One word, Two syllables, Sounds like...
Every day in school I play Charades.
Which is terrible, since I really suck at Charades.
However, I often say words that my students do know the meaning of. Not on purpose-they are just deficient in a lot of vocabulary. The pace of learning is such that students cannot look up every word they do not know in their dictionaries (which the school had to purchase for them btw-most of our kids come to school without any supplies). The few times I am able to provide them with the Spanish equivalent of a word is wonderful. Lights shine in their eyes, I know they understand, and class can move on. Ah, the promise of bilingual education.
Not to this prick.
Some of my students want to learn English. Some don't. Why? Because it's hard. And they're high schoolers. Most high schoolers want to avoid doing things that are hard. Learning any language is hard (especially English). But even for the ones who don't want to learn English, I think most of them know they should. And, eventually, they will pick up what they need to survive. Some will go further, some will be content to remain in their cloistered communities. Bilingual education would have allowed these students to keep up with content until they have mastered English, giving them the confidence they need to survive in school while also preserving the dignity that their heritage language deserves. To do otherwise automatically puts these students behind in school, disadvantages them and is, in short, a form of systemic racism.
To think that bilingualism is a threat to this country is to be a frakking idiot. Or a politician. Same dif. Let's imagine American without bilinguals-oops, we actually lost WWII. Oops-we can't translate terrorist messages. There goes a large city up in flames. Oops, corporations can no longer correspond with a larger population of customers, make more profits, and donate more money to stupid politicians. Oh, well I guess that one isn't much of a loss.
To compete on a global level with countries such as China and India, we need to learn to embrace bilingualism. The only reason call centers can move to India is because people in India learned to speak English!
As for voting, all I would say is that a good portion of the voting population in Florida had trouble with reading their ballots in their native language a few years back. 'Nuff said.
Listen-English is the dominant language in this country-not by law but by choice of the people. And as long as the majority of people choose to speak English, it will remain so. But I think making English the official language in this country is the first step in criminalizing speaking another language. Yes, that must be want Gingrich wants-a nation where you could be penalized for saying "Gesundheit." (Or did he forget that a lot of English words and expressions come from other languages?) Ah yes-that sounds like the America I know.
See, mom? If I had had that second beer tonight, I wouldn't have gotten so uppity.
Which is terrible, since I really suck at Charades.
However, I often say words that my students do know the meaning of. Not on purpose-they are just deficient in a lot of vocabulary. The pace of learning is such that students cannot look up every word they do not know in their dictionaries (which the school had to purchase for them btw-most of our kids come to school without any supplies). The few times I am able to provide them with the Spanish equivalent of a word is wonderful. Lights shine in their eyes, I know they understand, and class can move on. Ah, the promise of bilingual education.
Not to this prick.
Some of my students want to learn English. Some don't. Why? Because it's hard. And they're high schoolers. Most high schoolers want to avoid doing things that are hard. Learning any language is hard (especially English). But even for the ones who don't want to learn English, I think most of them know they should. And, eventually, they will pick up what they need to survive. Some will go further, some will be content to remain in their cloistered communities. Bilingual education would have allowed these students to keep up with content until they have mastered English, giving them the confidence they need to survive in school while also preserving the dignity that their heritage language deserves. To do otherwise automatically puts these students behind in school, disadvantages them and is, in short, a form of systemic racism.
To think that bilingualism is a threat to this country is to be a frakking idiot. Or a politician. Same dif. Let's imagine American without bilinguals-oops, we actually lost WWII. Oops-we can't translate terrorist messages. There goes a large city up in flames. Oops, corporations can no longer correspond with a larger population of customers, make more profits, and donate more money to stupid politicians. Oh, well I guess that one isn't much of a loss.
To compete on a global level with countries such as China and India, we need to learn to embrace bilingualism. The only reason call centers can move to India is because people in India learned to speak English!
As for voting, all I would say is that a good portion of the voting population in Florida had trouble with reading their ballots in their native language a few years back. 'Nuff said.
Listen-English is the dominant language in this country-not by law but by choice of the people. And as long as the majority of people choose to speak English, it will remain so. But I think making English the official language in this country is the first step in criminalizing speaking another language. Yes, that must be want Gingrich wants-a nation where you could be penalized for saying "Gesundheit." (Or did he forget that a lot of English words and expressions come from other languages?) Ah yes-that sounds like the America I know.
See, mom? If I had had that second beer tonight, I wouldn't have gotten so uppity.
posted by waltzingmathilda @ 10:49 PM
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