"Over the past several decades representations of lesbians and gay men have begun t0 surface."
I think this is definitely true. I often see gay people, not only in movies, but on public television.
"To some extent this is because gay people have found
more acceptance within the middle class and among the college-educated than within the working class. Similarly, gay culture has been overwhelmingly "white"...
This statements is also very true. In my experience, all of the gay people I have encountered were white. I cannot really claim to know whether they were middle or working class, but most certainly appeared to be middle class whites. Here are some gay demographics.
"Major church groups also lined up against 'he Rainbow Curriculum including the Bronx Hispanic Clergy Association, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Christian fundamentalists, and Orthodox Jews. Yet twenty-five Protestant and Jewish clergy formed a council to counter the attack from the Right ("Liberal Groups" 1993).This points to the growing battle within the religious community over sexuality."
It makes no sense for a religious community whose writings and whose God condemns homosexuality to proclaim that they are in support of homosexuality. The two simply cannot go together. You cant change the Bible around. It says what it says.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
"Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier
As a former ESL student myself, I found the articles for this week very fascinating to read. I was in an ESL classroom during the second half of fourth grade and first half of fifth grade, so I think i have the benefit of first hand experience when it comes to the issues of this topic.
Although I was not a huge fan of "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez, I thought that "Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier was a very insightful article.
Many of the statements Collier made I really agree with and have experienced first-hand in my own life:
"Academic skills developed in the first language tend to automatically transfer to the second language".
I actually thought of this same concept even before I read that part in the article ( and when I read it i thought "So true!"). I wondered why some kids learn a second language much faster than others. Although I do think that much depends on personal ability (some people are just better at learning languages than others) I quickly realized that a lot of it tends to do with how rigorous your schooling was in your home country. I am not completely sure anymore because fifth grade was a long time ago, but I think some kids in my class did not even go to school in their home countries. As a result, not only did they not speak English, but they also had no concept of reading, writing, and math. Obviously, with sucha situation, I can see what Collier means when she says that it could take them "from five to seven years to master commonly accepted age-grade norms".
I was rather surprised by this statement however:
"It is worse for many students who are placed in English-only classrooms with teachers who have no training in second language acquisition and who use an English-only curriculum".
Although I am not an expert and certainly do not have research to back me up, it seems to me that being completely immersed in a foreign language is actually beneficial for foreign language learners. My ESL classroom was certainly English-only, since the diversity of the students made it impossible to accommodate to all their languages, and we were even forbidden to speak our native languages to peers. It seems to me that complete immersion into a second language helps the student focus on, and rely on, that language so much more. I think that the danger of bilingual classrooms is that kids will just speak whatever language is most comfortable and ignore the second language if they can get by without it. When you know you cant survive without learning to speak English it really makes a difference in how quickly you learn.
Finally, I thought the six features of "Caregiver speech" were all excellent points. One of my favorites is, "Caregivers provide models to children by saying for them what the children seem to want to say". I like this one cause I think these kids need to be given a break! Sometimes its just hard to think of words, even if you know them, and I think its a good thing for teachers to help them out. Also, its easier to understand than it is to speak, so if I child has problems saying something the teacher should lead them to the right words and model the right words. A child will probably understand, even if they could not have said it themselves, and will hopefully remember what to say next time in a similar situation.
Overall, I thought this article was great. It was easy to read, to the point, and very insightful. I think the "Caregiver" points are an essential for all ESL teachers. In class, I would like to discuss bilingual teaching methods more, since its something I really do not know much about. Although two languages are definitely better than one (I assume this kind of teaching is mostly directed towards Spanish-speaking students), I do see many problems that could come with bilingual teaching.
Although I was not a huge fan of "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez, I thought that "Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier was a very insightful article.
Many of the statements Collier made I really agree with and have experienced first-hand in my own life:
"Academic skills developed in the first language tend to automatically transfer to the second language".
I actually thought of this same concept even before I read that part in the article ( and when I read it i thought "So true!"). I wondered why some kids learn a second language much faster than others. Although I do think that much depends on personal ability (some people are just better at learning languages than others) I quickly realized that a lot of it tends to do with how rigorous your schooling was in your home country. I am not completely sure anymore because fifth grade was a long time ago, but I think some kids in my class did not even go to school in their home countries. As a result, not only did they not speak English, but they also had no concept of reading, writing, and math. Obviously, with sucha situation, I can see what Collier means when she says that it could take them "from five to seven years to master commonly accepted age-grade norms".
