RE_5539

Andrea, I have tried to respond twice and both times, I hit a button and lost my comment. I was two paragraphs into it the first time. I do agree that we need to try to teach ESL students while helping them keep their language and culture intact. I do not teach in a regular classroom, but I have held IEP meetings with ESL parents who share their fear of their child speaking English and forgetting their native language. A few comment on how it is hard for them to communicate with their children. At times, the child use broken English in which both languages are used when communicating. I feel for these parents. I am not sure what is the answer to your question, How do we, as educators, help little Yoon's fit in, learn the English language, and leave their cultural background and "souls" intact? I think we need to be mindful of children and allow them to use their native language at school with their peers from the same country sometimes. I have heard about teachers tell students they had to speak English because they were learning it, but if children feel that are part of the class and can be themselves they will perform better. As it relates to literacy, you can help a child by using books that have both English and another language in it. For instance, some books have the words in English on one page and the words in Spanish next to it. You all can read the English side and have the child read the other side in their native language and maybe they can teach others students how to say it or explain what it says. Anyway to help the child become a part of the class, but integrate some of their culture may help in the classroom.
The second part of your response is something I bet many teachers do. I have heard teachers tell children you cannot write the way you speak or do not use slang in your writing, etc. I think it is responses many of us say without thinking about the child's background or thinking about the child's use of language and if they know any other way to say it or not. Learning how to code switch and use certain words in certain situations has to be taught to many children these days. Unlike when I was in school grammar is not a big focus and children many of our children do not understand the proper use of language. They just know what they are taught by the environment and family.

I am so appreciative that you are sensitive to the very real feeling of "inferiority" that language minorities may experience. Your comments in this regard are excellent!

I read a research study recently that concluded that Hispanic children should never translate for their parents because it is an issue of power. This article claimed that children in Hispanic families are supposed to remain in a certain position and that their authority as English speakers can cause power imbalances in Hispanic family structure. I thought you would find this information interesting!!

Prof. Alecia Jackson

Andrea,
I too worry that we (often unintentionally) negate our students' self worth by telling them they can't write like they talk. I teach 4th grade (the NC writing test) so I struggle with the knowledge that my students (school of poverty)need to know SE in order to pass that test. In reality, some of their writings which contain phrasing that replicates their speech, is quite good because it is the author's true voice and isn't that what enhances writing? Sadly, in order to "be successful" our students really must employ SE in their speech and writing in order to be given the opportunity to advance. I have attempted to expose my students to many different styles of writing and many different authors, some who employ slang, BE, or dialect, in order to show them that there will be opportunities to employ the language with which they most identify. Even though they must learn SE in order to conform to standards for testing or filling out applications, they can also write poetry or prose which employs their home language and which they may feel more clearly represents them.
I have also noticed that the students in my class this year, though they tend to argue loudly and frequently with others from the neighborhood, are very kind to my one Hispanic student when she seems confused over language issues. Not only are they quick to come to her rescue but they often ask her what she would "do" or "say" in Spanish. How humbling it is to watch these students who are often corrected show such compassion for someone from another culture!!

I think Mr. Smith needed a good male role model in his life when he was a child. I'm not saying that his dad was not a positive role model since Mr. Smith spoke of his parents (which would include his dad) attending parent/ teacher conferences. However, he says very little about his parents in the chapter, leaving me wondering where were they and what did they think when he started hanging out with "gamblers", "hustlers", and "pimps"?

It seems that he needed a strong, down to earth, Ebonics and Standard English speaking, code switching African American male teacher, principal, or volunteer from the community to show genuine care and concern for Ernie as an individual who had value. After all, he said that he later rejected the Standard English speaking African Americans he had encountered because he thought they were always " 'talking proper' and seemingly 'puttin on airs,' they appeared superficial, insincere, and phoney." This led to him developing the following conclusion during his early adolescent years: "The absence of role models who were Black professionals, coupled with my negative encounters and reactions to authorithy figures in general, such as my teachers, truant, juvenile, and probation officers, etc., precipitated a reaction which ultimately was the basis for my belief that formal education was irrelevant, and that I could make it in the streets..." (pg. 19).

