Let's not forget that people who are multi-lingual are more globally 
knowledgeable--they can code-switch at the international level!  Language 
use helps us understand various perspectives because not all words 
"translate."  When we learn the idioms, metaphors, and philosophies behind 
various languages, we learn about culture and can communicate better. (Wish 
I had this ability to learn other languages because it is truly a gift.)

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
www.luxuriouschoices.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nadia and Kevin Colby" <thecolbys at prodigy.net>
To: "The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy Discussion List" 
<povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 9:43 PM
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 2095] Re: Mastery



> Daniel, I think that this is very true of children of

> immigrants.  While I think that there are an awful lot

> of books about language and immigration (and some

> titles suggested by David Rosen regarding the "hidden

> rules" of poverty)  I would like to add a couple of

> thoughts about language.  Hopefully I am not off the

> mark.

>

> It is true that children of immigrants have a more

> acute pressure because they are trying to negotiate

> two or three cultures at the same time.   They also

> have a wonderful opportunity.   In many ways the

> United  States has dealt much more with cultural

> clashes than other countries.  English is the official

> language, and a dominant language in the world.  It is

> also the language  of great men and women, artists,

> poets and public intellectuals.   It is actually a

> beautiful language.  Thinking of different "codes" as

> the word has been mentioned in this list, and keeping

> in mind the post of Dr.Stitch  "A nation still at

> Risk", (the government's failure to address the

> literacy needs of the country, disregarding in

> particular its inter generational effects)  I would

> think without any hesitation that children can and

> have to learn English because this is also the

> language of action, advocacy and agency.  This does

> not mean that other languages can not be spoken but I

> don't know how many dual language programs are

> successful in the country and what socioeconomic

> segment of the population they target.  I know of a

> dual language program in New York City

> /French-English/ that targets a very affluent

> population.  I worked in Bilingual Education in New

> York City in a public elementary school that served

> families who lived in public housing.   The problem

> was not a dominant language vs the language of the

> families (by all accounts under served and under

> privileged) but the lack of the best resources

> (manipulatives, books and teachers) for a population

> that needed desperately the extra help.   To my

> knowledge there were not ESL classes in the evening in

> that particular school.  Though the kids and the

> parents would have benefited tremendously from the joy

> of learning along with their parents, of keeping an

> oral tradition alive, and of taking pride in knowing

> two languages, this never happened because the

> resources were meager.

>

> The lack of linguistic resources to me is the main

> issue.  Framing the problem from the point of view of

> oppression (English as the language of racism, sexism,

> xenophobia) does not allow us to move forward in Adult

> Education.  Spanish, French and Portuguese, to mention

> some languages I have been exposed to, are also

> languages whose different codes and discourses allow

> for marginalization.

>

> Adult educators may not need to know about "hidden

> rules", which I state, most sincerely, I don't know

> about.  Moving the debate among instructors and

> students towards informative and critical thinking

> with publications such as the "Change Agent" or

> literature appropriate to the level of the students

> seems to potentially have us all affirm with integrity

> and honesty our commitment as educators and as

> students to social justice and human rights.

>

> There is a wonderful book about agency and

> illuminating moments of solidarity and lucidity of

> workers and the under served in this country.  The

> book analyzes different approaches to social movements

> and then it provides the authors' own interpretation

> of the FDR years.  "Regulating the Poor" by Francis

> Fox Piven and Richard Cloward is a classic work now

> regarding marginalized populations.   It looks at

> poverty in the United States through the lens of the

> punitive nature of the country's  social welfare

> system.

>

> Then going back to language and its relationship to

> oppression, I can' help thinking that Kafka and Walter

> Benjamin wrote in German.   The devastating

> experience of these writers is a prism through which

> we can only celebrate that children learn the beauty

> of English.  They can breathe through their linguistic

> competence.  If we had the luxury that Continental

> Europe seems to have, of educating children who will

> speak more than one language, then maybe we would be

> in a different country.

>

> As Glenn Young pointed out regarding learning

> disabilities.  When we go from disable to enable, from

> Negro to African-American, from "wet back" to Mexican,

> and so on, when we share with our students that our

> dignity is not negotiable, when we have informed

> discussions with them maybe the hidden rules become an

> open curriculum geared towards human rights.  My own

> personal dream.

>

> Respectfully,

> Nadia

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> --- Daniel Rizik-Baer <drizikbaer at gmail.com> wrote:

>

>> and hopefully more of us will shuttle between the

>> two!

>>

>> Maybe a next step for this discussion would be to

>> let each other know the

>> ways in which we incorporate certain rules from

>> different aspects of our

>> lives into who we are as human beings, what those

>> rules may represrent, both

>> negative and positive, in the culture from which we

>> borrow, and how we have

>> come to utilize them in ways that do not cause us to

>> contradict the true

>> essence of ourselves.

>> I think this would help to furthur our understanding

>> of the people we come

>> into contact with, in the classroom or on the

>> street, who feel they

>> constantly have to compromise their integrity to

>> achieve success in this

>> country- the pressure to conform, the pressure to

>> succeed, the feeling of

>> not being completely a part of any one culture, and,

>> especially those people

>> that are born to first generation immigrants in this

>> country, the constant

>> switching back and forth between expectations from

>> their family and

>> expectations from society at large.

>>

>>

>>

>> On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Karen Wyman

>> <Karenw at nmcadv.org> wrote:

>>

>> >  Hi, all,

>> >

>> > In response to what Daniel wrote, I see your point

>> about adding to the

>> > tools we have able for use, and I do think that

>> the use of some tools

>> > requires us to go along with things we might have

>> grave disagreements with.

>> > To use the example of the English language, I must

>> go along with its rules

>> > in order to use, and some of those rules reflect

>> aspects of our society and

>> > culture that I abhor. Violence, sexism, racism,

>> and classism are embedded in

>> > the language we speak, and so we must use flawed

>> tools to build our

>> > understanding.

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> > Of course, we all have to live in this flawed,

>> imperfect world where we

>> > must take part in systems and organizations which

>> we don't wholeheartedly

>> > support, and I understand that in order for change

>> to occur, it takes all of

>> > us. Some of us will do our work from within

>> existing systems and structures,

>> > and others of us will work from the outside.

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> > Respectfully,

>> >

>> > Karen

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> > Karen Wyman

>> >

>> > Community Outreach Trainer

>> >

>> > New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence

>> (NMCADV)

>> >

>> > 201 Coal Avenue SW

>> >

>> > Albuquerque, NM 87102

>> >

>> > phone 505.246.9240

>> >

>> > fax 505.246.9434

>> >

>> > www.nmcadv.org

>> >

>> > karenw at nmcadv.org

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> ----------------------------------------------------

>> > National Institute for Literacy

>> > Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list

>> > PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov

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>> >

>>

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

>> >

>>

>>

>>

>> -- 

>> Daniel Rizik-Baer

>> Family Literacy Coordinator

>> Children Youth and Family Collaborative

>> (818) 442-4407 cell

>> >

> ----------------------------------------------------

>> National Institute for Literacy

>> Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list

>> PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov

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>

>

>

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