Aegis

When thinking of the word of the week, aegis, I was partial to one of the definitions given by the the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Control or guidance especially by an individual, group, or system.


When taking this look at the word, immediately I think of a teacher/mentor, or in my case a foreign language teacher. As teachers, we have the majority of control in our students' language learning. Sure, students can seek out other means to learn a language (books, movies, music, etc); however, instruction in a classroom is (hopefully) the most accurate way to learn a language. As teachers, we fit all three categories of this guidance and control. We have individual times with all students both in and out of the class. As a whole, we work as a group to ensure the language learning as a department. Finally, all languages come together as a system to enrich and enlighten the students to the world I which they live.








Another way of looking at this word with language would be a native speaker from any country respectively. To a foreigner, they are your guide to experiencing the language and culture from that country. I know what I have done before with friends that are native speakers from other countries, we both help each other out when needed to remember words or learn new terms. For me at least, it's fun and exciting to be opened up to a new world. Without this guide or control, this task would be much harder to accomplish. Now my question is, have any of you found yourself in either of these scenarios?

Post 1

Nomothetic

When learning any new language, one synonymously learns another culture as well. From a young age, I constantly learned about new languages and cultures through my elementary school. Unbeknownst to me at the time, not all elementary schools provided the options of learning about new languages and cultures like mine did. Now that I am older, I realize how close-minded people can be. People tend to base their opinions on things they know and don't always seek out more information that what is given to them. When I think of the word "nomothetic", what comes to mind is not only the idea of what I would consider a nomothetic word or statement, but what others may have concerning my life.

Although it was not until a few days ago that I knew the meaning of this word, my first real encounter with this idea was when I was ten. It was my first time to travel without the comfort of my family when my class did an exchange program with an elementary school in France. We lived with host families and attended classes for a month. Of course you wonder what things are going to be like when you visit a new place, but having been taught by native French speakers, I had been introduced to much of the French lifestyle with things such as food, traditions, teaching styles, etc. The moment most marking to my life in regards to this term was when I had a student in my class ask me, "Do you ride horses to school and live in teepees?" To me, this was such a ridiculous notion. How did he not know that we lived in houses and drove cars everywhere? At the time, I didn't think much of it and of course politely told him how things really were. It is humorous to reflect on how surprised he was of this news.

Today, being around so many people of varying backgrounds and ages, it is interesting to see the multitude of the abstract ideas people hold of others and of other cultures. As much as I try, I am sure I fall subject to this from time to time, but I try to keep myself well informed. I would not want someone assuming or passing judgement on me while only have an abstract idea of who I am, and therefore want to do the same for others. Being as involved with the language world as I am, I would love for people to be more away with this idea of being nomothetic.

Le voilà!