1. "The odd truth is that my first grade classmate could have become bilingual, in the conventional sense of that word, more easily than I. Had they been taught (as upper-middle-class children are often taught early) a second language like Spanish or French, they could have regarded it simply as that: another public language. In my case such bilingualism could not have been so quickly achieved. What I did not believe was that I could speak a single public language."
This particular quote really made me think. Bilingualism is a valued trait, it allows for one to communicate with different people, opens up doors to many job opportunities, along with many other benefits. As Richard says, many young children are taught other languages and are very much encouraged to speak them. It is therefore ironic that Richard, along with many other ESL students like him are made to feel like their native language is something to be ashamed of, that it is meant to be used only in a private setting. A student learns best when (s)he is encouraged and therefore his classmates learning a second language would have picked it up more easily. While his classmates were being encouraged to speak both English and Spanish (or any other language) Richard was made to feel that he had to abandon Spanish altogether. He consequently was made to feel fearful of the English language, as if he wasn't good enough to use it, and thus was able to learn as easily as he could have.
2. "At last, at seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true since my birth: I was an American Citizen"
This quote really struck me and made me feel bad for Richard. What he means by this statement is that until he was fluent in English, at age seven, he did not consider himself to be an American Citizen, even though he was born here and was just as much a citizen as everyone else in his class. It is sad to think that because English was not Richard's native language he was made to feel like so much as an outsider that he didn't even consider himself a citizen of the country he was born and raised in.
This quote made me think of Lisa Delpit's article and how she would have handled this situation. Unlike Richard's teachers, Delpit would have told Richard that his native language is important, to be proud of his culture, but at the same time would have taught him the importance of learning English. If Richard had been taught in the way Delpit advises he would have, most likely, had a much easier time learning English and would have felt he was a citizen all along.
3. "After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents. The old Spanish words (those tender accents of sound) I had used earlier- mama and papa- I couldn't use anymore. They would have been too painful reminders of how much had changed in my life....As a result, I never used them at home. Whenever I'd speak to my parents, I would try to get their attention with eye contact alone. In public conversations, I'd refer to 'my parents' or 'my mother and father'."
This quote demonstrates, as Richard says, how deeply the transition from Spanish to English affected his life. The author's life was altered by his forced learning of English so much that he no longer knew how to refer to his own parents, he felt as if even referring to his parents in his native tongue was 'wrong'. This quote also made me wonder why his family was forced to completely abandon speaking Spanish. It was his teacher's job to teach him English. Home should have been a place where he felt safe to speak freely and yet it was turned into an environment where he was apprehensive about how to even refer to his parents all because his teachers went about teaching him English the wrong way.
This quote also reminded me of something in my life. My family is French, but we live in Johnson which has the highest concentration of Italian people in the United States. Whenever the kids around me referred to their grandparents they always used words like "Nana, Nonna, Nonno, and Pappa" but my family calls our grandparents by their French names: Memere and Pepere. Whenever I referred to them however, my friends, and sometimes even adults, would look at me in confusion wondering who I was talking about. After a while, I got sick of explaining, and felt too awkward using those words so I began calling them 'My Grandparents' or 'Grandmother and Grandfather' like Richard similarly did with his parents. Although what I felt was nothing compared to how the author felt doesn't even begin to compare, it does help me somewhat grasp what Richard went through as a child.
I found this article to be very easy to read. The article was a real life portrayal of Delpits points just as Kozol's article was a real life example of Johnson's. It was interesting to see how a student is affected by the way English is presented to them; in many of the other articles that we have read the story is told from an educator's point of view. Richard Rodriguez's story helps to reinforce the ideas Delpit presents of how we should teach students and the importance of teaching students English while still preserving their culture.
One of the things I didn't understand, as I mentioned before, is why Richard's family completely stopped using Spanish if not speaking Spanish at home meant not being able to communicate with the each other. They went from being a close, loving family, to a family filled with silence and I just cannot understand why learning English in school had to result in not being able to communicate with his loved one's at home.
-It is the teacher's/school's job to teach the student English, but to what role, if any, should the parent's play in helping their child learn English?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Talking Points #1: McIntosh
1. "As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage"
I thought this was a very interesting statement. In school we are taught about racism, as McIntosh says, only through the ways it puts minority races at a disadvantage but never in my years in school was I made to realize that with this disadvantage comes advantages for a different group. In fact I don't think the term "white privilege" was ever mentioned in any of my classes. It is as if, as Johnson talks about in his piece, that we are afraid to admit through one groups suffering comes another groups gain. This statement was a great opening to this piece because it makes the reader realize that there are two sides to racism and names the topics and problems that will be reflected upon later in the article.
