1. "People untrained in linguistics, particularly politicians, tend to believe that if limited English proficient students can converse with their monolingual English-speaking peers, then these English-language learners can compete with them on an equal footing."
This quote is a perfect example of the miscommunication between people on different social and cultural levels. Politicians are often the ideal model of people in power; they are usually white, heterosexual, men. These men have no idea how many difficulties and challenges English language learners face. They assume that just because a person can speak with others that all of their basic skills are on the same level. However, this is not true. Instead, they must think about it as if they were an immigrant and how they would feel having to compete against their peers when their skills are nowhere near as proficient.
2. "English and all other 'spoken languages are constantly in a process of change,' and that they 'change when they come in contact with other languages'. So when children come to class with their non-standard varieties of English and home language, teachers must look at the benefits of having multipls ways of talking in the classroom."
This quote is trying to get teachers to understand that they must encourage different varieties of English. Although they will teach them the correct version, children who speak incorrectly or in different dialects must not be reprimanded. As a teacher, I would try to incorporate the different varieties to help students learn from one another. I think that this quote is important because a teacher must know that this situation would be beneficial.
3. "Teaching is complicated, but it is also rewarding in ways that many other jobs can never be. You have the chance to interact daily with live, growing, maturing human beings, and that time is special, despite the complications of managing a bureaucratized, overcrowded classroom of overtested, underchallenged students"
Although this quote does not relate to the idea of multilingual children that we are reading about, this quote stuck out to me. It gave me reason to want to continue my career path as a teacher. It demonstrates the importance of teachers and how they themselves can grow from working with children. The quote explains that although it may be difficult at times, it is all worth it. This sums up exactly how I feel about teaching; it is rewarding.
Teaching Multilingual Children explains to anyone working in a school setting how to work with children learning English as their second language. It gives well thought out reasons, some having to do with respect for other cultures. A person who can teach English to someone of a different language needs to be able to step out of the box that they are in. They need to think outside of their culture. This can prove to be very difficult since most of what we know was taught to us by others of the same basic culture and social class for the most part. These teachers must take the time to learn about how to teach these children, which is exactly what this reading does.
This reading was much different than the others we have been doing in class. I found it to be a little more difficult. At times I felt myself getting lost in repetition and having to reread in order to understand. However, Virginia Collier was able to get her points across very clearly. This text can relate to Lisa Delpit's The Silenced Dialogue. Collier wrote that people teaching second language students should think about the speech that mothers and fathers use with their children: caregiver talk. Delpit explains that different cultures communicate differently so there are many misunderstandings between cultures. Also, Collier emphasizes the importance of regarding the child's first language as important. Instead of eliminating it, the teacher should work with it, such as if the child was learning literacy skills they should learn it in their first language before in English. Many people don't understand the importance of this, and this especially pertains to the culture of power, which of course relates back to Johnston.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Talking Point 1: Amazing Grace
The reading Amazing Grace by Jonathon Kozol struck me the hardest. I found it to be the most interesting reading yet. I would like to share some of the quotes that caught my eye.
1. "'I saw a boy shot in the head right over there,' he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad, then looks up at me and asks politely, 'Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?'"
I think this is the most important quote in the reading. The way the little boy goes from talking about someone getting shot to talking about chocolate chip cookies really gives a picture of the society he is living. He has grown up in a neighborhood where getting shot happens often. In our society, if a person saw another person get shot, they would react differently. They would probably be extremely upset and not want to talk about it. The way the little boy brings it into the conversation out of nowhere demonstrates that he knows what goes on in the real world and it almost seems as though he is not afraid.
2. "These are almost the only things she says that have an edge of indignation; even here, it is more sadness than real indignation. She seems resigned ot things the way they are. 'That's how it is. What can I say?' she often asks."
The entire time the author is speaking with the mother of the little boy, the mother does not have an angry tone. She understands the impact that her standard of living has on her son. She feels guilty because she loves him very much. The way she speaks about it also gave me the notion that she feels as though thats just the way things are and nothing can be done to make it better. She has become accustomed to the life she lives and feels stuck. I feel as though most people in her situation have the same way of thinking.
3. "'Evil exists,' he says, not flinching at the word. 'I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power.
Pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil."
This stresses the fact that the people that have the power don't want to accept it. It is said that the people who have the most power are white, heterosexual, males. I don't believe that people don't accept that they have power. I think that people of the white culture are brought up to worry about themselves. Children are never brought up to worry about others that have different skin color or a different sexual orientation. Therefore, it is not that people don't want to use their power, they just don't know how.
I enjoyed reading Amazing Grace by Jonathon Kozol. His writing was not only informative, but picturesque. He informed us on the struggles of people through telling actual experiences. I found this to be very helpful. It made me feel like I knew the people he was speaking with. I felt emotions for them. I felt sorry that they had to live life in such a poor neighborhood and I felt angry that good people must suffer in such a way. Reading this made me realize that normal people living decent lives don't ever think about how much worse off they could be. For example, my parents often complain about the neighborhood we live in. In fact, they sold my house last week. My neighborhood is not terrible, it has just become worse over the sixteen years we have lived here. I agree with them that I would like to move to a higher class neighborhood. However, after reading this I am happy to have grown up in my neighborhood. The people that live in the slums of New York would probably give anything to live where I do. It is crazy how people tend to take things for granted.
