[NIFL-ESL:4465] Re: "English"-only names

From: Swr629@aol.com
Date: Tue May 16 2000 - 13:06:28 EDT


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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:4465] Re: "English"-only names
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Perhaps it was an EFL situation described originally, but the practice is 
alive and well here in ESL classes and other language classes as well.  My 
daughter came home and told me that her Spanish teacher gave her the name 
Juanita.  My daughter said, "Mom, doesn't Eliza just get pronounced 
differently in Spanish?  What did they call you when you lived in Mexico, 
Mom, Susanna or Conchita?"

The practice is used in EFL and ESL classes.  It is demeaning and 
unnecessary.  If Americans can't pronounce "foreign" names perhaps it is they 
who own the problem and need to address diversity in this country in order to 
solve it.

Susan Rowley
ESL Specialist
St. James ESL Program
Seattle, WA
Sjesl2@aol.com



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