Talking Points #2 Aria by Richard Rodriguez

Shades of sand specs

Argument:

The author Rodriguez argues that bilingual children such as him go through a long process that shapes their individuality by assimilating into public society while bilingual educators disagree with assimilation into the public society. The main point of the argument is that one must lose a sense of how one speaks at home in order to become comfortable in speaking in public with a second language.

In Rodriguez's childhood years, he was scared of speaking English in his classroom and did not realize that this second language was his to use until the teachers spoke to his parents about using English at home. Over time he became more comfortable speaking English at home and in the classroom. It is here where he loses his sense of individuality in his private home in order to utilize English in public. It became his primary language and sees himself as an individual of public society.

Rodriguez believes that he did not miss out on anything. He would've been happier about his achievement if recalling what it was like before wasn't so prevalent. What he had gone through to finally be able to be comfortable with a second language is that assimilation that had to be experienced to gain his individuality in the public society.

Sharing Ideas:

I think reading both of these articles about education in a bilingual and multilingual setting is a great way to help us students become aware and educated about issues we wouldn't have realized exists. It is true for me because while reading both articles and the articles we've all read previously, they all gave me a heads up of how and what a classroom would be like. It makes me realize how very diverse we are and teaching multilingual children is a challenge because if effective strategies are not being applied in the classroom, children may be left out of important guidelines for success in their second language.

Click here to see a video that also supports borrowing words from another language like Collier mentioned in her article.

Talking Points #1 Amazing Grace byJohnathan Kozol

Reflection:

Reading Amazing Grace by Johnathan Kozol, gave me an in depth passage into the lives of children and their parents in the poor parts of New York during the 1990’s. The suffering and challenges that they go through were a big eye opener for me and gave me a bigger understanding of the lives of people of color in poorer areas.

Although the children in the Bronx has lived through tragedies and witnessed them right before their eyes, most children seemed carefree and sort of happy at most. It’s like the scenarios had been an everyday event. When Cliffie, the little boy, mentioned that someone got shot, it was as if telling it was not a problem.

There are many extreme conditions in the area and reading about them was sort of horrifying for me. People there live with at least someone who knew or had AIDS. Children suffered from depression, anxiety and fear. In extreme freezing conditions, the city passed out sleeping bags just to keep warm. It was sad that a high school senior who won a scholarship for college died because of drug addiction. This shows how living conditions can greatly affect ones future.

While reading the article, I though it related back to the first two articles we’ve read recently about privilege and codes and conduct of power. The article that McIntosh wrote was about white privileges. The people who live in the poor conditions are left to fix their way of living by themselves. The idea that those with power don’t acknowledge to pretend they don’t have it so they don’t have to help in others problems is true in Kozol’s article. When a professor at a university said that once poor people start to act rationally, their problems will disappear. It seems to Kozol that, after spending time with Mrs. Washington, he saw that every way she acted was as rational as any person who was not poor.

The four articles that I’ve read all ties into each other with the first two articles read previously. They all show what the codes and conduct of power are capable of and the effects of privilege.

Episode 1 - Information

A random shot on RIC campus

Hello bloggers and future bloggers! My name is Lang and I transferred from CCRI last year. I am planning to be a secondary education major in math. I've switched majors many times with no regrets at all since I view the experience as a journey to help build the person I am now. I am bisexual and I think it's awesome to let my classmates know since this class encourages us to discuss about subjects we normally don't talk about. I like photography and I take pictures of anything. That means food pictures here on blogger so beware, I will make you hungry!

Fried dough with rice noodles

On campus we usually eat the same food at the Donovan dining center. Even though the cafeteria offers variety for the dinner menu, it's still not enough to satisfy different cravings. Not far from RIC is a family owned Chinese restaurant called Lucky Garden. I went there today for my favorite dim sum. Dim sum is traditionally Chinese breakfast food usually served in the morning on Sundays. Here in America it is enjoyed everyday and anytime of the day. There are only several restaurants that offer dim sum in Rhode Island and this location is one of the best. The waitresses are extremely nice and speak English with mild accents so I believe mostly anyone can understand them. So one day if you are at RIC, go to Lucky Garden for lunch and order dim sum and leave full and happy!