I Hate Mandarin Research Paper

There is an ancient Chinese proverb, that goes by “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Today, I would like to discuss my cousin, Stephanie Lam, who went to Taiwan one summer to teach English in a two week enrichment program. Her students, ranging from 12 to 17-year-olds, came from low-income families around Taiwan, seeking help in learning English, as they do not normally have the proper resources to do so. Though the language barrier was a formidable obstacle, Stephanie bonded with her students and other teachers, and greatly improved their English proficiency. Now, thanks to her, they understand a new language even better than they did before, and therefore have access to

Many people still debate the benefits of bilingual education. Even if the program were supported, there would be no way to insure that it has successfully achieved its goal. “The problem with this method (bilingual education) is that there is no objective way to measure whether a child has learned enough English to be placed in class where academic instruction is entirely in English. As a result, some children have been kept in native language classes for six years” (Hayakawa 577). Not only is there no way to measure if a student is ready to be out of the program, those students who were stuck in the program for several years infers the feeling of being out-casted. Children complain of systematically being segregated from their English-speaking peers being put in to the bilingual

Introduction - Being a part of a bilingual speaking family, like with my mom and dad who are Chinese immigrants, is an experience that no one can imagine unless you are part of a bilingual speaking family. Experiences such as knowing a language that not many of our neighbors don't know can be frustrating for both sides. Being young in my early years, learning English was not only a struggle for me but for my family. I noticed that my parents struggled learning english and communicating with the outside world. From buying groceries to paying for the bills, I observed the painful experiences that my parents persevere through all these years. I was glad public schools gave me the opportunity to not only learn English but to help my family live in this English superior society.

As mentioned before I volunteer at Peninsula Elementary’s SUN program. Many of the workers volunteer, while a small amount get paid. Whether volunteering on their free time or getting paid, the leaders at SUN school all value the same thing, equality. All of the students enrolled in this program speak english, however, a large percentage come from different cultures and backgrounds than their fellow classmates. For example, I have a student who’s great, great, great…. grandfather (she wasn't sure exactly what generation he was, but knew that he was from her maternal side of the family) was a president in Laos. On the other hand, one of my other students who transferred to a different class is from Mexico and remembers she and her mother sewing her clothing. While these are only two out of many students, it just goes to show that all come from different cultures and live different lifestyles, which is great! All who are involved with Peninsula Elementary’s SUN program are united in understanding that difference amongst one another is awesome and should, without a doubt, be accepted (Community Cultural Wealth).

America has always been a place where people from all over the world have strived to travel in hopes of creating a better and more promising future for themselves. In today’s classrooms, teachers are experiencing the culture and language related effects of that endeavor. With an increasing amount of non-English speakers entering the country each year, the population of students who speak English as a second language or no English at all increases as well. Not only are these students entering with knowledge of another language but they also enter with the history of another culture. These students are taught and raised to love their traditional languages and cultures. To take these aspects away from them in order to make them understand our way of life is not fair nor is it educationally beneficial. Some say foreigners need to assimilate because they are entering our country and by trying to accommodate their tradition, schools will end up hurting American students’ educational progress. This is not found to be true in as many cases as one would think though. By incorporating home or second language and diverse cultural exploration in combination with Standard English and American culture into the classroom, all students will benefit in multiple areas of learning and life.

When you talk about bilingual multicultural classes we must think about diversity. In bilingual and multicultural classes are made to make sure that no child feels left behind and that other kids can learn about each the by interacting with each other and learning the differences of other ethnic groups and cultures. But many people including parents are against this idea for many different reasons such as prejudices issues and some even feel as this might take away from their learning. In the case study “The Chameleon” they talk about the issues that come with the topic of teaching bilingual and multicultural education in public schools. In the text, it stated that the issue began to get heated when on an October night the issue of bilingual

Children who are diverse in a school are being assimilated into the crowd. Children who are bilingual or culturally different are losing their diversity and individuality. Aria: A memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, states that “Children lose a degree of ‘individuality’ by becoming assimilated into public society”

