The Importance Of Language As A Tool For People

Language is an object that is central to human lives as it is perhaps the most significant cultural tool that separates humans from any other species (Evans, 2014). As language is multimodal, it is often described as a combination of words, sounds, gestures and images created by the mind, used in context with the assistance of objects, actions and interactions (Gee & Hayes, p. 7, 2011). The topics discussed in this essay will demonstrate the importance of language as both an object and as a social process, as a teacher’s approach to diversity in the classroom can be either damaging to a student’s educational experience or uplifting and positive.

While reflecting on what culture to choose for my cultural immersion project, I thought about the many different areas we have reviewed in this course. There were several groups/areas that would not apply to me simply because of my own family and my gender. I thought about my own cultural background and belief system and which area I was the least culturally knowledgeable. I wanted to learn something new and grow during the immersion process. During the course of this paper, I will be looking at some stereotypes (both negative and positive) about this particular culture, language differences between homosexual populations and heterosexual populations, my observations of the group and my thoughts on the cultural immersion experience. I chose the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (LGBTQ) community because, to the best of my knowledge, I do not have any family members of friends who identify with any of these categories. I have had coworkers or classmates that identify in this way, so I feel like I have always been tolerant, but I have never been close with anyone who is LGBTQ.

Sex and gender play a big part in american society today and are often misconstrued. These two topics have become progressive as people are starting to express their gender and sexuality in ways other than what is and has been considered the norm. Many people believe that sexuality and gender are synonymous with one another. Gender is socially constructed while sex is biologically determined. In society’s past, Americans often strayed away from discussing controversial topics, but with the rise of different ways of addressing people, it is deemed more important to understand. Along with the blurred lines of gender and sex comes sexuality, who someone is attracted to sexually. When people stray from society’s heteronormative mindset, they are often faced with many more challenges than the average hetero man or woman. People often have the preconceived notion that if something does not concern them, then they should not be involved in it. A person who could be your neighbor, co worker, or even child, may have to deal with the troubles of people confusing their gender identity with their sex. While also facing challenges that deal with the sex of the person they choose to love. Learning the difference between gender and sexuality will open the eyes of many people and see how the two are different but relate to one another very much.

Through the personal stories depicted in “The Alumni Interview” by David Levithan and The Vagina Monologues, the authors reveal that societies built heteronormativity force people, especially women and LGBT members, to suppress who they really are and hide their true identities, therefore, causing them to experience traumatic and hurtful situations that should never happen in today’s world. Thom must keep his true identity from his father because he is very afraid of what his reaction to him will be when he finds out that he is gay. Thom knows that his father is not a very accepting man, and because Mr. Wright tries all the time to get Thom to date a girl, he knows his father will not accept him as he is. Thom in not into the norm of liking girls, he likes boys and Mr. Wright sees that as wrong and won’t embrace who he is. As Ian talks to Mr. Wright, he thinks, Don’t you know how wrong it is when you wave a twenty-dollar bill in front of your son and tell him that when he gets a girlfriend, you’ll be happy to pay for the first date?

Growing up I was spoon fed ideas. I was taught a countless number of things were right, while the ugly things were wrong. My childhood is a conservative blur of standing in a corner with my nose on a wall and watching VHS tapes of Green Acres. Every memory I have pre high school is filled with Irish Catholic white people never willing to admit gay people exist. Before high school I never realized how sheltered my life was until I was drowning in this new, beautiful, multicolored world. Looking back, I was unwilling to embrace this change, but I was focused into it and because of this I am greatly pleased I did. The only reason why I am sharing this personal scenario is because my experience in this class has been similar; what I thought was normal and right became challenged and was torn open to new concepts and ideas, leaving me more educated and glad that it happened.

These chapters enlightened me on three areas about education. The first area, is the thin line that educators must walk with regards to religion. This is because as educators we have to protect the religious tolerance of every student within the public school system. For instance, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in several cases about religious freedom versus secular teachings (Koppelman, 2015, p. 153). Likewise, these chapters also shined light onto the struggle between males and females, and the fact that within our society we do not give equal support to the genders. This means that males are often giving leeway to do things that females are not. With that notion in mind, these chapters also revealed the struggle that goes on between students of different sexual orientations, and the fact that too often LGBTQ issues are not discussed or these students feel left out. For example, schools often engage in heterosexual assumption, and depict homosexuality as disgusting and devious (Koppelman, 2015, p. 264).