2. " I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothing or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race"
At first when I read this statement I did not completely agree with it, but now that I have considered the point McIntosh is trying to make even more I realize that this statement is actually true. When a person of color acts a certain way, speaks differently, or wears second-hand clothing, as McIntosh says, their behavior is attributed to their race as a whole. A racist person, for example, may see a young black man wearing baggy clothing, swearing, and listening to rap music and make the false assumption that this young man is dressed this way and listening to this type of music because this is the way ALL black people dress and act. When the situation is reversed however, the outcome is much different. Let's say a white person was dressed in trashy clothing and was screaming profanities, this person may receive a label of "white trash". Rather than being a representative of how the entire white race acts and dresses this person is instead placed into a sub-category of white people, and no judgement is placed on the race this person represents as a whole.
3. "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear it's policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider"
This particular statement really struck me. We are supposed to be able to to enjoy freedom in America. Our nation was built on the idea of being able to speak our mind about how our government is ruling us, we are after all a democracy. It is then ironic and a shame that not every citizen of our country is able to enjoy this basic right. It wasn't until reading this statement that I realized how much I take this freedom for granted; I wouldn't think twice about speaking my mind about how I feel about our government and yet for a person of color this is not the case. A person of color must first consider what speaking their opinion will do for their race, as for what they say reflects not only upon themselves but on their race as a whole. They must also consider the fact that what they say will also affect them on an individual level; their disagreement with the government would be assumed to be because they are "an outsider" not simply because they are a person with a differing opinion as a white person would be viewed.
I found Peggy McIntosh's article to be a very easy read. Although she states things simply, the importance of what she is says is not lost. I found her piece to be much like Johnson's except it is written in the point of view of a white woman, thus allowing me to relate more to what she is saying better. I also liked the fact that though she talked about many of the same topics as the other articles we've read in class I did not feel as if I was being blamed for the problems that McIntosh names. This article was also interesting because McIntosh herself did not fully realize the extent of the problems that exist with race until she noticed men's unwillingness to admit to the fact that with their advantages, comes women's disadvantages and then realized the same fact is true for the advantages and disadvantages that come with race.
This article made me realize that though we have made great steps towards solving the problems of racism, evidence of racism can still be found all around us. Now that we have read multiple articles that discuss the issues of racism and how deeply they are rooted in our thinking and culture the question I pose is how are we to erase them? How can we change the way people think about themselves and others? We all know that is wrong to make assumptions about people based on race and yet so many of us are, often unknowingly, continue to do it. How do we change all of the things in McIntosh's list so that we all enjoy the same privileges.
I thought this was a very interesting statement. In school we are taught about racism, as McIntosh says, only through the ways it puts minority races at a disadvantage but never in my years in school was I made to realize that with this disadvantage comes advantages for a different group. In fact I don't think the term "white privilege" was ever mentioned in any of my classes. It is as if, as Johnson talks about in his piece, that we are afraid to admit through one groups suffering comes another groups gain. This statement was a great opening to this piece because it makes the reader realize that there are two sides to racism and names the topics and problems that will be reflected upon later in the article.
2. " I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothing or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race"
At first when I read this statement I did not completely agree with it, but now that I have considered the point McIntosh is trying to make even more I realize that this statement is actually true. When a person of color acts a certain way, speaks differently, or wears second-hand clothing, as McIntosh says, their behavior is attributed to their race as a whole. A racist person, for example, may see a young black man wearing baggy clothing, swearing, and listening to rap music and make the false assumption that this young man is dressed this way and listening to this type of music because this is the way ALL black people dress and act. When the situation is reversed however, the outcome is much different. Let's say a white person was dressed in trashy clothing and was screaming profanities, this person may receive a label of "white trash". Rather than being a representative of how the entire white race acts and dresses this person is instead placed into a sub-category of white people, and no judgement is placed on the race this person represents as a whole.
3. "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear it's policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider"
This particular statement really struck me. We are supposed to be able to to enjoy freedom in America. Our nation was built on the idea of being able to speak our mind about how our government is ruling us, we are after all a democracy. It is then ironic and a shame that not every citizen of our country is able to enjoy this basic right. It wasn't until reading this statement that I realized how much I take this freedom for granted; I wouldn't think twice about speaking my mind about how I feel about our government and yet for a person of color this is not the case. A person of color must first consider what speaking their opinion will do for their race, as for what they say reflects not only upon themselves but on their race as a whole. They must also consider the fact that what they say will also affect them on an individual level; their disagreement with the government would be assumed to be because they are "an outsider" not simply because they are a person with a differing opinion as a white person would be viewed.
