06 December, 2009
17 June, 2009
Antonio & Delfino: Entry #4
Dual Existence between immigrant students and U.S. born students.
Dual existence is a theme you see everywhere in the United States. There can be a separation because of language, ethnicity, religion, gender, special needs, social activities, jobs, income, and the list could go on. This theme is not restricted to the U.S. either. There are other countries that separate populations based on these same issues. It seems to be a part of human nature. Is it the right thing? No, we are supposed to recognize individuals and respect them for who they are. Not everyone follows this and we all have our own biases – no matter race or cultural background.
Teachers can help dissolve the dual existence by helping students learn to respect and work with each other in the classroom. The first goal of a teacher is to create a safe environment where each student feels welcome and accepted. This can be hard to do if the student’s home life and community propagate prejudices and negative feelings toward others. I think this is a school wide issue that needs to be confronted with school unity. Just like we have school wide rules for discipline, there should be school wide cultural acceptance. By inviting the parents to fun and informational class and school activities, we can bring the community together and help form a singular goal – education of their children for a better future.
I was thinking about this when I was recently in a school office. I was observing the atmosphere of the office when I noticed that the pictures on the walls showed white children. The statutes on the floor were of white children. I wondered if the classrooms reflected and honored all the children in the rooms. I went home and reseached the school demographics on the TDOE report card website and learned that the school has a 22% Hispanic and a 25% African American population. Why didn't the school's office reflect this diversity? I didn’t notice how their cultures or ethnicities were even acknowledged there.
Our acknowledgment of others has to be school wide – office, cafeteria, library, classrooms, curriculum, and school activities.
We don’t want our kids living cultures apart. Schools can help teach people to accept one another.
We need to consider it a priority in our classroom and school.
TDOE Report Card Site
Dual existence is a theme you see everywhere in the United States. There can be a separation because of language, ethnicity, religion, gender, special needs, social activities, jobs, income, and the list could go on. This theme is not restricted to the U.S. either. There are other countries that separate populations based on these same issues. It seems to be a part of human nature. Is it the right thing? No, we are supposed to recognize individuals and respect them for who they are. Not everyone follows this and we all have our own biases – no matter race or cultural background.
Teachers can help dissolve the dual existence by helping students learn to respect and work with each other in the classroom. The first goal of a teacher is to create a safe environment where each student feels welcome and accepted. This can be hard to do if the student’s home life and community propagate prejudices and negative feelings toward others. I think this is a school wide issue that needs to be confronted with school unity. Just like we have school wide rules for discipline, there should be school wide cultural acceptance. By inviting the parents to fun and informational class and school activities, we can bring the community together and help form a singular goal – education of their children for a better future.
I was thinking about this when I was recently in a school office. I was observing the atmosphere of the office when I noticed that the pictures on the walls showed white children. The statutes on the floor were of white children. I wondered if the classrooms reflected and honored all the children in the rooms. I went home and reseached the school demographics on the TDOE report card website and learned that the school has a 22% Hispanic and a 25% African American population. Why didn't the school's office reflect this diversity? I didn’t notice how their cultures or ethnicities were even acknowledged there.
Our acknowledgment of others has to be school wide – office, cafeteria, library, classrooms, curriculum, and school activities.
We don’t want our kids living cultures apart. Schools can help teach people to accept one another.
We need to consider it a priority in our classroom and school.
TDOE Report Card Site
07 June, 2009
Antonio & Delfino: Entry #3
The theme running though the stories in Chapters 6 & 7 of Quinones (2007) book is one of abandonment. A Mexican music teacher felt betrayed and abandoned by his country because his operas and music was never produced or appreciated. He retreated to a hilltop to live the rest of his life alone and embittered. Many Mexicans and Mexican families striving for a better life moved to Chicago in the U.S. and began new lives and built their own family businesses. These immigrants had dreams of making money and then returning to their homes in Mexico; however, they settled into the U.S. and didn’t go home.
Which situation is worse, staying in your country, embittered and living on a bare existence or moving to a place that offers opportunities for you and your family?
I think that it is worse to give up as the music teacher, Hector Seemann, did. His work wasn’t appreciated, so he gave up. An excerpt from the book states:
“Some in town believe that Seemann’s music never found its place because he never went into the world to interest people in it.”
On the other hand, the families that moved to the U.S. went looking for their futures. They went where there were opportunities and created futures for their families and relatives. I think it is Mexico’s loss. If Mexico promoted opportunities for everyone, then these hard-working, entrepreneurs could do much to help their country develop for the benefit of all.
Which situation is worse, staying in your country, embittered and living on a bare existence or moving to a place that offers opportunities for you and your family?
I think that it is worse to give up as the music teacher, Hector Seemann, did. His work wasn’t appreciated, so he gave up. An excerpt from the book states:
“Some in town believe that Seemann’s music never found its place because he never went into the world to interest people in it.”