However, because heteronormativity has been “neutralized” in society, it is difficult to change the views of many. (176). By breaking down heteronormativity, acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ individuals may create a smooth transition. For example, the authors propose to educate students, teachers and parents on LGBTQ and heteronormativity. By creating a well rounded educational experience, children will learn to become more accepting at home and at school. Altogether, society must restructure its political views to create an inclusive and open minded set for the people living in

During this study I have had the privilege of looking into a student's life on the University of Northern Colorado campus and their overall reaction to the political climate on campus and the social interactions with the Gender and Sexuality Center that is located on campus. One of the main people that I have focused on is named Sergio Munoz who identifies as Gay in the spectrum of sexuality and also as a student of color. His experiences is a fresh breath of air that can be too much to take, along side with him is his friend Michelle Jackson who in this journey gives an interesting point of view when it comes to being straight, but interacting solely inside

My identity relating to sexual identity was pretty set before coming into this course. I knew even from a kid I was straight, because I was constantly looking at guys as well as talking about how cute they were. Nonetheless, I followed the pretty stereotypical roles of a girl growing up. I played with dolls and loved pink and anything with glitter really. When I was younger, my knowledge about sexual

This class focused on sexuality, gender roles, and gender expectation and how it is all related. All of these we discussed are a big part of human sexuality. We talked about how gender roles are put on a person before he or she is even actually born. Gender roles are established as soon as we are assigned a gender by color. If you are a boy more than likely you are going to be associated with baby blue. If you are a girl on the other hand you are identifies as pink.

2). As sexual minority students progress throughout their K-12 careers they are exposed to negative attitudes, language, and further marginalization of their non-heterosexual identities (p. 4). Likewise, even in districts that do not explicitly prohibit sexual minority orientations in curricula, there is potential for myth and misinformation to percolate (p. 4). Further, given that an estimated 10% of the school age population will potential grow up to identify as a sexual minority individual, there is grave potential harm to these students when a negative school climate towards LGBT orientations is fostered (p.

I never take part in an open discussion about gay, transgender, and other types of sexual orientation. The only public discussion about this matter that I am used to is the unpleasant comment of my parents ' or my Pastor’s comments. I remember thinking that is going to be so strange to talk about sexual orientation in class. However, I cannot deny that I learn a lot from the subject in class. I receive a kind of knowledge that I didn 't expect. Being part of the class discussions and reading a book by Lauren Myracle open my eyes in many ways, which I will explain later on. I was surprised to find out that the world is not so much black and white anymore. Of course, I am not saying that I didn 't know about lesbian and gay people before. I am saying that other types of families are becoming more and more popular around the world. Believe me, I know that homosexual people are everywhere and they are normal people like us. They are people with a quest to make the world know that they are “normal” like every on else. Let me explain what I learn.

Annually, there is a Boys vs. Girls rally on my campus where the two genders go head-to-head. I sat, watching gender be portrayed as binary, rather than a spectrum comprised of varied identities. I watched the festivities exclude anyone who did not fit neatly into preconceived notions about what it meant to be male or female. Students were divided into opposing sides of the gym as men were portrayed as brainless athletes and women as lascivious objects. I wanted to despise my peers for their narrow perceptions, but I also knew that they never had the opportunity to know better. Our minds were filled with what it meant to be male, female, gay, straight, weird or normal upon entering high school. We entered with social perceptions irrevocably altered by how

I feel like I learned a lot from this course. I think, overall, this course was very eye-opening and made me understand, and want to better understand, issues involving gender and how they effect society. I would say the one of the most important pieces of information I learned was just how much the idea of gender and gender roles influences everyday life. I had never really thought too much about the determents of gender or traditional masculine and feminine ideals before this class, and how we as a society promote and encourage the belief that a person’s gender or sex creates different innate, natural attitudes and attributes. Learning about how important society’s views of gender is, and how it affects the way we learn and think, makes me look at our culture in a different way. For example, before this class I never realized how much women are objectified and put under intense Photoshop in advertisements. This better understanding of the way society is helps me take a step back and look at our culture in a different way, and allows me to become more aware of the issues surrounding gender, sex, and the ideals of masculinity and femininity.

This essay analyses the role of the language in colonized land by English empire. More in specific, how the colonial and post-colonial poems dealing with this powerful tool which is ‘language’. I will take in consideration Derek Wolcott. Drawing thought two of his poems, I am going to point out the way he uses ‘language’,