I found Peggy McIntosh's article to be a very easy read. Although she states things simply, the importance of what she is says is not lost. I found her piece to be much like Johnson's except it is written in the point of view of a white woman, thus allowing me to relate more to what she is saying better. I also liked the fact that though she talked about many of the same topics as the other articles we've read in class I did not feel as if I was being blamed for the problems that McIntosh names. This article was also interesting because McIntosh herself did not fully realize the extent of the problems that exist with race until she noticed men's unwillingness to admit to the fact that with their advantages, comes women's disadvantages and then realized the same fact is true for the advantages and disadvantages that come with race.
This article made me realize that though we have made great steps towards solving the problems of racism, evidence of racism can still be found all around us. Now that we have read multiple articles that discuss the issues of racism and how deeply they are rooted in our thinking and culture the question I pose is how are we to erase them? How can we change the way people think about themselves and others? We all know that is wrong to make assumptions about people based on race and yet so many of us are, often unknowingly, continue to do it. How do we change all of the things in McIntosh's list so that we all enjoy the same privileges.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
My Very First Entry!
Well Hello and welcome to my Blog! :D
I'm Brieanna Tellier and this is my second year at RIC. I'm majoring in Elementary Education, I'm not really sure what I want to concentrate in yet, but I'm thinking of Social Studies and Special ED. I always said I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, I even dressed up like a teacher for occupation day in kindergarten, but when I originally picked a major for some reason I changed my mind and went with Secondary Ed, but about a month into my first semester I change my mind and switched to Elementary.
So far this semester is going pretty good, I'm enjoying this year so far much more than last year. It is nice now to at least recognize some familiar faces when I walk into a class plus I have some people that I went to high school with in my classes, which makes adjusting to a new class a little bit easier. My classes all seem like they are going to be pretty interesting, which is always a plus.
When I'm not in class I'm usually dancing. I started dancing around 2 1/2 and haven't stopped since. I've done all different types of dance: jazz, tap, acro, hip hop, and lyrical but my favorite type of dance would probably have to be tap, there is nothing better than putting on a pair of tap shoes and stomping out your frustrations on the dance floor :). When I was in the 3rd grade my mom started a dance program at my elementary school (Thornton Elementary) and I started helping her teach the younger students. When I was about 12 I started teaching my own classes, and though there are days when my mom and I come home from class completely exhausted but I can't imagine my life without it. Seeing those kids go from barely knowing their left foot from their right, to performing an entire dance in the recital at the end of the year is one of the most rewarding experiences.
Other than dancing I love music (I play the clarinet), I love musicals (I was part of the drama club and in productions throughout high school...I'd love to be part of theater here at RIC but I am too chicken to go audition >.<), I love going to the movies, watching TV (I have an unhealthy obsession with Jon & Kate Plus 8 hehe) and hanging with my friends.
Well that's basically it for now, I would much rather go on and on some more but I really need to get to some homework...yuck!
Thanks for reading!
I'm Brieanna Tellier and this is my second year at RIC. I'm majoring in Elementary Education, I'm not really sure what I want to concentrate in yet, but I'm thinking of Social Studies and Special ED. I always said I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, I even dressed up like a teacher for occupation day in kindergarten, but when I originally picked a major for some reason I changed my mind and went with Secondary Ed, but about a month into my first semester I change my mind and switched to Elementary.
So far this semester is going pretty good, I'm enjoying this year so far much more than last year. It is nice now to at least recognize some familiar faces when I walk into a class plus I have some people that I went to high school with in my classes, which makes adjusting to a new class a little bit easier. My classes all seem like they are going to be pretty interesting, which is always a plus.
When I'm not in class I'm usually dancing. I started dancing around 2 1/2 and haven't stopped since. I've done all different types of dance: jazz, tap, acro, hip hop, and lyrical but my favorite type of dance would probably have to be tap, there is nothing better than putting on a pair of tap shoes and stomping out your frustrations on the dance floor :). When I was in the 3rd grade my mom started a dance program at my elementary school (Thornton Elementary) and I started helping her teach the younger students. When I was about 12 I started teaching my own classes, and though there are days when my mom and I come home from class completely exhausted but I can't imagine my life without it. Seeing those kids go from barely knowing their left foot from their right, to performing an entire dance in the recital at the end of the year is one of the most rewarding experiences.
Other than dancing I love music (I play the clarinet), I love musicals (I was part of the drama club and in productions throughout high school...I'd love to be part of theater here at RIC but I am too chicken to go audition >.<), I love going to the movies, watching TV (I have an unhealthy obsession with Jon & Kate Plus 8 hehe) and hanging with my friends.
Well that's basically it for now, I would much rather go on and on some more but I really need to get to some homework...yuck!
Thanks for reading!
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