For 4.29

            It was interesting to read about the different people that discussed how English was not popular where they were from. Many of them said that English was just a school subject and no one was really interested in learning how to speak English. I was surprised to read about these people considering how much we have talked about how there are so many English-only policies in schools nowadays. Although these stories are from quite a few years back, it is interesting to see how much has changed over time. They went from having English as a school subject to having English be the only language they can speak in a classroom. There are so many extremes now, especially in the United States that not many schools or teachers know how to have a nice balanced classroom. You do not want your students to lose their first language and that can easily happen when you have English-only classrooms. I have heard of many stories where the students can only speak English and then they lose their first language because they never use it anymore.

            Some of the parents however, like Wendy’s, wanted her to learn English and believed that it was the key for communication. They wanted her to become an interpreter and had her take a language aptitude test. Many of the students soon realized that English was not just a subject in school and it was going to be an important language to learn in order to expand their sociocultural horizons. Some of them realized that they could communicate with people around the world because they had pen-pals that they were trading letters and information with. However, they were unable to do that unless they could speak, read, and write English. Although some did not, many people realized how important it is and was going to be to speak English. However, more importantly, they needed to understand that they should not lose their first language. It is so important to stay bilingual if you are and many people can become bilingual. 

4.21

        I agreed with and liked the way Green talked about what accent means. As we have discussed many times in this class and previous classes, accents is a difficult concept to understand because so many people have different views on what it means and whether people really do have different accents. Green gave the meaning loosely of accent, which was “a specific way of speaking” (Green, 42). I truly believe that although that is a very vague definition, it sums up partly what accents are. There are so many people that disagree or do not understand what the concept actually means, but I personally think that is a good way to describe it. There is so much research that goes into it and there will always be people that have different views on what accents are and many other terms as well. In my personal opinion though, this is a good, vague definition of the word.

            The article then continues to talk about two elements to identify one variety of a language from another. Once it explained what prosodic features and segmental features are, they came up with a working definition of accents. “Accents are loose bundles of prosodic and segmental features distributed over geographic and/or social space” (Green, 42). Throughout the article, it talks about how there are so many different ways to distinguish accents and there are so many accents. I liked how they talked about first language accents and second language accents because some may think that we only have a first language accent or vis versa, but that is not the case. Our first language accent is a structured variation in language. Depending on where we are from, we are going to have a regional accent because people from different parts of the country have their own accents and ways of saying words. There are many different accents between races, genders, ethnicities, regions, religions, etc.; they are not just based on where you are from in the country. Being from Chicago alone and then with my religion, I hear from people (even in Chicago) that I have an accent. I sometimes hear it when I say certain words, but it is so cool that everyone has their own unique accents and ways of saying certain words. It just shows how diverse and different everyone is, but we all come together with the languages we speak. The accents are a small part of our whole language. 

4/7

            Although I am not surprised that the number of foreign-born people in the United States has doubled, it is something that will affect my career positively in the future. Also, it is something that many professionals and people have to take into consideration. We need to learn as a country to become a more diverse and open community so that we become a more accepting country. Personally, this affects me because I want to become an ESL elementary school teacher. It is especially important in the young ages to teach them about being accepting of everyone no matter what race, culture, ethnicity, etc. a student is. It has intrigued me that there have become so many different English languages amongst all the cultures and backgrounds of people that have come to this country. It bothers me when people say that someone is speaking incorrect English because there are so many World Englishes now that we cannot say there is one “correct” or “standard” English that everyone has to speak.

            I was really hurt and shocked by the conversation that I read about in the Kubota article about the Asian and middle-class white male. Although in some cases such as this conversation, it may be hard to understand someone, nowhere does it say that everyone in the United States has to speak the same language or type of English. How can we make people assimilate to the American culture when we are trying to become more of a diverse country? There are also other, more polite ways that the white male could have communicated with the Asian if he did not understand what he was saying. We as Americans and a changing country, have to understand that especially for adults, it is very difficult to acquire a second language. They are not going to acquire a second language as quickly or easily as a child under the age of twelve would pick it up. We need to become a more accepting and understanding country in order to work together and become a more diverse country. 