On the other hand, the families that moved to the U.S. went looking for their futures. They went where there were opportunities and created futures for their families and relatives. I think it is Mexico’s loss. If Mexico promoted opportunities for everyone, then these hard-working, entrepreneurs could do much to help their country develop for the benefit of all.
05 June, 2009
Antonio & Delfino: Entry #2
Velvet paintings. Yes, they are mocked because they are not considered art. Because of mass production and commercialization, this art was not about the art; it was about the quantity produced and the popularity of the item being drawn. Maybe if it hadn’t of been so commercialized and it had portrayed the feelings or the environment of the artist instead of American pop culture icons, it could have been appreciated as quality art. Perhaps because it was cheap to buy, found in bars and dime stores, people lost interest in this type of artwork and now they make fun of it. No matter how we feel about this art form now, there was a time when it was popular to own velvet paintings.
While reading Quinones (2007) book, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was just another way people have taken advantage of uneducated workers in another country; however, this production provided some workers in Mexico with a good paying job and allowed some to use their artistic skills. When the fad was over, though, these people were left with nothing. Of course, the importers were also hurt by the fall of public interest in the velvet paintings. To quote Doyle Harden (Quinones, 2007), an American importer, “In Alaska, the aurora borealis will change shape as you stand there looking at it. Well, our lives were that way, too.” Interest in velvet paintings changed quickly and many people who relied on it lost their income and way of life.
How do we, as teachers, respond to an ELL student who has been ridiculed when he or she shares this family tradition within the school environment?
Teachers need to create an environment in the classroom that respects cultures from the beginning of the school year. Each student should feel that they are respected and they are accepted for who they are. Their languages, foods, artwork, music and home country should be recognized and appreciated. Each student could create an autobiography that can be shared with the class. I love the idea of having a map of the world on which each student could flag their home county. This builds cultural awareness and is a great geography lesson. The teacher can ask students to share how to write their name in the home language or how to say words in their home language. Students have to feel a sense of belonging in the classroom.
If this type of ridicule still happens, then create an opportunity for the students to learn about this tradition. Invite the student to bring in some of the art and invite their family member to come and present a demonstration on painting on velvet. Also, provide an art experience for the students to create their own velvet art. Let the students learn about it and they will be less likely to ridicule this art or the other student.
You can visit the “Velveteria” museum of velvet paintings on line at http://velveteria.com/ Make sure you watch the videos from Bill Giest, CBS “Sunday Morning” and Andrew Zimmern, Travel Channel on this web site.
While reading Quinones (2007) book, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was just another way people have taken advantage of uneducated workers in another country; however, this production provided some workers in Mexico with a good paying job and allowed some to use their artistic skills. When the fad was over, though, these people were left with nothing. Of course, the importers were also hurt by the fall of public interest in the velvet paintings. To quote Doyle Harden (Quinones, 2007), an American importer, “In Alaska, the aurora borealis will change shape as you stand there looking at it. Well, our lives were that way, too.” Interest in velvet paintings changed quickly and many people who relied on it lost their income and way of life.
How do we, as teachers, respond to an ELL student who has been ridiculed when he or she shares this family tradition within the school environment?
Teachers need to create an environment in the classroom that respects cultures from the beginning of the school year. Each student should feel that they are respected and they are accepted for who they are. Their languages, foods, artwork, music and home country should be recognized and appreciated. Each student could create an autobiography that can be shared with the class. I love the idea of having a map of the world on which each student could flag their home county. This builds cultural awareness and is a great geography lesson. The teacher can ask students to share how to write their name in the home language or how to say words in their home language. Students have to feel a sense of belonging in the classroom.
If this type of ridicule still happens, then create an opportunity for the students to learn about this tradition. Invite the student to bring in some of the art and invite their family member to come and present a demonstration on painting on velvet. Also, provide an art experience for the students to create their own velvet art. Let the students learn about it and they will be less likely to ridicule this art or the other student.
You can visit the “Velveteria” museum of velvet paintings on line at http://velveteria.com/ Make sure you watch the videos from Bill Giest, CBS “Sunday Morning” and Andrew Zimmern, Travel Channel on this web site.
04 June, 2009
Antonio & Delfino: Entry #1
As part of our YOED 6020, Reading, Writing, and Learning Methods for ESL course, we are required to read “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream” by Sam Quinones (2007).
I can say that I wasn’t sure I was interested in reading this book. Many books I have picked up to read I have put down and left because the writing style was cumbersome, extremely technical and boring. I started reading and was hooked. This book is different. It explains in a very understandable and interesting way a huge social problem facing Mexico and the United States – the immigration of the Mexican people into the United States. This book creates a personal connection for the reader to the people of Mexico and their plight to find a decent life.
