Teaching people to speak English in America can be just plain mean.
Is it wrong to expect American students to know English?/Ryn Gargulinski
After all, some English language classes in Arizona segregate the students and thus riddle them with low self-esteem, according to two articles penned by a pair of University of Arizona faculty members and a graduate student.
These articles, co-authored by faculty Cecilia Rios-Aguilar and Luis C. Moll with student Manuel González-Canche, were released last week by the by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Figures.
Every time we turn around, something somewhere is violating someone’s civil rights. Bring on a lawsuit.
It’s amazing we can even continue to function as a society, if you call us functioning.
Before we move on to the full horror of the English learning experience, we must point out that no, students are not forced into hot, windowless chambers listening to incessant tape recordings repeating the phrase, “My aunt owns a pencil sharpener.”
All they are being asked to do is learn a non-native language, which is a daunting task for anyone, but one that is possible with dedication, immersion, constant study and work, work, work.
Maybe they don’t like the work.
Alas, the work could be much too difficult – and, according to the articles, damaging to their psyches.
Maybe students read TV mags instead of homework?/Ryn Gargulinski
Among the UA team’s key findings:
* English learners were not proficient in English after one year in the new state-mandated English Language Development, or ELD, block program.
* 85 percent of teachers said that for the English learners, being segregated was “harmful” to their education.
* Given the four-hour block, English learners were placed at a disadvantage for successfully completing the necessary coursework to graduate from high school or pursue higher education.
Here are our responses to the findings:
* Not proficient in English after one year?
Did the students do their homework? Did they attempt to speak English outside the classroom in social situations or simply rely on repeating back “My cat is yellow, how are you?” to the teacher? Heck, some native speakers aren’t even proficient in English after 20 years.
* Segregating students learning English from people who already know English is “harmful” to the non-English speakers’ education?
Perhaps it would be better, then, to lump non-English speakers in a classroom full of proficient English speakers and just hope for the best. How absurd to put students learning a foreign language in their own room where they can learn in peace. Please put them with the general student body and let them fall behind instead. Better yet, make the other students learn not to speak in English when the non-native speakers are around.
* A four-hour block of foreign language classes is too treacherous?
Full immersion would be English only all day – the four-hour block lets students off easy.
But it seems there is no easy answer to all this guff – or no easy way to live without people constantly crying about being wronged, even when these wrongs stem from offering a program for teaching people English.
We gotta love America. Or at least we used to.
Please note: Yes, this article was written with sarcasm – and also with a high level of frustration. I have always been on the bandwagon for a need for a national language in America and yes, that language should be English. My second vote is for French and third would be Swahili.
[tnipoll]
What do you think?
Are English language programs forcing students into undue hardship and segregation?
Sure, we all love hearing about our “friends’” ordeals potty training their children or walking their dogs in the wash, but these superficial connections may end up leaving us lonely, lacking and depressed.
“Relationships that lack strong connections – common when established online through Facebook, Twitter, and the like – can result in feelings of detachment and even health problems such as poor sleep and high stress,” notes an article on CNET.
“And while the precise role that online social networking plays is not fully understood, this research indicates it doesn’t help foster close relationships.”
You think? How absurd to find that the dozens – or even hundreds or thousands – of followers and friends we rack up on our social media accounts don’t count as deep and meaningful relationships.
Superficial and surface relationships have become the norm. Even if such a practice did not make us lose sleep or wallow in misery, it is a dangerous trend.
We even see folks go out on a date, or in another face-to-face encounter with someone else – only to ignore the person in front of them to update their “status” or Tweet one more blurb.
Pretty sick.
For the younger set, the danger is even more pronounced. Kids that relate or communicate only through social media may never learn how to behave in a real-life social setting.
We thought chivalry was dead before – just wait until someone sticks an “unlike” sign on our backs.
Real-life relationships? Who needs them. We have 542 Facebook friends and 12,954 Twitter followers. That must mean we know how to relate.
This doesn’t mean social media is a bad thing. It provides lots of laughs, oodles of information and enjoyable discussions.
It’s also one of the grandest time-wasters ever invented, one that still makes us feel like we’re doing something useful or important.
But it does become detrimental when it serves as the only relationships we have with others. Instant friendship – just click here.
In this very busy world with our enormously busy lives, instant relationships are so much easier than actually investing the time and energy it takes to forge a deep and meaningful one.
So we read about our “friends’” potty training and dog walks and call it a day.
Right after we tend to our Farmville livestock or feed our Facebook fish, of course.
NOTE 1: UA’s Chris Segrin and Stacey Passalacqua conducted this social media study, which included 265 people aged 19 to 85.
NOTE 2: I’m a big Facebook fan – it’s way too much fun. Besides, a good number of my “friends” are friends in real-life. Twitter is OK but tends to overwhelm me.
[tnipoll]
What do you think?
How much time do you spend each day on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites?
Have you been depressed lately?
Do you think too many people are relying on social media connections as the only relationships in their lives?
