Writing Consultancy, fall 2007

Ok, so the title for all of us “native� speakers who “should� cringe when we see this says: “Do you speak English?� These articles assigned for class reading reminded of the many friends I have that do not classify themselves as English Speakers. Whether they are immigrants from all parts of the world, or even people who have grown up and the U.S. and come from families that don’t necessary always speak like the most elite, I guess they know how it feels to be classified solely based upon their appearance and their “accent� or “bad� grammar. My friends always tell me stories about them going into stores or restaurants, and just because they can’t “correctly� pronounce a word, some people decide to ask them this intrusive questions of “where are you from, no like where are you really from,� or “what are you saying, speak English?!� Obviously, people now feel disrespected and embarrassed such as many 1.5 students feel throughout their school experience.

As for me, I am a multilingual/multiethnic individual. Yeah, let’s not get into all the things I’ve experienced. I guess what I will say is that I know how it feels to even have moments of trying to recall English words, oh, embarrassing when it happens in public! So, I was working one time, and there were a group of people from Venezuela and Brasil, as a matter of fact, a group of doctors. They came into the restaurant and immediately asked if there was an interpreter. Since there was no formal position, I had taken on the role and they asked to speak to me. I can remember, just talking to them in Spanish and Portuguese while having other people around us frowning and making comments like: They don’t speak English, why are they here? What a disgrace…� Anyway, when they left, I had to wait on one of customers who made the above comments. They asked me did we have something on the menu, and because I had been speaking other languages, my multilingual thing started to kick in. I had to think for a second and recall the word in English. Well, I guess the customer couldn’t wait a second and told me, “…you’re all like, idiots, when it comes to this language…� I simply walked away and give the table to another server and accepted a loss of a tip from a bad attitude.

Okay, [switch brain over to academics]. My little story above helps me to “deal� with these articles. When it comes to real life, articles don’t really cut it for me, and much less to they get to the feelings that the examined population face. I find it slightly difficult to communicate these feelings to monolinguals, because they think that they need to speak another language fluently to learn, but I always encourage to people to think about their high school “world language� classes and when you thought you asked for one thing but in fact asked for another due to limited knowledge of the language or how to use the correct word. So, it is evident that education is key to promoting understanding so that more people won’t be tempted to make such judgments of people, especially of students in a classroom or that come into the center. It is obvious they did something right to be accepted to college or even begin to write a draft.

This brings me to my point about the Thonus article and the comments the teacher makes to the center when calling about their “foreign student.� I have more to say about this in class if the conversation goes there today!!! Over the summer, I participated in a summer research program, in which I researched project entitled: English Language Learners: An Investigation on the Effect of Mobility of Academics.� In this project, I analyzed the academic achievement in relation to their enrollment of all year to partial year enrollment of English Language Learners of color in two Minneapolis Public High Schools. So, I’m not saying that I’m an expert in this area, but I will say that after researching for a literature review and 25-page extensive report of my work, some of the terms used in the assigned articles started to swirl around in my head. What’s ELL? What’s and ESL(er), bilingual/multilingual, 1.5 generation… AHHH! So, one thinks they know a lot from articles, but based on some the academic jargon added, it seems as if the true experience of students is completely lost, especially when it comes to reporting on how schools are graded based on student performance.

It should be no secret that students who do not speak English as their first language will encounter problems in school, and what if English is perhaps their third or fourth language? The articles on the 1.5 generation take in interesting approach that seems to be the answer for dealing with these students, because, well you know, their all the same, right? No, wrong! Through my research, I found many variations of students, and even what happens when they are second, third, or fourth generation like me. There are still the same problems that are associated with these populations as are with 1.5ers. Anyway, what I’m saying [much clearer if I were not blogging] is that all cases are different and we must remember that when a 1.5er of a fourth generation, or even a student born in raised in the U.S. comes into the center not to bust out the theory on them and think how to size them up. Are they like what the 1.5-generation article describes, or are they more of the poor lost minority with broken language skills that Reid describes. Trust me, too much locura (craziness)!

I understand that these articles seek to provide information, so I can’t wait for the class discussion and to hear from the CE group about their work. Does it compare to the articles, if you wrote an article, how might it look? Also, I would also like to know how other consultants feel in situations when working with such populations. I know when I work with students and the say things like “he be in home� that they want to say “he is at home� but “ins� and “ats� get confusing, so they just say it like it comes out. For this reason, more classes should be focused on getting into the head and making sure that what comes out on the paper is what the student means to communicate. I always say that if the student wrote it, the are the author and the find nothing wrong with it, so that’s why we all have a job!

The reality that this population of people is growing rapidly, and are in fact the largest growing subgroup in U.S. high schools. A statistic I used for my project is that the population of ELLs in U.S. public schools have increased by 105% in the last ten years, according to the National Council of Bilingual Studies. Basically, I advocate for reading research, but most importantly would like people to think of themselves in foreign environment, whether it is another country or even another state and you have an accent. How do you ask for help? How do you help someone in this situation? Maybe all we need is a pen, notebook, and an open mind and heart, que no (why not)?