3.24

            I was really shocked and found it interesting that some African Americans identify themselves with Blackness. I have never heard of that term before. I was also surprised by the fact that they communicate with each other by saying certain phrases and then they realize that they both identify with Blackness. I think I was most surprised because I cannot think of any phrases I would say to someone else that would identify myself with them. I cannot think of a phrase I would say to someone White that no one else would identify with. I think it is a cool way to communicate with others and notice that you both identify with the same people and probably culture and values. I think there are many White people or Hispanic and the list could go on that could identify themselves with some of the things that African Americans do, so I am not sure what the difference is with the Blackness identity.

            One big problems that is always present with the TESOL profession is cultural stereotypes. Kumar’s article talked about stereotypes associated with students from Asia, however, there are so many unfortunate stereotypes that these students pick up. As we have talked about before, they can pick up stereotypes from their families, friends, textbooks, teachers, the media, etc. It is part of our jobs as TESOL educators to avoid these stereotypes when teaching and to help the students steer away from any types of stereotypes because a lot of them are not accurate.

            I think an important task to think about in the classroom understands the backgrounds/cultures of different students so that you can incorporate how they learn well in the classroom. For example, in Kumar’s article he talks about how teachers are aware of Asian students culture, so they can help them learn in the classroom environment. I was kind of shocked to read the stereotypes Kumar had to say about Asian culture. I personally had never heard of some of them and was shocked to hear of such stereotypes. The Asian culture is perfectly capable of critical thinking. Everyone can think critically especially when they are asked to at school. It boggles my mind to hear some of these stereotypes and that they are still being “spread” and talked about by many people.

            I have strong feelings about stereotyping, especially in the classroom and with your students. I do not want to put any preconceived ideas in their head about what I think or know about another culture. A lot of stereotypes are rude, not true, or blown out of proportion. If you are going to teach students about different cultures, then you should be teaching them the real facts about it. Better yet, you could have students talk and teach the class about their own culture, so you are getting real facts. 

March 3

             I thought it was really sad and unfortunate that there are still textbooks today that stereotype based on the pictures they put in of different types of people. The one quote in Mendes article where Fatima said “…Here they don’t put a rich Black man for example who have a job and have a happy family…” (Mendes, 64). It is so unfortunate that some students still have to look at books that portray some people in negative ways. We are trying to teach our students about equality and that you should not stereotype, but how are we supposed to teach them these concepts when the textbooks they are using does just that? How are we as teachers supposed to tell our students that a published textbook is wrong in the way they portrayed people or an image in their book? Situations like this in the classroom can become sticky and difficult to discuss.

            Thankfully I have not experience this with my students in my clinical yet because they are only in kindergarten, but being in an ESL classroom, I am concerned that in their future they will come across issues/situations like this one. I think this is one issue that teachers should be prepared to discuss with their students. It is difficult to discuss these types of issues with students especially when they begin to hear stereotypes, but these are some of the best times to start a discussion with your class about why we should not stereotype; especially with ESL students.

            As discussed in Giaschi’s article, it is difficult or near impossible for an ESL student to challenge the materials that are given to them for their English classes. They are the “inferior” or underneath the teacher in the classroom, so they are not to question the texts they are given. However, many of them may feel annoyed or hurt by what some of the texts say whether it has to do with socioeconomic status, gender roles, images, stereotypes, etc. This can be another hard situation that may come up in your classroom, but as a teacher you should be prepared ahead of time for something like this. Also, students should not feel inferior towards their teachers, especially when something like this is concerning to them. You want your students to speak up and express how they feel about things, especially when it is something they may feel uncomfortable about such as, inappropriate texts or images in their textbooks.

            I think both of these issues are really important to discuss in your classroom especially when they come up while reading a textbook or a student has a question about it. These are not questions or situations that you should steer away from as a teacher because they could start some great discussions and conversations with your students. You should never shy your students away from participating or bringing up important discussions they believe are necessary to talk about.