Talking Point #2

Teaching Multilingual Children

Context/Premise:

• ESL
• multilingual classes
• care given speech
• appreciation
• 7 guide lines
• difficulties teaching bilingual students
• challenges bilingual students face
• code-switching patterns
• developing literacy
• eradication
• unfairness
• "bi-dialectism
• language
• bilingual methods

Argument:

Virginia Collier argues that teachers, especially ESL teachers, should find ways in which they teach both languages, the language they speak at home and the language that is spoken at school. This way both languages are valued and respected. Teachers should also serve as a guide or a support base for the students so that they can stay in task, so the students can ask any question about the two worlds in which they are going to be part of, and they should also be able to teach every subject in English. However, teachers should also keep in mind that they shouldn't try to make the students forget their primary language, their job is to help them become part of the American society. With these guidelines, Corrier wants the experience to be positive for both, teachers and students.

Evidence/Experiences:

Collier shows many evidences that what he wants the reader to learn is that this whole learning process should be a positive experience for teachers and children. One of the example he gave was by stating the seven guidelines that explains how teaching English to ESL students can be a rewarding when accepting, appreciating, and respecting the students' different backgrounds. All seven guidelines are important when understanding the teachings of ESL students. However, the guidelines that I felt more connected to was 3, 5 & 6.

3rd: I found this guideline to be very important for teachers to understand and use when they are teaching a bilingual class. This guideline specifically states that teachers shouldn't teach the second language in a way that forces the students to stop using his or her first language. Teachers shouldn't tell a students that they are wrong or being vulgar when they are speaking their native language because that will make them feel inferior. I found this very important a student's first language is something precious to them. Is a way in which many can communicate with their parents and family member in this English speaking dominate society. Fortunately, when I was in ESL classes all of my teachers let me and my classmates speak Spanish in class when we had social time. However, when it was phonics, or reading time, they would encourage us to speak English so that way we can learn the language better. By my teachers letting me speak Spanish in class and encouraging me to speak English it made me feel comfortable because I was never forced to let go of my roots in order to learn English. It wasn't like in Richard Rodriguez's story, Aria, where the nuns forced him and his family speak English in order for Richard to learn the language. It did helped them more with the language, however what the nuns didn't realized was that the family fell apart because they didn't have that same connections. That's is why Collier is trying to enforced this guideline so that teachers don't commit the same mistakes as what the nuns did in Rodriguez's story.

5rd: This guideline I found it to be interesting because I found so many ways in which I can relate to it. This guideline talks mainly about how teachers shouldn't exclude the use of "code-switch" in the classroom and the importance of "code-switch". "Code-switch" occurs when two bilingual people are talking and they use both languages (ex: Spanish & English) in their conversation. Corrier believes that students should be able to "code-switch" because it is a unique thing and it shows that they understand both languages as well. This section I can relate to because I constantly do it in my house or when I'm talking to someone that speaks Spanish. I'm so use to it that sometimes I don't even recognize that I'm code-switching. There is times I do use it if I can't come up with the right word and I feel comfortable using it. However, I don't call it "code-switch" I refer to it as "Spanglish" since I am mixing the Spanish and English languages together.

6Th: This guideline states that teacher should design some sort of literacy curriculum that is design for ESL students. The curriculum should include both the students native language and the second language so that the students understand better. If a teacher decides that to teach completely in English and doesn't attempt to try to use their native language most likely the student will end up failing because he/she doesn't have any sort of understanding of what's the teacher teaching. Collier also demonstrates that if a child is literate in his/her native language then the same skills that child has in their first language will easily be passed on when they are learning it in English. Some of the skills Virginia is referring to are literacy strategies attitudes and habits children have toward the text they are reading, "reading-ready skills" and much more which can be found on page 233. In some states Collier also stated that ESL classes are not offered and that makes it harder on students because they are not getting the appropriate schooling that they need. They are instead stuck in a room with other students who are way ahead of them in English. This also makes it hard on the teacher because she doesn't have the right tools to teach these bilingual students. Luckily the state in which I'm still in offered these classes to me when I came from Puerto Rico. To be honest, I don't think I was slower then those kids who were in mainstream, I had a disadvantage which was not being able to speak English fluently. The classes I will admit were different then the mainstream classes when it came down to the way the class was taught, however, we were all required to learn the same thing. The only difference was that our teacher taught us in a way we could easily understand. For instance, when we were doing our readings, we also had to some phonic so that we could understand a little better. She would go over some phonics first and then hand out readings that related to the phonic lesson.

Overall, Collier just wants what is best for both teachers and students. She wants teachers to be successful in teaching and the students to be successful in learning about the dominate society. She finds that teachers should take both languages into their advantage when teaching bilingual classes because they are like tools in which they can use to help other children. It can also help the teacher and students learn other cultures and make the class more interesting. In elementary school when my teacher was absent, they would of split us up into mainstream rooms and we had to spend the whole day in that classroom. I use to observe how the classroom were and I found them so boring because I felt that they were missing something. It didn't have that cultural difference as what we had in our ESL classroom. The lessons were also boring, they weren't like our ESL lessons where we sang songs and talk about our different backgrounds. That is why I never wanted to get transfer into a mainstream classroom because I didn't feel comfortable in a classroom where I couldn't relate to my background. When I went to middle school and I got transfer into mainstream, I felt different because I wasn't surrounded by many Spanish people. That is why I never felt bad saying that I was in a ESL classroom in the past.

