip, our tour guide pointed out the language interpreters to us and what they do.  I became so intrigued, listening to people in the next room speaking in one language while the interpreters were translating through headphones to other languages (I believe that meeting was actually conducted in French).  After the UN trip, I thought to myself, "You know, if interpreters can do that, so can I - this will be the job that I'm going to pursue." 
Later on that year, I got an assignment in my Home and Careers class to write a report about any job that we wanted, and I chose language interpreting.  We also had to present our reports, and my teacher thought I did a really good job on it, explaining exactly what language interpreters do and convincing the class about why I wanted to pursue it as a career.

Coincidentally, that same year, my Spanish teacher told me that since I was fluent in three languages, I could become a foreign language schoolteacher if I wanted.  I've also added it to my bucket list of potential careers I'd like to pursue.

Speaking of jobs, when I was a junior in high school, I actually had the opportunity to practice both interpreting and teaching within my school campus.  I had a job where I would translate documents such as the school's news-letter into Spanish, because there were a lot of Hispanic parents who don't know any English.  
In addition, I also taught my technology teacher French, (she had always wanted to learn it,) and she taught me how to be an effective teacher to my future students.  Both of these jobs have been great experiences for me, because they not only allowed me to practice my language skills, but I've also learned a lot from them.  I am therefore very thankful for both of my teachers for offering me both of these positions.

During my senior year of high school, my Spanish teacher retired.  
I was honored to speak during a school assembly, in which I told the whole school what my Spanish teacher really meant to me.  For example, as you guys have already seen, she has been really supportive of my passion for languages.  Whenever we spoke (which was often) we would always talk in Spanish.  This enabled me to further practice my skills with her outside of regular class.  
With that said, when I was taking Spanish, I can remember countless days when I would just hang out with my teacher for a few minutes bef/af class, and we would just chat about anything and everything.  Those are definitely one of my most memorable times at my school for the blind.  My teacher was very moved by my speech, to the point where, while the crowd was applauding, she gave me a very tight hug and just kept thanking me over and over.  I was also told that she was sitting right next to me and had tears in her eyes the whole time I spoke.

When I had to write my college essay for the different schools I was applying to, I basically described the same thing that I'm telling you guys right now.  At the end of my senior year, we took a family vacation to Spain for my high school graduation present.  During that trip, my younger brother and I were in charge of translating everything for our parents and doing the talking, since their knowledge of Spanish is very limited.  
Again, this allowed me to have many interactions with people, and therefore reinforcing my skills/knowledge of the language.
After we came back from Europe that August, I had the opportunity to do an internship at a local independent living center, in which I did some interpreting over the phone as well as played the piano for seniors at a nearby nursing home.  Doing this, I had my first experience of doing a job out in the "real world," 
and I have since added this great experience to my resume.

I took a gap year after my senior  year of high school to pursue my blindness training at a center in my native NY.  After graduating from the center, I started college (where I am now) and declared my major in Romance Languages.  I'm now studying Italian in addition to Spanish, which I've always wanted to do, since they're all (French, Spanish, and Italian) in the romance languages group.

I also forgot to mention that I've always been interested in learning new languages in my spare time.  As a result, I've received many COULD's for learning new ones, including ones for German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, and even Gaelic (from Ireland).  I really enjoyed listening to the COULD's (I don't as often unfortunately) because they allow me to gain more knowledge and add more information to my probably already full brain! LOL.

Now, I'm having ow same internship that I did two years ago, as soon as I finish this semester off in May, and am really looking forward to it.  I'm really hoping I'll be able to have even more translations than I did last time.

I know that this is a much more in-depth analysis of my choice of study, but, as you guys can see, my interest/experience is very complicated! :(I sincerely apologize to everyone for the very lengthy message, but hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Thanks and enjoy your weekends,

Sami     ----- Original Message -----
From: Miranda via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org Date sent: Fri, 14 Apr 2017 23:29:13 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] "Conversation starter"/question related to the field ofstudy you are pursuing

Hi,
This is a great conversation, and I look forward to hearing the experiences that others share as well.  My interest in the human services field was really heightened during my summer internship in 2015.  I have the opportunity to welcome refugees to the United States, and I saw the problems that they experienced as a result of their trauma and resettlement journey.  However, I also saw a great deal of resilience and hope in the midst of what may seem to some as insurmountable obstacles.
This 13-week internship and all that I learned solidified my desire to welcome internationals to the United States as my long-term career goal.
Thanks for starting this conversation, and again, I look forward to hearing others' experiences!

Best wishes, Miranda

Sent from my iPhone

 On Apr 14, 2017, at 9:51 PM, Cory McMahon via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 All,

 What attracted you to the field of of study you are pursuing?

 I'm majoring in Human Services because I, personally, appreciate the  opportunity to help people, particularly in the area of the improvement of  lives of individuals with developmental disabilities.  We're coming a long  way in the integration of this population into the broader community, and  I'm truly blessed to be part of the implementation of that change.

 Sincerely,

 Cory McMahon

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