I am not exactly sure yet on how I will apply the theories of language acquisition to my teaching, but so far it seems to me that everyone agrees that we need to work with our students, provide them as much practice, guidance and examples as possible, and then it will work out. It's magic. It is also important to not focus on a specific skill, but rather try and develop all of them in a more or less equal manner. I understand that you cannot be absolutely equally comfortable speaking/writing/reading/hearing a language, but there is nothing wrong with a little idealism.

I really liked the concept activity we did during class, although our group probably was over creative with making our triangle-oriented, smiley-faced, quotation-filled poster. I still enjoyed making it :)

After reading the chapter I have been thinking a lot about bilingualism. I always thought that a bilingual person is someone, who acquired both languages simultaneously and is equally fluent in both. L&S write about sequential and additive bilinguals (and subtractive, but that's too sad). In the book, it talks about types of bilingualism, but it never gives the actual criteria for differentiating a bilingual from a fluent L2 speaker. Or does fluency in L2 automatically make one a bilingual? I am fluent in Russian, English, and Ukrainian (in order of acquisition), and can sort of maybe manage German. Of course, there are all kinds of odd bits and ends, but nevertheless. I have come to consider myself almost bilingual, although I am fluent in English, and most of the time don't care which language to talk. So you could say that now I have an identity crisis.

Subtractive bilingualism, I feel, is a really sad, but very natural thing. I would assume that it mostly happens in immigrant families. Even if a child was brought to L2 country (let's say the US, for argument's sake), when he/she was already fluent in their native language, chances are (about 95% on my unrepresentative selection) that they will not retain this fluency till adulthood. I know a lot of immigrant families where parents struggle to preserve L1 in their children. They pay for the tutors and extra language schools, read only L1 books to the children, speak only their native language at home, penalize the use of L2 outside of school and whatnot. Still, the kids lose the language or speak it with horrible mistakes and very obstructed meaning. I know only few families where children, young adults by now, are able to hold a conversation in their L1. It is an extremely hard thing to achieve.

I realize, that, most likely, my children will not speak my native language as fluently as I do. And I am not sure that I'll have enough perseverance, stubbornness, and persistence in me to make them learn it. But I know that for the first 2-3 years I will talk to them in their hopeful L2/my L1. Even if they don't end up speaking it, hearing it will help their brain develop better, their associative thinking will be improved, they will have less trouble with learning languages in general. I am surprised that our textbook did not talk about purely developmental advantages of bilingualism or at least early exposure of children to a second language.