Connection to Bilingualism in America
After watching the videos and reading "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez, I have two major connections to make to both the text and videos. Now that I have done much observing at service learning, I gather that many of the students in Providence schools are going through the same thing that Rodriguez did to some degree. Each day they have a block of time where students that are not English as a first language speakers get extensive work with reading and writing. Many of the students that I have interacted with typically speak Spanish to their friends and have told me they speak Spanish at home. All of them can speak English pretty well but often struggle with pronouncing and recognizing words. This is similar to what Rodriguez talks about because they are only getting reinforced with English at school. In some ways this can be inclusive to them because teachers are focused on these students getting better with the English language. I also think it is unfair because it doesn't s...