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Essay on teaching english as a second language
Essay on teaching english as a second language
Essay on English as a second language
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Upon my relocation from Ann Arbor to the Bronx, I immediately noticed that I had a culture shock. I had only heard the Spanish language in my high school classes and in songs, but in the Bronx it was the dominant language spoken. From my walks to the park or the grocery store to my job working with students whom are English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, I was shocked at how English was relegated to second option. I was often unable to clearly communicate with people, especially the parents of some of the students whom I had the fortune of working with. The language barrier that I often encountered may have contributed to changes in the behavior of some of the people whom I encountered in the Bronx, but overall NYC has its own behavior, which I touched a bit on this earlier. NYC—and the Bronx especially—has this “Empire State of Mind” mentality, to steal from Jay-Z. Everybody seems to be in a hurry and focused; it almost seems as though each person believes that there is another person waiting right behind him or her to steal her job, income, or resources. My being an outsider and looking like a …show more content…
My team was my rock in the Bronx, and it carried me through the unsteady transition from suburbia to city. My girlfriend at the time, in particular, was from New Jersey and also served on my team. She is from a similar background as me, but was able to smooth out some of the other tough circumstances that face a person who has moved, such as travel, lodging, and tribal comfort. Outside of my team and girlfriend at the time, the students whom I worked with reached out to me. I don’t believe that they knew that I was having a hard time transitioning, but the kids treated me with immense respect. I felt as though I was from their neighborhood. Of course I could/can never understand their circumstances, each student seemed to embrace me once we developed a mutual
Immigrants have helped shape American identity by the languages they speak from their home country. Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to making people know what culture really identifies a person rather than their race. For example, in the essay, it states that Richard Rodriguez “ is Chinese, and this is because he lives in a Chinese City and because he wants to be Chinese. But I have lived in a Chinese City for so long that my eye has taken on the palette, has come to prefer lime greens and rose reds and all the inventions of this Chinese Mediterranean. lines 163-171”.
Many writers focus their works of written art on life situations. They focus on drugs, poverty, stereotypes, young adults living in a difficult world, and of course a topic that has been present for many years, male domination. Abraham Rodriguez Jr. in “The Boy Without a Flag” captures all these themes and more in his Tales of the South Bronx, that relate to the lives of many Hispanics and minority residents of the United States.
being taught in their family’s language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially
Internalized racism has hit the individual level where half of all Hispanics consider themselves as white. One Mexican American asserted that he felt “shame and sexual inferiority…because of my dark complexion.” He also described himself with “disgust” loathing his appearance when he sees himself in the mirror. Stereotypes play a huge role in the Latino culture in the U.S where often the usual stereotype is that Latinos are job-stealers, uneducated, poor and illegal. “Envidia” or jealousy sabotages the Latino community because Latinos begin to question the qualifications of other successful Latinos. No one has the positive thought that Latinos can achieve and triumph in any field; they just can’t believe that. Latinos just stamp other Latinos with those stereotypes Americans say. Because of internalized racism, Latinos and Hispanics distance themselves from the Spanish language to support the English only movement. They are embarrassed of their inherited language and rather choose English to complete assimilation. “Almost 40% of Latino/a respondents prefer English as their dominant language…” (Padilla 20). Where I currently live, I always see on the day to day basis Hispanics and Latinos that immigrated to the United States from other countries sounding “white.” I speak to Hispanics; even Latinos in Spanish and they respond
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
I don’t think they could’ve done anything more than what they were doing. I say that because if they would’ve done more they would’ve gotten their “head busted” like John Gray’s friend Brookley Field. In those times, what authority did a black person really have? They didn’t have anyone to take up for them and were punished without question so I don’t think it was much they could really do. I think the experience of fighting made them realize what they were fighting for. Once, they understood that they were fighting for their worth and for what’s right, I think it made it more of an impact on them. My grandma is 88, so her experience was totally different from mine. She experienced segregation at an all-time high. My experience with segregation
...influenced. This correspondence leads to individual growth because it pushes our understanding. As we begin to see the individual as a person and not as an “other,” we can, as a country, grow stronger. Regardless of our growing humanitarian stance towards immigration reform, many Americans still insist on having English as our national language. Though speaking the language would greatly close the distance witnessed in towns like Shelbyville, we must provide methods for language acquisition by working through difference. With the transition towards inclusiveness, an increasingly global perspective should also follow suit.
According to the 2011 census, over 20.8 percent of the United States population spoke another language other than English (www.us-english.org). Language barriers, cultural differences, and immigration have been a part of life in the United States for decades. Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. In the last 200 years immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture.
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.
The modern American workplace has become culturally diverse as different immigrant communities increased in size. According to the US Department of Immigration, 148,426 immigrants received their residency in 2011 in New York. Because of the increased workplace diversity, businesses have to deal with a variety of cultural awareness and multiple language issues. These are very pressing issues in New York City, the “melting pot” of cultures from all over the world. Each workplace in New York City has at least one employee of a non-American background or a bilingual employee.
Coming to America is one of the greatest milestones that deeply impacted my identity. Coming to an unknown land, I have experienced the struggle of adapting to the American culture and gaining access to its opportunities due to my language barrier. As a result, I did not have the choice but to assimilate myself into the American culture by learning it’s language and adjusting to its social norms.
“It must be peace without victory”, that is what I heard President Woodrow Wilson say on the radio this morning. It’s 1918, the war has ended, and so much has already change, even here in my little town in Louisiana. I am happy so many things are changing. It means when I grow up, I can vote and work. Women’s rights, Prohibition, and the economy boom is really changing America.
My brother and I were at the Bronx Public Library with a few of my brother’s friends. The library was located right in the heart of the town, overlooking The Coachman’s Inn, which happened to be my mother’s workplace. The dirty, graffitied, cream bricks of the library gave off a sketchy vibe. The librarians were the meanest people you could meet. They were always yelling at us for making too much noise, even when we weren't making a sound. I was wearing my white polo shirt and my navy blue skirt; my brother wearing his light blue polo shirt and his creme khaki pants.
Out of all the American institutions that exist today, the educational system has one of the greatest impacts on the lives of people, especially for immigrants and their children who do not know how to speak English. The English language is a whole new, different perspective for people who come to America for the first time; their whole environment changes as well. The majority of the people who come to the United States are Hispanics, who are usually at the poverty level. Like everyone who come to America, they want to pursue a better quality of life, and in order to do that, you have to know how to speak the universal language, the English language. The myth of education here is that everyone can learn the same way through the English language—but that is not the case.
My walk along Highland Park surrounded by with the water’s quiet flow that moves through the land, separating the two sides that were once connected. The waterfowl escape the heat of the sun by swimming happily with the current and in the process, diving to catch lunch. Trees are scattered all over the grass, soaring high above the ground creating homes for those who live by the sky. The dirt, leaves, bark, and water create the smell best classified as Earth, enriched by the uprooted trees from Mother Nature’s wrath. An old giant lay across the water connecting the two sides once again, similarly to the synthetic bridge conveniently located before the trees begin to hug the road.