Positive role models who children can identify with and relate to are very important to children because the presence or absence of role models can influence what children think about themselves. This reminds me of a conversation that I had with my oldest son when he was in the fifth grade. At the time, he attended a predominantly white school and was the only African American boy in his class. I never really knew how being at a predominantly white school affected him negatively until we were having a discussion one day about what he wanted to be when he grew up. During the conversation, I suggested that he could have any career he wanted if he earned good grades in school and always did his best. I was shocked when he replied that he could not be a doctor when he grew up because he had never met any black doctors. Where did he get such an outlandish idea as that? Like he said, he had never "seen" a black doctor before. Of course I explained that there are black doctors (my mom's doctor is African American), but unfortunately, all of the doctor's my son had ever seen at the doctor's offices he had visited were white. He needed a black doctor to show him that blacks can be doctors or have any of the same careers that white people have (he eventually participated in a summer program that exposed him to several medical professions, including doctors; some of whom were black).

I thought the Ebonics Mr. Smith interspersed throughout his writing was interesting. I was unfamiliar with just about all of the Ebonics terms that he used , and the glossary notes at the end of the chapter were very helpful. Since Mr. Smith grew up in the 50's and 60's, I wonder if a lot of these Ebonics terms are "old school", obsolete Ebonics terms that are rarely used today.

You and others have taught me some new terms. For example code switch. This was something I was aware of but didn't have a name for.
I appreciate your reference to your students and the book "My name is Yoon". I must find and read it. I will add it to my collection and hopefully disspell any qualms a student may have about their language difficulties by sharing it in class. Thanks.

Andrea,
Your post was very interesting to me. How can we help the Yoons in our classrooms? I made a decent attempt at becoming fluent in Spanish. I studied the language for eight years and traveled to Mexico. Because of my exposure to the language I naturally had to learn about the culture which goes hand in hand with all forms of communication. I feel that is has helped me with my ESL students and certainly their parents. I suppose I can simply relate a little better. I understand what it's like to know just enough Spanish to "get by" but not feel confident in speaking my second language. So what is the answer? In a perfect world, Americans would be bilingual like most other citizens in the world in an attempt to have empathy for those trying to learn a second language. In the short term, it is necessary for teachers to remember that we teach children, not the subject matter. We must teach children with the idea in mind that each brings something very different to the table and each has something wonderful to offer. What is the saying?... celebrate the differences
I enjoyed your post.

Andrea,

First of all, I would like to say that I believe a person's culture is important. People should be aware of and learn about other cultures besides theirs. I found this chapter about Mrs. Dowdy interesting. It made me think about a classroom that I had several years ago and I had several hispanic children. I now wonder. Did my children feel like they were different people in the English language? I was fortunate because I had a Spanish speaking assistant who was wonderful. She was from the same culture as they were. In the classroom, we spoke English. At times, my assistant might speak to them in Spanish if she needed to. She was able to communicate with my parents since I wasn't fluent in Spanish. I feel like we did not abandon their language in the classroom completely because they heard the Spanish and English language. By doing this, I feel they stayed confident and they learned English, too. I also learned some about their culture. Of course, I know that the younger you are that it's easier to learn a new language. I feel the children bloomed that year even though I couldn't imagine being in their shoes. I don't believe I would have done as well as my kindergartners that year. I enjoyed reading your post.

Andrea,

At the beginning of your response of Language and Identity, you opened it up with this quote, “The voice in her head does not match the tone in her throat.” This statement requires you to think of and you can most definitely relate to. Can you remember the times you stand in front of your class sick with a cold, losing your voice, teaching your students, and one of them would say, “What did you say?” When I read this quote, I remember those times when I sounded like I had a frog in my throat and my students continuously questioned my tone of voice. Now, I can really relate to Mrs. Dowdy and all the others, who are repeatedly, asked to restate it over and over again for clarification.

You posed some questions that supplied me with some food for thought and it is heartbreaking. As I think about your question, at this point I am speechless. All I can say is that we do the best we can in recognizing the differences and teach as much survival skills that we can.

Thanks for referencing the book, "My name is Yoon". This would definitely make my students say, WHAT!

Shirley Mathis

I think we are all saying the same thing here. We are all saying that we need to understand each individual student and not just the class as a whole. The more individualized you can make a classroom the better the learning environment. I also believe that it isn’t just the language as it is everything about the student. How can you motivate a student who grew up in another country to be interested in the history of this ours? It is a battle many teachers must face in order to teach everyday in a multi cultural classroom. I think that Betsy that do unintentionally do this sometimes to students especially in an EOC, EOG, and writing test grades. We too often have to teach the test and not the “meat” of the subject. We are forced to make sure they know the material we need them to know and very rarely get to explore the depths behind it. We might know the dates of wars and specific events but what about those events made it necessary to know those dates. Who died in that war that needed to be remembered? In the perfect Utopia society we would be able to teach what we thought the students would enjoy and learn and be excited about learning. God forbid we do that.