There is greater linguistic diversity in American public schools than ever before, and teachers and administrators report significant challenges in meeting the linguistic and cultural needs of all their students (Center for Public Education, 2012; National Education Association, 2014). Given the increasing diversity and challenges that many teachers and schools encounter, there is a need to analyze practices and policies already in place in an attempt to recommend best practices and new initiatives for meeting the linguistic and cultural needs of these students. This study seeks to explore current practices of teachers, administrators, counselors, and others involved in socializing newly arrived emergent bilinguals into English language schools

“Of the 281 million people age 5 and older in the United States in 2007, 55.4 million individuals — or 20 percent — reported speaking a language other than English at home.” (Newsroom) As the number of non-English speaking people in our country increases there is also a debate going on as well. This debate is over whether American Schools should offer a bilingual education to accommodate these people or not. “Bilingual Education is the practice of teaching non-English speaking children in their native language, while they are learning English.”(Bilingual Education) In “The Achievement of Desire”, Rodriguez writes about his experiences growing up as a Mexican-American student and the toll that it took on his life. Bilingual education may

Bilingual education in the United States is constantly debated. It is often misunderstood. As Freeman (2000) notes, part of the confusion is caused by the fact that the term refers to a wide range of bilingual programs and practices (p. 204). Practitioners in the field of bilingual education who have educational and linguistic backgrounds strive to implement the most educationally sound policies, programs, and practices in order to best serve the needs of the growing population of English language learners in the United States. These policymakers, language educators, parents, and community members, however, constantly battle opposition that is not always based on truths and evidence, but

Bilingual education has been a part of our education system since the 1920’s when the nation’s first bilingual program was established. In the 21st century, California has the most diverse student population in the world, with more than 100 languages spoken in homes of these student (Maggie Beddow) (pg VI). Since many California students came from another country with no background knowledge of the English language, they faced the real struggle when they are put into school. Many view that the more diverse the student population in a school, the “bigger” the issue when it comes to learning English. It is a challenge to teach a classroom where the students are not on the same

First, I will summarize the principle implications from our class with regard to educating emergent bilinguals and how to create a positive and effective learning environment for these (and all) students. As an individual, I must be aware and sensitive to the possible issues that emergent bilinguals are facing. As we have learned, there can be vast differences in cultural models that may impact our understanding and interpretation of each other’s actions, even among people who are fluent in the same language (Scollon & Scollon, 1981, pp. 11-12, 36-37). I must be aware of the problems of “essentializing” my students and respect and honor the variability that exists within cultural and ethnic groups (Gutierrez &

When my father asked me to volunteer as a teaching assistant for the kindergarten class at the local Chinese school, I was apprehensive. Although I liked kids, helping my little brother with his alphabet strained my patience, so I imagined introducing kids to another language when they were just beginning to learn their own would be much worse. Fortunately, my worries were soon appeased. The teacher had endless patience and the nine children were as precocious as they were adorable. In the following months, as they learned the colors, numbers, and body parts in Chinese, I learned their favorite colors, what they wanted to be when they grew up, and what made them giggle. I discovered that working with children was as much of a trial of communications

This paper attempts to better educate general education classroom teachers about working with Chinese-speaking English Language Learner (ELL) students. The audience for this paper is teachers who do not have knowledge of Chinese language and culture or a history of working with Chinese ELLs. Through a discussion of Chinese educational culture, a comparison of Chinese and English languages, and a list of suggested teaching strategies, this author hopes to provide valuable information for classroom teachers to improve their work with Chinese ELLs. Similarities and differences between Chinese and English will be highlighted so that teachers can gain a better understanding of what will be completely new to Chinese ELL students in a United States school, and what previous knowledge these students have that they can transfer to their study of English.

Bilingualism can be viewed both positively and negatively. When bilingualism is additive a second language is added to a first without being a threat. On the other hand, when bilingualism is subtractive the L2 negatively impacts the L1 and the learner’s ethnic identity. Whether bilingualism is additive or subtractive depends on the environment in which the L2 is learned. Saville-Troike (2012) explains that the outcome of SLA depends on the sociopolitical climate and beliefs in the environment where the SLA takes place.