I was rather surprised by this statement however:
"It is worse for many students who are placed in English-only classrooms with teachers who have no training in second language acquisition and who use an English-only curriculum".
Although I am not an expert and certainly do not have research to back me up, it seems to me that being completely immersed in a foreign language is actually beneficial for foreign language learners. My ESL classroom was certainly English-only, since the diversity of the students made it impossible to accommodate to all their languages, and we were even forbidden to speak our native languages to peers. It seems to me that complete immersion into a second language helps the student focus on, and rely on, that language so much more. I think that the danger of bilingual classrooms is that kids will just speak whatever language is most comfortable and ignore the second language if they can get by without it. When you know you cant survive without learning to speak English it really makes a difference in how quickly you learn.
Finally, I thought the six features of "Caregiver speech" were all excellent points. One of my favorites is, "Caregivers provide models to children by saying for them what the children seem to want to say". I like this one cause I think these kids need to be given a break! Sometimes its just hard to think of words, even if you know them, and I think its a good thing for teachers to help them out. Also, its easier to understand than it is to speak, so if I child has problems saying something the teacher should lead them to the right words and model the right words. A child will probably understand, even if they could not have said it themselves, and will hopefully remember what to say next time in a similar situation.
Overall, I thought this article was great. It was easy to read, to the point, and very insightful. I think the "Caregiver" points are an essential for all ESL teachers. In class, I would like to discuss bilingual teaching methods more, since its something I really do not know much about. Although two languages are definitely better than one (I assume this kind of teaching is mostly directed towards Spanish-speaking students), I do see many problems that could come with bilingual teaching.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Response to Kozol
Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol
Very eye-opening article! Its definitely easy to forget that so many people not far away from you are living in complete poverty and in conditions so terrible that you'd think the article is describing a third world country!
Here are some quotes that I thought were particularly important:
Go hear for one man's theory for how to beat the system:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/story?id=7134484&page=1
This article was very intense and certainly appealing to people's emotions. I felt very sorry for the people who have to live in these conditions and can only wonder how bad it must be.
I would love to see more blacks rise out of the rubble, beat the system, and become successful despite the odds.
The only question I have is WHY so few of the people who live in Harlem work. The article did mention that many are too sick to work, but I cannot imagine that such a majority would be so disabled rendering it impossible to work on at least some kind of job. Are jobs simply not available? Are there other factors that might be withholding people from job posts?
Very eye-opening article! Its definitely easy to forget that so many people not far away from you are living in complete poverty and in conditions so terrible that you'd think the article is describing a third world country!
Here are some quotes that I thought were particularly important:
- "There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the wurld has pumped into their jives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheeerful anyway." ~ Kozol
Its hopeful to think that children's spirits can be so resilient to the evil that is going on around them. It makes you realize that there is a lot of potential in those children, and if they were given the opportunity they could become just as successful as anybody else. Its so sad that with time those spirits can be dampened and put out completely as these children turn into teenagers and enter the world of drug use and prostitution. It makes you want to rescue them while they are still cheerful, hopeful, and full of life and potential.
Its amazing that people living in the poorest of conditions can have so much compassion for others when they themselves are suffering. Its amazing that he would give his pizza away with so much willingness, and makes me wonder whether I would even do the same.- -"three slices, one for my mom, one for my dad,
and one for me"-he says he saw a homeless man who told
him he was hungry. "But he was too cold to move his
mouth! He couldn't talk!"
"How did you know that he was hungry if he couldn't
talk?"
"He pointed to my pizza."
"What did you do?"
"I gave him some!"
"Were your parents mad at you?"
He looks surprised by this. "Why would they be mad?"
he asks. "God told us, 'Share!'"
- "I have yet to figure out what she has done that was irrational".
Go hear for one man's theory for how to beat the system:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/story?id=7134484&page=1
This article was very intense and certainly appealing to people's emotions. I felt very sorry for the people who have to live in these conditions and can only wonder how bad it must be.
I would love to see more blacks rise out of the rubble, beat the system, and become successful despite the odds.
The only question I have is WHY so few of the people who live in Harlem work. The article did mention that many are too sick to work, but I cannot imagine that such a majority would be so disabled rendering it impossible to work on at least some kind of job. Are jobs simply not available? Are there other factors that might be withholding people from job posts?
Response to Kozol
I am Yana Stetsyuk, I am majoring in Elementary Education and and I hope that this blog will be a great medium to discuss issues related to education.
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