Bilingual Education

Social Justice Through Language Discrimination - Ashley Sh

Not Another Facebook - Shakura 

Despite a few technical difficulties, keeping a blog was a good experience overall. The thing I liked best was the informal way I could express myself. I highly doubt my sarcastic opinions would go over very well in a research paper. Blogging also expands the audience for student writing. Instead of being just between student and teacher, anyone could stumble upon my blog. In addition, blogrolls create a community perfect for single classes or entire schools.

I must admit, as an avid LiveJournal-er I was a little wary about keeping a blog for class. However, it isn’t drastically different. I think this is part of the appeal for high school students. In general, they’re already very tech-savvy and obsessed with blogs. All teachers have to do is harness that energy and channel it into academic endeavors.  The only thing that worries me about having students blogging is the amount of available resources.  I think blogging could only be a useful tool in a middle-class of upper-middle-class community.  For the lower-middle class, blogging is impossible if the school does not have adequate computers.

Overall, though, I think this was an eye-opening experience that I would love to share with my future students.

With the upcoming presidential election on everyone’s mind, it’s interesting to take a look at how the candidates feel about bilingual education.

http://www.thecabin.net/stories/120107/opi_1201070019.shtml

Not surprisingly, all Democratic hopefuls support the continuation of bilingual education whereas their Republican counterparts are still hesitant. Tancredo and Romney openly oppose bilingual education and call for “English only” alternatives. The remaining Republican candidates chose not to respond to the inquiries of this news source, Hispanic Link.

“Crawford speculated that other Republican candidates may not want to “alienate Latino voters any more than they have” as the reason why only two of the nine GOP candidates responded to Hispanic Link’s inquiry.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-dustup29nov29,0,1796210,full.story

Los Angeles’ Unified school district is struggling in many ways. The large number of English language learners, coupled with the lack of funding has doomed the district to be labeled “failing” by NCLB. The thing that got to me about this article in particular is the way that the ESL students are used as a scapegoat. The school as a whole is failing in many areas, and it seems to me that it isn’t just because of the ESL population.

“Mind you, L.A. Unified isn’t doing very well for its African American students either — only 38% of its African American students are proficient or advanced in fourth-grade math, compared with 34% of fourth-grade English-learner students. White students, too, don’t perform as well as their counterparts in other urban districts. Yes, the district is improving — faster than the state as a whole. But clearly, L.A. Unified still needs to do far better by all groups of students.”

These statistics illustrate that there is a problem greater than the language barriers. If learning English is the biggest issue, why would African-Americans (the majority of whom speak only English) be doing just as poorly as the ESL students? I believe there is a greater issue behind this. I think that poverty is also taking a massive toll on the performance of this school district. Allocation of funds and resources is hurting the school system as well. The underlying issues need to be addressed before anyone can make any judgments about the English language learners.

In my experience, Grand Valley’s theater community has always provided a quality show and Cymbeline was no exception. The production was well cast, my favorite being the hilariously quirky Cloten. I thought some of the sets were especially well constructed, especially the use of the trapdoor as the father’s home. I liked the costumes and thought they were appropriate for the period.

However, I have to end my raving with a “but.” I feel that changing the setting and time period of Cymbeline had a negative impact on the work as a whole. The southern accents made the 16th century English sound awkward and out of place. Also, some actors spoke with a distinct southern twang, whereas others spoke with an almost British lilt. The change in time period also made the Shakespearean English seem wrong. If the language was changed to fit the setting, much of the original meaning would be lost. I think everything would have been much more authentic if the play was not adapted.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2007/10/parents_sue_over_placement_in.html

Recently in Oregon, a Latino boy was placed in an ESL classroom. The interesting thing is he spoke only English. His placement was based solely on his ethnicity and had nothing to do with his language skills. His mother asked the school to remove him from the ESL program, but she was refused. In accordance with No Child Left Behind, parents are able to take their children out of language-acquisition programs at any time they choose.

He was placed in this classroom because of a home-language survey that was done in his area. I think this method is flawed because many students whose parents do not know English can speak fluently. I also believe it is definitely discrimination, if not outright racism that brings school officials to the conclusion that if a Latino boy is struggling in school, it must be because he can’t understand.