THINK PIECE

Amazing Grace

By: Jonathan Kozol

Context/Premise:

• Children and Adults in poverty in the streets of south Bronx
• Prostitution
• Drug Addiction
• Murders in the streets
• Children's low education
• Poor health care
• Race (Hispanics & Blacks)
• Prejudice
• "the evil on the earth

Argument:

Jonathan's argument is that children and their parents who are living in a poverty level like in the South Bronx are mentally, physically and educationally affected. The children and their parents who are living in these conditions don't choose to live this way. The "behaviors" that the poor people undergo has nothing to do with the poverty level they are in. In fact the reason why they are in this level is because there is this thing that exist called "evil on earth". This "evil on earth" is referred to those people who are rich and have the power that is needed to help these people, but instead of doing that they decided to make pretended that is not there so that they don't use it on the people who are in need for it, which are the poor people.

Evidences:

1. These children along with their parents are constantly getting hurt mentally by what they witness in the street of the South Bronx. They witness many things like murders, prostitution, and drug dealers. This really messes up some one's mind, especially children, because they are part of this world that all they can think of is about negative things. For instance, when people want to head outside on a hot night just to get some cool air some of them refuse to because they fear for their own life's. Those who do go outside thinking of it as a risk because you can either die inside of hotness or possibly get killed outside in a shot out that occurs almost everyday. These are the fear that the residents of the South Bronx have to live with every moment of their life. The way they think of jobs are also evidences of how these people are constantly not thinking of anything better because they are not mentally capable of doing it. For instance, when asked the type of jobs these people have most of them are prostitutes, drug dealers, living on SSI, and if lucky a legitimate employment. People who work in a "real job" are not the same race as the people that live in the South Bronx, which limits their job employments with other races. Since these people can't be working in real jobs, that forces them to think so little of them because they know they don't have a chance to get that real job that someone in a middle/superior class have. Prostitution and drug dealers can also affect people's mentally because they are constantly surrounded by people who are HIV positive and the drug dealers who want to bring others down by offering them drugs. Children and parents who are growing up in this type of atmosphere are so mentally affected that they don't see what's out there for them. What they see is what they witness in the streets of the South Bronx and for many children that's what the future "holds for them".
2. Many children and parents are physically affected in the street of the Bronx. For instance a fifteen year old girl died of a drug overdose. Why was this girl consuming drugs at such a young? Well it is obvious that the main reason why children do drugs is so that they can forget all of the hurt and depression that they have inside. Even innocent children get physically hurt. One of these cases was a twelve year old girl who got shot in the head while waiting for the bus. The girl lost her hair and she was also enable to finish school because she was completely paralyzed. So what did the child do to deserve such a terrifying ending? NOTHING...she was just another victim of the south Bronx streets. AIDS is also another horrifying thing that people have to deal with. Children born with AIDS and other children getting rape is something that occurs usually in these streets.
3. The education that these children are receiving is not the same as what higher class level children are receiving. This again reminds me of the rules and codes of the American Society that are not being thought to these children so that they can be part of the society. I came to this conclusion because when Kozol asked Cliffie about who are his heroes, he stated Michael Jackson and Oprah, however he didn't mention any important people that are mentioned in many of the American History Classes. When Jonathan asked Cliffie about George Washington, he didn't even know who they guy was. Can you imagine what kind of low education level Cliffie and other children from this society are getting? I mean I don't find it wrong for Cliffie to mention those media people as his heroes, however, I do believe that Cliffie and this other classmates deserved to be thought on the same level as higher social status children so that they can participate in the American Society.
4. I also found that Jonathan argues about how Social Scientist believe that if the poor people keep behaving rationally then they are going to maintain at that social level for a long time. The example that Jonathan uses contradicts the Social Scientist's statements. He uses the story of a women named Alicia Washington who attended a segregated school and had to choose her future husband from the same segregated school as the one she attended. Social Scientist refers to these type of male as an unemployed black men who have previously been involved with drugs and or been in prison. She decided to leave her husband who infected her with AIDS and constantly physically abused her. Alicia was detected with two different kinds of cancers and ended up in New York City where she lived in a shelter for four years in Time Square and then was forced to move into the South Bronx. So where is that irrational behavior that the Social Scientist had stated? Is it her fault that her options on choosing her husband was limited because of the segregated school? It is obvious that these people ended up in these city because is the only option they have in order to survive and once they are there it is difficult to come out because it seem as though they are not connected to the rest of world.

This story was very powerful, especially knowing everything that people in that city have to go through daily. The only part I felt that I can relate to is the fact on how poverty affects children's education. Not having enough money for the correct sources needed to obtain that same educational level as the higher and more dominate class makes a big difference. I remember, how in high school we had to leave our books in class in order to share with other students because the school didn't have enough money to buy every single student a book. When we had homework assignment we had to copy it down on a piece of notebook paper in order to finish it at home. Some of our books were too old and some of the facts that were there weren't accurate enough to connect to what was going on in the "real world" that we were living in. When I think back, now I know why I wasn't at a higher level as what other schools in Rhode Island were. It wasn't because I never paid any attention, it was because the sources that were given to me were not as good as the other higher educational schools. That's is probably why Cliffie didn't know who was George Washington and his importance to the American History. In the story, Kozol mentioned that other people tried to help by giving out condoms and clean needles for the prostitutes and drug addicts. I know they are trying to help with the problem of AIDS, but what about the major problem that these children are facing? What about the low educational level they have, how can these children rely on that type of education? I think that if they really want to help they should start with the education first because the children need to a reliable education to better the city's future.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME!!!!

Hello...
My name is Doris Moret and Im 19 years old. I was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico on June 3, 1988 to my parents Dora and Frank. I have an identical twin sister name Maria (I know we dont have similar names) and a 9 year old brother name Julian. I came to the USA when I was 7 years old and ever since I've been living in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The schools that I attended were Veterans Memorial School, Culcutt Middle School and Central Falls High School. I graduate from Central Falls High School on June 2006 and I was also in the top 10% of my class. Now Im in my second year of college @ RIC and my major is Elementary Education with a concentration in math.