Bilingual Students

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

This article is from the author Richard's point of view, explaining the positives and negatives of being a bilingual speaker in the American school system.

Quotes to share;

"... it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom". 

I picked this quote because I believe it is something that is often overlooked. I used to work with children and I had a Spanish student named Mariana. Her name was pronounced "mardi-ana", although the whole staff besides myself pronounced it "mary-ana". They made it sound very white. Most of the time, she would not respond to it, because thats not how you say her name. Regardless of her language background, if her name is pronounced a certain way, a way that is it not pronounced in english, why are we changing it? There is a difference in a name and a vocabulary word. These types of actions in school can make children feel uncomfortable, and not confident considering the teacher is not only changing their whole language, but changing their name as well. 

"Is it possible for you and your husband to encourage your children to practice English when they are home"?

To some extent, I completely understand why the teachers had this conversation with Richard's parents. A child will have a very hard time learning english if they are only exposed to it at school. Parents should be teaching their kids, or speaking to their kids in english to help them learn. Although, this is not an option for all students. I believe that instead of banning the child's primary language, the teacher can use different strategies in the classroom to help the student understand. There could also be a Spanish speaking TA. The teacher could also try learning some key words in Spanish that may help her communicate with the students. 

Points to share;

Being understanding of a chads cultural background is very important. We can not teach the student if we do not know the student. As stated in the article, we should be encouraging the parents to speak english with the children at home, but teachers should not be against learning basic words in other languages their students are speaking to help their students learn and engage during class. Children can be easily shut down, so we should think of ways to be lifting them up and not making it seem like their culture or language is "wrong". 

#Blacklivesmatter

"Much of oppressiveness is unconscious" says McIntosh in her article "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack". McIntosh had identified 50 ways in which her daily life is impacted by her race (as a white female), all of which begin with "I can..."

What if these quotes began with "I can't?" For Example;

"I can't buy that brand of foundation, they do not have my shade." 

"I can't get my hair done for prom, none of the hairdressers know how to treat my hair." 

"I can't ask to speak to the manager without being judged or having it reflect my race."  

"I can't walk around at night, I might be stopped by a police officer."

There are more than just the 50 statements McIntosh had mentioned. The problem is that we do not understand certain things unless they hit us on a person level. For example, a heartbreak, or the loss of a family member. When comforting a friend for the loss of their grandfather, we are there emotionally. We listen to their feelings. We engage. We do not say, "Well, my grandfather died last year, its not all about you." Unfortunately, those types of friends exist. "All Lives Matter" is that friend. It is a distraction from the issue that black lives are not mattered enough in comparison white lives. We want attention too. 

Black Lives Matter does not mean all other lives do not matter. 

"Saying 'All Lives Matter' as a direct response to 'Black Lives Matter' is essentially saying that we should just go back to ignoring the problem," says reddit user GeekAesthete in the article written by Kevin Roose (which is definitely worth the read). He mentions at the beginning cases of black men that were killed by white police officers. 

Even though these cases do not effect you personally, please read them as if this was your brother, father, uncle, grandfather, or friend. 

Alton Sterling, a 37 year old African American man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was shot and killed by one of two white police officers who had confronted him outside of a convince store where he was selling CD's. He was shot on the ground while resisting the force of both officers on top of him. Neither officers are being charged. 

A heartbreaking case that occurred at the beginning of this month is the case of Botham Jean. He was shot and killed in his own apartment when police officer Amber Guyer had mistaken his apartment for her own. Her reasoning was that when she entered Jeans apartment thinking it was hers, she had seen a "large silhouette". Thinking there an intruder was in her home, she shot Jean twice. Jean was unarmed. A search warrant was then released for Jean's apartment after his death, where officers found marijuana, a marijuana grinder, as well as two fired cartridge casings. It is not clear if any of these belongings belong to Jean. 

Theres are just two of the 102 African Americans shot by Police officers in 2018 so far. 

These cases, along with many others, are bringing the Black Lives Matter movement back in full force. 

