Although ESL was seen as the gateway to assimilation for the students taking it, it seemed ironic that it only served to exacerbate their designation as foreign. The social stigma created from having this compulsory class seemed only to magnify the differences between new immigrants and other students. Rather than being admired for their efforts to assimilate, the ESL students were ridiculed. The very fact that he thought that he needed to know English in order to be "cool" reveals the role of language in creating a social hierarchy, even at a magnitude as small as schoolyard popularity contests.
I also was intrigued by the initial journal entries kept by Youssef. When confined to such a small range of words do certain words carry more meaning than those of a language in which a speaker is fluent? Or are they used simply the way they are defined in a dictionary because that is all a new speaker may know? I'm curious as to what the implications may be in the use of words when a speaker is limited to so few.
Nevertheless, the piece really highlighted the dilemma that many students face in today's schools. Students who may not even be immigrants are required to take classes that creates an obvious distinction between those perceived to be fluent in English and those perceived to lack sufficient ability to speak it. I feel it is an important issue because these types of decisions can potentially have long lasting consequences on students' lives. With his opinion piece, Youssef demonstrates another manner in which language and the institution of language can affect people, even to the point, as seen in the article, of marginalization of a group of people
I also was intrigued by the initial journal entries kept by Youssef. When confined to such a small range of words do certain words carry more meaning than those of a language in which a speaker is fluent? Or are they used simply the way they are defined in a dictionary because that is all a new speaker may know? I'm curious as to what the implications may be in the use of words when a speaker is limited to so few.
Nevertheless, the piece really highlighted the dilemma that many students face in today's schools. Students who may not even be immigrants are required to take classes that creates an obvious distinction between those perceived to be fluent in English and those perceived to lack sufficient ability to speak it. I feel it is an important issue because these types of decisions can potentially have long lasting consequences on students' lives. With his opinion piece, Youssef demonstrates another manner in which language and the institution of language can affect people, even to the point, as seen in the article, of marginalization of a group of people
interesting discussion! Do you think there is a point when being “foreign” or being able to speak another language becomes cool? For example, when I first came to America, I was embarrassed of being Russian and wanted to assimilate as quickly as possible. Now I think it’s cool that I speak Russian. What do you think causes the transition? Can we learn anything from examining such transitions that would help students feel good about their linguistic heritage earlier in their educational career?
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. Most of the time, I think of ESL classes as a positive thing that allows foreigners to assimilate more easily. Yet, these classes also affect students in negative ways that I never considered.
ReplyDeleteLike we talked about today in class, Americans want foreigners to learn English rather than accepting their native languages. We provide these ESL classes, but then we look down on the students in the classes. Do Americans not see the hypocrisy in this? It is a very unfortunate reality.
Your post addresses yet another level of the hierarchy that exists within schools. It's so true- ESL students are definitely seen as a lesser subgroup of the general school population. At least at my school they were very much separated from the rest of the students and they always seemed to be unfairly judged for not speaking English. I hate that this stigma exists.
ReplyDeleteI think that only once we are part of the masses and are fully assimilated are we capable of appreciating our more unique aspects. I can only imagine how much of an outsider a new immigrant feels. All of your cultural and language differences are scrutinized and emphasized. Once you feel like you belong to the new culture I think you can appreciate your background because you no longer feel like you are being excluded for these differences.