I read Richard Richardo piece on bilingual children, called "Aria". I really enjoyed reading this because I thought it was very insightful. I also thought that the title of the chapter was very appropriate for what Richardo was going to discuss in this particular chapter. An Aria is a very beautiful piece written for voice, that is usually written in Italian (where aria's originated). In this piece, Richardo talks about his personal struggles with speaking Spanish at home and having to learn English. English is a very difficult language to learn even if you come from a home where it is spoken all the time, like me. I can not imagine knowing one language and having to learn English as well. One point I really liked that Richardo made was in one of the first paragraphs, where he talks about if he was taught English later on in his schooling, how delayed he would be. He talks about if the teachers talked to him in Spanish he would probably have been more open to the teachers and his other classmates. I think that if teachers would take that approach to bilingual students it would make the students feel more open, however I think that students would want to keep speaking their language and not want to learn English. Many people in this country feel that people that emigrate from other countries should know how to speak English before they come here, and that English should be made the official language. I think that it should not be the official language because America has always been known as the melting pot because of the different types of people that has come to America since the start.
Another point that I really found interesting was when the nuns came to his house to tell his parents to help their children to speak English by speaking it at home more often. I think that that is the problem bilingual children have is that they can barley understand English, and when they get home they are speaking their native language to their parents because the parents only know the native language. Richardo says that after dinner, they would all practice their English and make it like a game. I don't know how many parents would sit down with their children and try to make them learn a language they themselves didn't know very well. When I took Spanish in high school, my parents had no clue what I was saying if I was speaking Spanish to them after dinner. Richardo calls English "the public language" because English is so common around the world that everyone speaks it. It is not necessarily a beautiful language like the romance languages. In the end of his chapter he talks about how his family was not very close when the children learned English. His father who did not know English was kind of pushed to the back and his mother became the head of the household because she knew English. His family lost a little of their closeness. If an Aria was translated from Italian to English, everyone would be able to understand what the vocalist was singing about, however it would loose it meaning. I think that even though English is a public language, other languages need to be spoken to maintain diversity here in America, but also all over the world.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Quotes: Kozol "Amazing Grace"
Kozol's article called "Amazing Grace" was about poverty in the Bronx. The article was very interesting and easy to read. It really opened up my eyes to the large amount of poverty we have in this country. People from other countries believe that the United States is rich and thriving with opportunities : the white picketed houses is usually the phrase associated with the United States. However, we do have a lot of poverty in this country, and this article points this out. 35.9 million people live below the poverty line, and 12.9 million of those are children. One of the first things that stood out to me in this article was that the median household income in this city in 1991 was about $7,600.
Kozol set up the article by writing how people from this poor neighborhood lived. AIDs was a very common disease, and many children knew many people who were suffering from the disesase or had died from it. In the winter, the city would hand out electric blankets or sleeping bags. Kozol interviewed a father of four, who said: "You just cover up ... and hope you wake up in the morning" (Kozol 4). One of his children was only a month old. i was astonished when I read this because I felt like it was not fair that he and his children were sleeping with coats and hats in a sleeping bag to stay warm. It made me think of how much I take for grated everyday.
The main part of the article was when Kozol interviewed a seven year old boy named Cliffie. They walked together through the streets, as Kozol asked Cliffie questions about his life. The boy was very enthusiastic about talking to Kozol. He was just like any other young boy. I was very moved when Cliffie began to tell Kozol about how he gave away part of his pizza to a homeless man. Kozol asked if his parents were mad, and Cliffie said "why would they be mad, God told us to share". It was very insightful to hear Cliffie's experiences because it is always different hearing something through a child's eyes. Some of the things that Cliffie talked about was something a child should never hear or see. He had seen someone get shot, prostitutes on the streets. In the beginning of the article, children were very aware to the fact that crack cocaine is a heavily used drug in the neighborhood. Children call it the needle drug.
Alice Washington was the third person Kozol interviewed. She was living with AIDs and frequently had to go to the hospital to keep the disease under control. She talks about her experiences going in and out of the local hospital. She once waited in a hospital waiting room for six hours, and when they finally got her a bed the bed linen had not been made and the floor was dirty from the last patient. She recalled getting a nurse took another half hour. This quote really stood out to me during this interview: "I know most of the nurses. They are like old friends, but still why should a patient have to make her bed and wash her room" I asked myself the same question. In any other area this would not happen. As Mrs. Washington talks about the other hospitals in the area it is clear that these peole in this neighborhood were not getting accurate help and service. I think you see this alot in poor neighborhoods such as this one.
Kozol set up the article by writing how people from this poor neighborhood lived. AIDs was a very common disease, and many children knew many people who were suffering from the disesase or had died from it. In the winter, the city would hand out electric blankets or sleeping bags. Kozol interviewed a father of four, who said: "You just cover up ... and hope you wake up in the morning" (Kozol 4). One of his children was only a month old. i was astonished when I read this because I felt like it was not fair that he and his children were sleeping with coats and hats in a sleeping bag to stay warm. It made me think of how much I take for grated everyday.
The main part of the article was when Kozol interviewed a seven year old boy named Cliffie. They walked together through the streets, as Kozol asked Cliffie questions about his life. The boy was very enthusiastic about talking to Kozol. He was just like any other young boy. I was very moved when Cliffie began to tell Kozol about how he gave away part of his pizza to a homeless man. Kozol asked if his parents were mad, and Cliffie said "why would they be mad, God told us to share". It was very insightful to hear Cliffie's experiences because it is always different hearing something through a child's eyes. Some of the things that Cliffie talked about was something a child should never hear or see. He had seen someone get shot, prostitutes on the streets. In the beginning of the article, children were very aware to the fact that crack cocaine is a heavily used drug in the neighborhood. Children call it the needle drug.
Alice Washington was the third person Kozol interviewed. She was living with AIDs and frequently had to go to the hospital to keep the disease under control. She talks about her experiences going in and out of the local hospital. She once waited in a hospital waiting room for six hours, and when they finally got her a bed the bed linen had not been made and the floor was dirty from the last patient. She recalled getting a nurse took another half hour. This quote really stood out to me during this interview: "I know most of the nurses. They are like old friends, but still why should a patient have to make her bed and wash her room" I asked myself the same question. In any other area this would not happen. As Mrs. Washington talks about the other hospitals in the area it is clear that these peole in this neighborhood were not getting accurate help and service. I think you see this alot in poor neighborhoods such as this one.
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