Usually listening with just one ear while I am busy doing another task, I have heard the various reports on the radio and television about the Mexican immigration problem here in the United States. Some employers are paying undocumented workers below standard wages and they are sending that money back home to Mexico, thus removing that currency from our states and Nation. This practice also keeps the states and Federal Government from collecting employment and sales taxes needed to support the government. This reduction or lack of tax money hurts education, medical services and other governmentally funded systems that provide services to all – including the undocumented immigrants. Until reading this book, this was my stance on immigration.
But, as with anything in life, there is always more than one perspective to something. Mexico is losing the very people it needs to develop it's own country. The young men and women who emigrate to the U.S. may send money home; but, this does not help bring a self-sufficient economy to their country.
The immigration of people into the United States boils down to people seeking to fill Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. As the diagram shows, humans go up through the needs starting first with the basic physiological needs and perhaps reaching self-actualization. Humans start by wanting to fulfill the physiological and safety and security needs; but, as they gain those, they strive for the others.
Mexico failed to provide their citizens with the ability to fill their needs, so their citizens are coming here to do so. The Quinones (2007) book talks about the corruption of the political system in Mexico and how it takes advantage of the poor. The people in power keep the money and do nothing for the poor. They make promises of roads and public services but never follow through. Instead, the immigrants here in the U.S. send their money back to Mexico and the families there use it to build homes, roads, and to fulfill their basic needs. So, we see how our money and some of our governmental income disappears into Mexico. Maybe if they were allowed to legally come into our country with their families, the tax money would stay here and it would not burden our governmental system as it does now.
If we could help the immigrants become educated, they could understand the corruption of some of their leaders and try to make a change. They could learn how to participate in and run their government and maybe lead Mexico to a better future. They could create a future where they don’t have to leave their homeland to meet their basic needs.
As educator’s we have an opportunity to help develop educated, problem solving individuals. We are helping to shape the future through these students; so, it is our responsibility to give them the skills and tools to make a better future for themselves and our global society.
As a post note, the students who come into your classroom need their basic needs met in order to be able to relax and learn. See page 15 in "Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL" by Suzanne F. Peregoy and Owen F. Boyle (2008).
I can say that I wasn’t sure I was interested in reading this book. Many books I have picked up to read I have put down and left because the writing style was cumbersome, extremely technical and boring. I started reading and was hooked. This book is different. It explains in a very understandable and interesting way a huge social problem facing Mexico and the United States – the immigration of the Mexican people into the United States. This book creates a personal connection for the reader to the people of Mexico and their plight to find a decent life.
Usually listening with just one ear while I am busy doing another task, I have heard the various reports on the radio and television about the Mexican immigration problem here in the United States. Some employers are paying undocumented workers below standard wages and they are sending that money back home to Mexico, thus removing that currency from our states and Nation. This practice also keeps the states and Federal Government from collecting employment and sales taxes needed to support the government. This reduction or lack of tax money hurts education, medical services and other governmentally funded systems that provide services to all – including the undocumented immigrants. Until reading this book, this was my stance on immigration.
But, as with anything in life, there is always more than one perspective to something. Mexico is losing the very people it needs to develop it's own country. The young men and women who emigrate to the U.S. may send money home; but, this does not help bring a self-sufficient economy to their country.
The immigration of people into the United States boils down to people seeking to fill Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. As the diagram shows, humans go up through the needs starting first with the basic physiological needs and perhaps reaching self-actualization. Humans start by wanting to fulfill the physiological and safety and security needs; but, as they gain those, they strive for the others.
Mexico failed to provide their citizens with the ability to fill their needs, so their citizens are coming here to do so. The Quinones (2007) book talks about the corruption of the political system in Mexico and how it takes advantage of the poor. The people in power keep the money and do nothing for the poor. They make promises of roads and public services but never follow through. Instead, the immigrants here in the U.S. send their money back to Mexico and the families there use it to build homes, roads, and to fulfill their basic needs. So, we see how our money and some of our governmental income disappears into Mexico. Maybe if they were allowed to legally come into our country with their families, the tax money would stay here and it would not burden our governmental system as it does now.
If we could help the immigrants become educated, they could understand the corruption of some of their leaders and try to make a change. They could learn how to participate in and run their government and maybe lead Mexico to a better future. They could create a future where they don’t have to leave their homeland to meet their basic needs.
As educator’s we have an opportunity to help develop educated, problem solving individuals. We are helping to shape the future through these students; so, it is our responsibility to give them the skills and tools to make a better future for themselves and our global society.
As a post note, the students who come into your classroom need their basic needs met in order to be able to relax and learn. See page 15 in "Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL" by Suzanne F. Peregoy and Owen F. Boyle (2008).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
