Reflection Blog-
While reading this text, it reminded me of the students that struggle in my school due to the language barrier. A lot of the students in my school have english as their second language. In my classroom, there are two girls that barely understand or speak any english and sometimes it is obvious to see that they are falling behind. Whenever the teacher assigns me to work with them, I always try to speak as much Spanish as I know and I also count in Spanish if we are working on math. Last Wednesday when I was helping the two Spanish speaking girls, a bilingual girl sitting nearby was amazed at the fact that I knew some of their language. Just by saying "Hola" or "Buenos dias" to students can make them feel more welcome in a classroom. Even the smallest gestures can make a difference. Spanish speaking students are missing out on so much in schools but it is not their fault. It is hard for them to adapt because they are in a Spanish speaking home where there is no english being spoken. A lot of the time Spanish speaking students are not perceived the same way as a primary english speaker. This makes them feel like an outcast or like they have done something wrong. They are almost held up to a higher standard and are expected to just pick up another language which isn't right. This reminded me of when Richard Rodriguez talked about how the American culture was forced onto his family and after time went by it made his family more and more disconnected from each other. He also mentioned how "children lose a degree of "individuality" by becoming assimilated into public society" which is very true. Children are loosing a piece of themselves by trying to become someone they are not.
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