Affirming Various Cultural Values

Hyperlinking Virginia Collier’s Teaching Multilingual Children to Aubree Potter’s First Hand Experience As A Bilingual Teacher 

(http://oldweb.madison.k12.wi.us/sod/car/abstracts/572.pdf)

            The key point Collier makes in her piece can be found in her second paragraph: “one must affirm the cultural values of both home and school.” (pg. 222) It is a bilingual teacher’s responsibility to teach both languages, showing how to use both effectively both in the classroom and in the outside world. In order to do this, the dialects and cultures must be respected. The teacher must be able to recognize the different dialects so that they can be aware of when the student is using in in their second language. It is then that they must teach them to change the way they approach the second language, not by telling them that they are wrong but by slowing down your diction in order to follow their speed of learning, re-phrase in another way what they have just said and communicate with them the differences and why they are important to distinguish. Whew! That’s a lot of work!

             I kept thinking throughout this piece that there was a lot expected of the teacher. The teacher is responsible for wearing many linguistic hats. They have to be very careful about how they approach their student’s ways of learning to read, write and communicate in both languages because social and emotional factors are embedded in the results. Another important point Collier makes is how the student’s conversation with their second language does not prove how well they understand the fundamentals of the language. A great way to test their comprehension of both is through her seventh guideline. By using a dialogue journal, the student can listen to oral diction from the teacher or read a piece and then write about it to show they understand what their teacher said or what they read. Once they write, they can then share the piece with their class, which will show how well the grasp communicating the language.

            Still, I felt the best way to not feel overwhelmed by what Collier was saying was to find a teacher with first-hand experience. When Collier talks about code-switching, she mentions how in conversation, it is used as a way of bonding with other students and their teacher. Aubree Potter, a teacher from a diverse elementary school shows that this is exactly what happens in a classroom when she discusses how her student’s relationships bloom with one another when they can communicate in each other’s language. After reading buddies, she asks the students about their buddy. The student then mentions things they have in common as well as differences, both are important to recognize but the similarities are what shows the student that although they are different, they can still understand one another on some level. The problem she faces is how she notices that outside of school, the student isn’t as successful communicating. So how do you extend what you teach in the classroom to the student’s outside world? Doesn’t Collier say to us that we will, as long as we follow the guidelines she lays out for us?

            Unrelieved, I researched a bit more. I only know one language, how could I handle teaching bilingual students? I wanted to know the difference between a bilingual and ESL classroom. In an ESL classroom, the same teacher is teaching all day. In the Bilingual classroom, the teacher only has the class for a portion of the day. I can’t even imagine that our school system even has ESL classrooms and so we are left with bilingual students who only feel understood a part of the day. Potter has her students all day, every day but points out how rare that is and how lucky she and the students are because they do. In a note on the bottom of page 223, Collier says that in 1998, California passed a law which allows for only 180 days of bilingual education. This means out of the 2,240 days a student attends school (K-12), they are only allowed to fully understand what they are taught 8% of the time throughout their education. A scary statistic! What’s worse is that other states have followed suit.

            From Collier and Potter’s pieces, I have found that as long as the teacher shows respect for both languages of the student, avoiding treating either like a foreign language, the student won’t feel as though one language is more important than the other. This keeps their self-identity intact both at home and in school. I found these tips, which focus on teaching bilingual students instead of the ones hyperlinked above, which provides tips on how to be a bilingual teacher. These tips are pretty straightforward and make sense to use in the classroom with or without bilingual students. Be familiar with their languages, dialects and cultures (which Collier also mentions). Allow the students to talk about their languages. Let the student know that their first language is just as important as their second. Support them by staying positive. Most of all treat all the students equally. I can do that and I will do that.

Discussion Points for Class:

With only 180 of bilingual education, how is a bilingual student supposed to comprehend their social and cultural languages? This keeps the students from understanding the difference of both languages and how to use each one properly. In teaching the student when to use their cultural dialect, how do we as teacher, convey to them that it is wrong to use with English without saying that it’s wrong, even with using the guidelines and techniques Collier mentioned, which I talked about in my opening paragraph. I still don’t believe that the student won’t feel as though they are wrong.

Picture Links:

http://lms.aspira.org/sites/default/files/Values%20image.jpg

http://multilingualmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/image004.jpg

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/img/archive/13_02/gbiside.gif

http://www.cclscorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/shutterstock_maxstockphoto_52226188.jpg

Flesh Coloured Human Beings

Connecting Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack with Allan G. Johnson’s Privilege, Power, and Difference

            In McIntosh’s piece on white privilege she talks about unearned privileges that white people are born with. These tools are assets that white people are unaware of because they are never told that they have them. Instead they are taught about racism in a way that shows them it is wrong to treat others that are different than you in a way that makes them feel exactly that, that they are different. Having a disadvantage means that someone else has that advantage instead. That advantage puts African Americans and other races as the oppressed while the whites become the oppressors. Even if ignorance isn’t perceived as ignoring the issue at hand, it doesn’t mean that it still isn’t racism.

            Even once this truth is shared it is often found that the whites, although they can now recognize the disadvantage that puts the other races in, refuse to change the way it is because they will end up losing the power they have acquired through their privilege. When McIntosh mentions that “privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate” she is admitting that by not doing anything to change the current way we treat one another, we continue to hold the power.

            As a white woman, I would feel incredibly offended if someone said I received a job not on merit but rather because of the colour of my skin. That would make me feel as though the position wasn’t earned. Now imagine how an African American woman feels when the same is true for her. She receives the job to fill an ethnic minority quota instead of on her merits. The difference is I would ever think of as a possibility because I have never been taught to see it that way.

