6/23/13
One thing I have really enjoyed about our classes is the
meditation part of our day. I feel that every time I do this
relaxation/meditation I seem to get more and more comfortable with it. When we
first did it I had many thoughts run through my mind (what do I look like, I
feel silly and so forth), but this time I actually feel like I relax even
deeper and less thoughts come to mind, or if they do it is easier for me to let
them go. I need to take time for myself during the day to do more relaxation/meditation.
I feel very relaxed and comfortable during and after it was over.
The issue that engaged me was from part three (1950-1980
Separate and Unequal) and the barrier between non-English speaking students and
schools. The issue that engaged me, but also bothered me, was how schools made
non-English speaking students speak English. I can see why they wanted them to
speak English. There needs to be some common ground in language and they
thought that making all students speak English would Americanize them. The
thing that is interesting to me is the fact that these non-English speaking
students would get punished for speaking their own language. Jose Angel
Gutierrez said, “We were not allowed to speak Spanish. We would be given an
option. Three days suspension, or three licks with a paddle for speaking
Spanish.” He also said, “You don’t make anybody greater by making them less.” I
do agree that if you are in America that you should try and learn how to speak
English, but you shouldn’t be punished for speaking your own language.
My fiancé’s grandparents and parents all speak fluent
Spanish, but growing up his parents didn’t want their kids to speak Spanish and
they didn’t want them to have even a Spanish accent. They wanted them to speak
clear English.
Now in schools we are required to take 2 years of a foreign
language in order to get into college and in some of the younger grades some
teachers are teaching their students words in Spanish or other languages to
help make them more diverse, but in the earlier years of schooling diversity
was considered a barrier.
The top countries in the world in education don’t have to
deal with diversity. That is interesting to me because I think that being a
diverse country would make us even stronger. We should be learning from each
other to make our country stronger too.
I don’t understand why we can’t have a base (English
language) that students need to learn, but let these students be valued for who
they are not what we (America) think they should be. Amy said that her niece
teaches at a school where there are Hispanic children. As a first year teacher,
who can speak Spanish, she has been having a stuff time because her school says
that they can’t speak Spanish at their school. She doesn’t understand why she
can’t use her Spanish to help these students learn and grow.
As teachers we need to remember to focus on our students’
strengths and help improve their weaknesses.
I spoke again with my niece who teaches in Arizona (90 % Spanish speaking) and I asked about the reasoning behind not allowing the students to speak Spanish( their native language) or the teacher to speak Spanish. She confirmed that it was to "speed up" the process of learning English and also to motivate them to want to learn English. All of the testing is English, also. She also stated that not all of the teachers there speak Spanish, so if students were allowed to speak Spanish the adults in many situations would not know what they were saying. ( Fear of not being able to understand/control the flow of information?). She feels as though it would be better to allow both languages to be spoken and that teachers should be hired that speak Spanish. She says that occasionally she breaks the rule in order to make a connection between what the student knows and what they need to learn. She also says that she uses music in Spanish and English as an instructional tool.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gutierrez's quote, " You don't make anybody greater by making them less. "
Cami, I agree that it is very unfortunate that we are not valuing the diversity of the students or finding ways to help Spanish-speaking students learn English, but not at the cost of losing their own language and culture.
ReplyDeleteI teach on the Nez Perce Reservation. My students’ grandparents were sent to boarding schools where their hair was cut, and they were whipped for speaking their language. They were forced to speak English only. We look back on these events in history as horrible, yet it seems to me that in many ways we are doing the same things to our Spanish-speaking students today.
At my school today, we have Nez Perce language instructors coming into our classroom and we are working to make our curriculum more culturally responsive to honor our students’ culture and history. Hopefully we will get to this place with our diverse learners who are ESL.