In Rodriguez's article, he discusses the problems when told to speak English as his primary language instead of Spanish in his household. Growing up, Rodriguez grew up speaking Spanish with his family members around the home. Arriving to school, Rodriguez had to speak the public language which was English. Because his English was not as strong and he rarely spoke, his teachers told his parents to start speaking English at home. Relationships within the family started to weaken once Rodriguez's parents starting speaking to him and his siblings in English instead of Spanish. Because of the sudden change, Rodriguez and his siblings grew quiet and rarely talked to their parents around the house. Practicing and using English at home morphed into silent dinners, no conversation, as well as relationships growing apart.
No one should ever be deprived of their first language in order to fit in the norm of society. I may sound like I'm contradicting myself (which I kind of am) but it does help if you are growing up in America to learn English. It makes things easier because as Rodriguez said, it is the primary language. Same situation if I were to move to Spain. It would help that I knew how to fluently speak Spanish. Everyone has the right to choose whatever language they want to speak and shouldn't be confronted or discriminated about it.
https://abc7.com/education/spanish-speaking-student-told-to-speak-american/2539228/
I read an article about a protest at Cliffside Park High School in New Jersey after a student speaking Spanish in the classroom was told by her teacher to "speak American." Students walked out upon hearing of the incident and the whole thing was caught on video. The teacher said, "I'm fed up with you speaking Spanish, I told you to practice your English." The link above is the article as well as the video.
Both of these articles discuss teachers trying to stop students from speaking their primary language and commit to English instead. America is a melting pot where people come from different backgrounds. Diversity is huge and we shouldn't be discouraging other languages. It's an advantage to speak two languages and also shows who that person is. Their language is part of their identity and no one has the right to take that away.
You summarized the story really well! I also like the hyperlink you included and how you connected it to the reading.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing bad to say about your blog! you did a great job summarizing the article, my blog is very similar to yours and used yours in mine.
ReplyDeleteSerena,
ReplyDeleteI really like the article you chose to support this text. It's so upsetting that someone actually told a student to speak "American." I think it just further proves the point that it's wrong to expect students to give up their own private individuality to better their public individuality. I hope this topic comes up in class discussion. Great job!
I can't believe a teacher would tell a student to speak "American." The lack of professionalism there is astounding.
ReplyDeleteWhile knowing English is a near-necessity for living in America, that doesn't mean that anyone should be made to feel like their native language is in any way inferior. That kind of thing makes my blood boil. It would be like telling a deaf child that they cannot sign, because in America we speak English.
I like how you mentioned contradicting yourself because that was the feeling I got from Rodriguez. I think the main problem was how the nuns went about teaching Rodriguez English. Maybe he doesn't just didn't fell like mentioning it, but I didn't read about any efforts they made in the school to help him learn English.
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