            Both McIntosh and Johnson offer a list of privileges white people have without even being aware of them. They both mention how a white person never has to worry about not getting approved for a loan to purchase a home. They both talk about hoe white people make up many of the national heroes, government officials and something that I never realized before, people who make up our national heritage and who are the founding fathers of our nation. Most heartbreaking is how both of them speak about how whites can completely forget about their race as a label for who they are. Instead they can consider themselves simply as human beings. Imagine that for a second longer and picture what other alternatives there are to not being considered a human being. Disgusting, isn't it?

            To sum up what I have shared, I would like to use McIntosh’s words because I feel like they clearly paint a picture of the ordeal we find ourselves faced with today. “If these things (above) are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.” It is time to get back to the root ideals of our founding fathers and create a true free country where no one has to feel different because of the colour of their skin any longer!

 

 

Point(s) to Share in Class:

            In McIntosh’s piece on white privilege she talks about white people’s unearned privileges as tools which they are unaware that they have because they are never told that they have them. Instead they are taught about racism in a way that shows them it is wrong to treat others that are different than you in a way that makes them feel exactly that, that they are different. Having a disadvantage means that someone else has that advantage instead. That advantage puts African Americans and other races as the oppressed while the whites become the oppressors. Even if ignorance isn’t perceived as ignoring the issue at hand, it doesn’t mean that it still isn’t racism.

            Most heartbreaking is how both of them speak about how whites can completely forget about their race as a label for who they are. Instead they can consider themselves simply as human beings. Imagine that for a second longer and picture what other alternatives there are to not being considered a human being. Disgusting, huh?

Picture Links:

http://ciburbanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/25fn3g7.jpg

http://morallowground.com/wp-content/uploads/white-privilege1.jpeg

http://resistingthemilieu.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-tea-parties-constitution1.jpg?w=300&h=246

http://revangiemn.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/flesh-colored-crayons1.jpg

Unexpected Change of Plans

Jocelyn B.'s Summer of 2013

I thought I read somewhere to write about our summer. I guess I imagined that. Anyway, here was a defining moment in mine:

As May drew close, I drew up a detailed course load in the areas of my hobbies for summer learning. I figured if I wasn’t going to take any summer courses at RIC, then I should study other avenues. A big part of that was reading Frank Capra’s Autobiography “The Name Above The Title” and watching all of his films as he wrote about making them. He is my favourite director so I knew it would be something I would be excited to work on. There would be no excuses. All of the areas I drew up had similar interests that resided in my heart. However, I still found excuses.

Two nights before I took the final for the Histories & Comedies of Shakespeare, I attended a performance of the Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. production of Romeo and Juliet. These graduate students put on some of the most enjoyable theatre in the state and I really look forward to their productions. I was never a huge Romeo and Juliet fan but I’m always loved Mr. Shakes (as I lovingly call him) so I was game.

As you walked into the theatre, which is a wide open space of the former Citizen’s Bank building in Providence across from the library, you were led into a circle of stands. You walked under two giant white feather wings and took a seat on the bleachers. There were lots of coloured lanterns and stringed lights everywhere. Fun music was playing and conversations were spilling out around the circle. You felt like you were a guest at Capulet’s party.

The characters were dressed in modern clothes. Some of the dialogue had poems by the likes of Whitman and Ginsberg spliced in. It was full of action, fervor, poetry and of course, love! After Romeo and Juliet meet and she says good night was what I have since referred to as a defining moment for me. All the actors freeze and a spotlight falls on Romeo who stares out into space. Without moving his head is hand reaches to the ceiling with his index finger pointed out and then he brings it back down again, right in tune with Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

Being a theatre snob, my first reaction was that this was ridiculously corny and foolish. I remained hopeful and engaged though. Before I knew it my legs was moving to the beat as my heart was filling up with joy. The characters were all dancing without inhibitions as we in the audience began to feel the love and excitement that Romeo was feeling. Somehow that choice of song was enough to bring us all to that place of new love. It was an incredible experience.

Hours later once lots more poetry is spewed and tons of blood is spilled, I take it all in. I walk back to my car. All I can focus on is the bloody footprints the two actors who played Romeo and Juliet left behind on the stage after they took their bows and walked away. Romeo’s left and Juliet’s right, as if they were one person. I’m not paying attention as I trip over the cracked sidewalk and go flying face first to the ground. A couple of strangers creep out of the dark to help me up and I hobble to the car, now 20 feet away.

I got a large scar that day but I love that I do. When I look at it, I’m reminded of that production and how it led me to how I feel now. I grew up in the theatre as my Mother received her degree in it and so I’ve watched her direct and perform all my life. I always loved it and begin to act as well. When I started college twelve years ago, that was my intended major too, just like my Mom. Somewhere down the line I started to think that maybe it was just something I loved because it was something I grew up with, something I understood. So I decided I would step away from my involvement in the theatre.

I never stopped going to shows though and I’m grateful that I didn’t. Seeing this production opened my eyes, mind and heart wide open again. I now know that theatre is my passion as well as my mother’s but that I love it on my own, not because she does. When I shared my experience with my mom she mentioned how she always dreamed we would run our own theatre together. I can feel that dream becoming a reality.

So instead of working on my intended course over the summer, I dived into reading as many plays as I could instead. I read them first as an actress and then as a director. I now know I want to do both. Once I graduate from RIC, I may just go for the M.F.A. program myself. What I know for certain now is that I can still be surprised and excited in theatre and that I want to become someone who gives that same kind of experience to others!

 

 

Picture Links:

 

http://collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Frank_Capra/the_frank_capra_collection_dvd_cover_art.jpg

 

http://www.browntrinity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/MTT_9241-554x397.jpg