"We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted. We affirm our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression. The call for Black Lives Matter is a rallying cry for ALL black lives striving for liberation." (www.blacklivesmatter.com)

The only question I have is when we will realize that there is a difference, a privilege barrier, and racism present today? When we will realize that we are the only ones who can change it? When will we take action? When will #blacklivesmatter? If you're not seeing the issue here, then you are part of the problem. 

Here are the links to Roose and McIntosh;

McIntosh

https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos/5af05a7aa8cfe/1118243?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27McIntosh%252C%2520White%2520Privilege-%2520Unpacking%2520the%2520Invisible%2520Knapsack%2520-%2520The%2520Feminist%2520eZine.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20180922T004445Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIBGJ7RCS23L3LEJQ%2F20180922%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=0d985e0fed12684307afe7654a1d3b4db624411dd7ddbc32be5dabedf480fc3c

Roose

https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos/5af05a7aa8cfe/1118244?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27%252522All%2520Lives%2520Matter%252522%2520The%2520next%2520time%2520someone%2520says%2520%2527all%2520lives%2520matter%252C%2527%2520show%2520them%2520these%25205%2520paragraphs.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20180922T004513Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIBGJ7RCS23L3LEJQ%2F20180922%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=6591326cba3b85580d4b598455da35e4f43125f009bb156e5ae7bf1070087d01

Kristof Reflection

Being an adult comes with growth and understanding, as well as some serious realizations that we may have been blinded from as children. Growing up in a primarily white, wealthy town, I knew from an early age that my life was somewhat different than those of my peers. For example, I would turn some heads in class using my 8 pack of Crayola crayons rather than the fascinating 64 pack everyone else had. Kids began to notice that I used the same backpack a couple years in a row, and that I had to take the bus in the afternoon because my mom worked. You see, my family does well, especially for two hard working parents that brought a child into the world at only 18 years old. Granted, we were children and had no understanding of money, at some times I did feel less than my peers. Fast forward years later, and those same kids are now attending some of the most expensive colleges that they, themselves, do not have to pay for. Many students from families with a wealthy background might not have to think about life after college. In some cases, they might not have to think about how they are going to pay off their loans, or how they are going to get employed. A point that kristof made in his article U.S.A, Land of Limitations was that "talent is universal, opportunity is not." From seeing it with my own eyes, I'm sure most of us can agree that some just have it easier than others.

On the other side of the spectrum, a child from a low income family will have a harder time making that "top 25%". Some may say impossible. Allen Krueger from Princeton stated, "the chance of a person who was born to a family in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution rising to the top 10 percent as an adult is about the same as the chance that a dad who is 5 foot 6 inches having a son who grows up to be over 6 feet 1 inch tall." Though this may happen, the odds are very slim.

This article was an interesting read, and has left me with some lingering thoughts. As a future educator, I want to make it clear with my students that their families economic status and history does not define them or their future success. Over all, I do agree with many of the statements made by Kristof. As the saying goes, the richer get richer, and the poor become more poor.

Here is a link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-usa-land-of-limitations.html?_r=0

About Me

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My name is Alexandra Guertin. Born and raised in a small town in Rhode Island, I 
now attend Rhode Island College to further my 
education with a major in Early Childhood Education. Some of my favorite activities include hiking, snowboarding, kayaking, 
rock climbing, and spending time with friends and family.

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Why Early Childhood Education?

Ever since my sophomore year of high school, I knew I wanted to be an educator. My first job was at the little gym, where I would teach motor development classes starting at 10 months, and gymnastics classes up to 12 years. As I began to get a sense as to what I would like to see in my future career path, I decided to join the Early Childhood Education academy at my high school, where students were giving the opportunity to teach preschool students that would come in during the school day. After receiving my RIELDs certification, I began to look into my options for a future career path. I chose to study early childhood education in hopes of one day opening up my own (affordable) preschool or daycare. The inspiration behind this came from my experience at the little gym, where parents would discuss the overwhelming price of daycare, and how many families are in that position. Preschool is very beneficial to a child's development, and money should not stop children from getting the education they deserve.