I found this reading to be much easier than the past readings we have done of Johnson and Delpit. It also relates to both of these texts. There are ideas in Amazing Grace behind the stories that are being told of peoples lives. These ideas are the basic ideas of Johnson's Privilege, Power, and Difference. Such ideas are the fact that people are not willing to accept their power because they don't want to have to deal with others. Another example is that the colored people that live in the slums of New York city seem to accept that they are not as worthy as people of the higher class New York. When trying to relate this text to Delpit's Silent Dialogue, I had more trouble. I feel as though it partly worked against what Delpit was saying because the people in the reading were not afraid to share their experiences or their culture with Kozol. On the other hand, the reading shows the differences in the way people understand one another, or the miscommunication between cultures. For example, the little boy tells Kozol that he once saw a person get shot as though it was a normal thing. This would not be considered the norm in other societies. Overall I think the text was extremely helpful in learning about other places that people live and the way they live. It made me want to reach out and use my "power" to help these people find a way out.
1. "'I saw a boy shot in the head right over there,' he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad, then looks up at me and asks politely, 'Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?'"
I think this is the most important quote in the reading. The way the little boy goes from talking about someone getting shot to talking about chocolate chip cookies really gives a picture of the society he is living. He has grown up in a neighborhood where getting shot happens often. In our society, if a person saw another person get shot, they would react differently. They would probably be extremely upset and not want to talk about it. The way the little boy brings it into the conversation out of nowhere demonstrates that he knows what goes on in the real world and it almost seems as though he is not afraid.
2. "These are almost the only things she says that have an edge of indignation; even here, it is more sadness than real indignation. She seems resigned ot things the way they are. 'That's how it is. What can I say?' she often asks."
The entire time the author is speaking with the mother of the little boy, the mother does not have an angry tone. She understands the impact that her standard of living has on her son. She feels guilty because she loves him very much. The way she speaks about it also gave me the notion that she feels as though thats just the way things are and nothing can be done to make it better. She has become accustomed to the life she lives and feels stuck. I feel as though most people in her situation have the same way of thinking.
3. "'Evil exists,' he says, not flinching at the word. 'I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power.
Pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil."
This stresses the fact that the people that have the power don't want to accept it. It is said that the people who have the most power are white, heterosexual, males. I don't believe that people don't accept that they have power. I think that people of the white culture are brought up to worry about themselves. Children are never brought up to worry about others that have different skin color or a different sexual orientation. Therefore, it is not that people don't want to use their power, they just don't know how.
I enjoyed reading Amazing Grace by Jonathon Kozol. His writing was not only informative, but picturesque. He informed us on the struggles of people through telling actual experiences. I found this to be very helpful. It made me feel like I knew the people he was speaking with. I felt emotions for them. I felt sorry that they had to live life in such a poor neighborhood and I felt angry that good people must suffer in such a way. Reading this made me realize that normal people living decent lives don't ever think about how much worse off they could be. For example, my parents often complain about the neighborhood we live in. In fact, they sold my house last week. My neighborhood is not terrible, it has just become worse over the sixteen years we have lived here. I agree with them that I would like to move to a higher class neighborhood. However, after reading this I am happy to have grown up in my neighborhood. The people that live in the slums of New York would probably give anything to live where I do. It is crazy how people tend to take things for granted.
I found this reading to be much easier than the past readings we have done of Johnson and Delpit. It also relates to both of these texts. There are ideas in Amazing Grace behind the stories that are being told of peoples lives. These ideas are the basic ideas of Johnson's Privilege, Power, and Difference. Such ideas are the fact that people are not willing to accept their power because they don't want to have to deal with others. Another example is that the colored people that live in the slums of New York city seem to accept that they are not as worthy as people of the higher class New York. When trying to relate this text to Delpit's Silent Dialogue, I had more trouble. I feel as though it partly worked against what Delpit was saying because the people in the reading were not afraid to share their experiences or their culture with Kozol. On the other hand, the reading shows the differences in the way people understand one another, or the miscommunication between cultures. For example, the little boy tells Kozol that he once saw a person get shot as though it was a normal thing. This would not be considered the norm in other societies. Overall I think the text was extremely helpful in learning about other places that people live and the way they live. It made me want to reach out and use my "power" to help these people find a way out.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
About me
Hello everyone. As you know my name is Brianna. I'm a sophomore, but I transferred from URI. Even though we've only been in school for a week I can already tell I'm going to enjoy being at RIC much more. While at URI I changed my major about three times but have now settled for elementary education. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was little so I think I'm going to love it. When I'm not at school you can usually find me at the gym working out or running. I am a certified personal trainer and hope to make a career out of this as well. Other than that I spend most of my time hanging around with my boyfriend and my friends. =)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)