Although five is a pretty early age to start compulsory education, some students, especially second-generation immigrant children are already at a significant disadvantage by this age. Bilingual preschools, which are becoming more and more popular, help bridge the gap between the child’s native language spoken at home and the English spoken in kindergarten.

The article I found (http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=359227) is about an English-Spanish preschool in Moline. So far, all children in the relatively new school are native Spanish speakers who don’t have much English experience. All signs in the building have both languages on them and the teacher is fluent in the two languages as well. “Principal Pat Alexander said research shows how important it is for bilingual students to grasp concepts completely in their own language first before transitioning to English.”

This sort of bilingual education is also less controversial than its counterparts in elementary and high schools because preschool is not required by law, thus parents make the choice.

P.S. There still is a lot of controversy, though. Check out the heated debate in all of the comments at the bottom of the page…

Two universities in Guadalajara are uniting with hospitals in southern California in creating a bilingual nursing program. The nurses will study nursing as well as English and Spanish in Guadalajara. When they complete their degrees, the nurses are guaranteed jobs in California as long as they agree to serve in an underserved bilingual area. “We are trying to be as creative as we can possibly be,” says Rosario Marin, an overseer of the project. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20070922-9999-1b22nurses.html

I think this program could be highly beneficial. It would help create jobs for Mexicans as well as bringing nurses to southern California, an area which severely lacks nurses.

With the Arab-Israeli conflict making daily headlines, I almost ignored what seemed like another article detailing the violence and intolerance. Upon further reading, I noticed that the article was not only different from most of the others I’ve read recently, it also is very relevant to bilingual education. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2709129.ece

The article describes a the only bilingual school in Jerusalem that both Jewish and Arab children attend. The Max Rayne School teaches in both Arabic and Hebrew. Since children are so young and impressionable, this school subconsciously teaches them from an early age that kids from another culture are just kids.

The thing that struck me most about this article is the opening story. When a 12-year-old Arab girl named Aeen told her cousin about having a Jewish girl sleep over, the cousin asked, astounded, “She didn’t try to kill you, she didn’t try to hurt you?” Children gain their perspectives from the world in which they live, especially from their parents. This girl didn’t know any better than to assume all Jews were bad. The great thing about this school is that it breaks the cycle of misunderstanding. Its teaching affects more than just its students, too. Aeen explained to her cousin how Jews are just normal people with different religious beliefs. Each student will help the others in his/her community gain understanding.

Of course, this bilingual school is not without controversy. Some say it is a bad idea because they feel the children will segregate from each other and there will be tension, maybe even attacks between the two groups. Others object to the idea based on racism. “From a religious point of view, I’m against it. I wouldn’t put my Jewish kids in with Muslims. I don’t want them to learn about Muslim culture,” says Yoshua Haham, an angry pensioner.

Personally, I hope similar schools will soon follow. They will promote the tolerance and understanding that is sorely lacking in today’s society, especially in such a high-tension, highly segregated city.

While reading the new on MSNBC, this article struck me as interesting because it combines bilingual education with the prejudice against those of Middle Eastern descent. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20920372/site/newsweek/

On October 1, the nation’s first bilingual Arabic-English school opens in Brooklyn, New York. In recent years, the Arabic-speaking population of the United States has been growing rapidly. Thus, it makes sense that a bilingual school would open. However, due to the stigma that has been associated with Arabic speakers since September 11th, controversy is surrounding the school’s opening. Some believe that the school is a potential hotbed for Islamic terrorist training.

The claims that an Arabic-English school would be run by terrorists upsets me. Islam teaches peace and tolerance and the majority of its followers are just normal citizens. It is sad that the deeds of a few terrorists who happen to be Muslim and from the Middle East can create such negative views. I wish that Americans, generally speaking, of course, had more tolerance in regards to Arabic-speakers.

I’m glad that this article puts a positive spin on the new school, trying to show that it is a beneficial development. Kirk Belnap, who directs National Middle East Language Resource Center in Utah, talks about why students choose to take Arabic classes. “Some kids do look at it as an employment skill,” says Belnap, “but most want to be engaged so they can promote East-West understanding.”