I thought Mr. Larievy’s lecture today was great! Although I know that the two teaching English language learner classes I have taken certainly haven’t taught me everything there is to know about ELLs, I’m very happy to say that the lecture today presented a lot of new information. For example, even though I’m from New York, I had no idea that New York schools provide the best models of education for ELLs, and now I’m hoping to begin learning more about those models. It was also really inspiring to see Mr. Larievy’s true dedication to students learning English and the importance he places on educational programs such as two way or transitional bilingual education programs (and how important it is to get those programs back to Massachusetts).
Our group discussion was enlightening, helping me to think about the readings in different ways and helping to clarify points of confusion. At one point, we began talking about languages and accents, noting that people are judged and oppressed not only because they speak a language other than English, but also for having an accent. We spoke about how a person born in the United States, who speaks no other language but English, but who may have for example, a southern accent, may not be looked upon the same way as a person without the accent. Someone in the group mentioned that given our society today, if Obama had an accent, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have been elected, while someone else noted that the perfect newscaster doesn’t have an accent either. But who is this “perfect American” that we judge others against?
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