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

Cory McMahon cory.j.mcmahon at gmail.com
Sun Apr 16 00:34:52 UTC 2017


I love country music, too.

-----Original Message-----
From: Alexandra Alfonso [mailto:alliefa1999 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2017 7:34 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Cory McMahon <cory.j.mcmahon at gmail.com>; Sami Osborne <ligne14 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] "Conversation starter"/question related to the field ofstudy you are pursuing

I enjoy singing pop and country music. I love kids wich is why I want to be a teacher. I also go to a performing arts school. I take AP english and have always enjoyed writing.

On 4/15/17, Cory McMahon via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I truly enjoy reading in-depth posts through which people very 
> eloquently express themselves just as you did! What a moving post, Sami!
>
> -----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 10:03 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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