"Where am I?"

Chapter 4 of Olsen's Made in America presents many depressing and grim views on the actual situations of ELL students in the school. The chapter, entitled "Learning the Language of America," also begins on a grim note with the inclusion of a quote from a student who enters the ESL classroom to deliver a note to the teacher and is surprised at all the different languages the students are conversing in. "Where am I?" he says. "Doesn't anyone know how to speak English? Is this some kind of foreign country?" (Olsen 91). 

This quote, in my opinion, allows for so much food for thought and reflecting on the themes of not only this chapter but on the book so far. Olsen talks at length and presents stories regarding the thought necessity of English as well as the hardships associated with it, the uncomfortable situations in both attempting to retain their native language and the gradual loss of it, the economic and political situation within the school and state regarding English language instruction and bilingual instruction, and so much more. The harsh realities revealed by Olsen were very hard for me to grasp sometimes as well as hard to think of a viable solution. The students feel that they need an American friend in order to speak English, but they also feel the need to speak English in order to have an American friend. Then, they feel disconnected and their families are upset when they lose their native language and culture, even if their English is not academic-perfect, they try so hard to learn English that their home languages are being exonerated, and it is almost like they have no language at all. They simply are confused by their identities and are clueless as to where they fut in and how changes happen. Samway addresses a myth that connects with these ideas: "Many ELLs don't speak either English or the native language well. They just don't gave much language" (Samway). Although this idea is easy to think as true, it takes a true linguist and educator to know why this is simply not true and what is going on in the children's minds when most people assume that they have no language at all. These children are able to construct something called an interlanguage, which is defined as the emerging language system in the mind of the L2 learner. Because it is taking place in the specific student's mind and is commonly a blend of their L1 and L2, it is not very comprehensible to an outsider. Instead of lacking any sort of language, the learner employs their L2 to assist them in learning the new language.

The Native Language myths presented marry well with the content of Olsen's chapter. The first myth listed is that "Teachers in English-medium classrooms should not allow students to use their native language as this will retard their English language development" (Samway). First of all, the verb 'retard'? Really? Wow. Poor PC choice there. I do not always believe it is a bad thing to allow students to use their native language at times in the classroom. In my practicum classroom, Mrs. Collins often gives instructions and clarifications to the students in Spanish because they are at such a basic level, but not to the point where it is taking away from their English language learning goal. The third myth states that "When English language learners speak in their native language in English-medium classes, they are likely to be off-task" (Samway). Although this may be a common belief for both teachers and the non-teacher civilian, there are many benefits to ESL students speaking in their native language at times, including conversing about the required tasks in class and for comprehension at a basic level, such as is the situation in my practicum experience.

It is still so hard for me to comprehend all these double entendres and complex situations that Laurie Olsen presents, and it is hard and scary to think of what we can do not only not but as future teachers when we will most likely be dealing with many of these same situations. One often wants to throw in the towel because it is so complicated with so many factors playing against each other. 

Kingsley Junior High School: First Impressions

I have successfully completed my first week of TESOL Practicum at KJHS. For reference, my weekly schedule is as follows:

Monday 7:45-9:27
Wednesday 7:45-9:27
Friday 7:45-12:27

Some background information about the setting and population of the junior high is necessary in order to understand the context that I am working in. The school enrolls a total of 1,008 students. The demographics of KJHS are 67.8% White, 13.7% Black, 6.2% multi-racial, 5.8% Asian, 5.1% Hispanic, and 0.7% Native American. There is also a 25.4% low income rate, 3.6% limited English proficient, and 14% with IEPs.


With its ethnic and language diversity, KJHS is a great place to be placed in for practicum. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the two class periods that I observe are small--only two 11 year old students. Both students are native Spanish students and are in the basic class. These 2 students are also in the section of math that is co-taught by Mrs Collins. The techniques and methods that I see being practiced in the classroom are excellent ways to scaffold the students. Since they are at the beginning level, Mrs. Collins often gives instructions and clarifications to the students in Spanish but often encourages English. Although I have not observed for many weeks in succession yet, Mrs. Collins seems to focus strongly on communicative techniques in what she is teaching. For teaching a lesson on pronouns, she had each student practice using them in sentences by taking turns asking questions and responding. I think that once I have been observing for a few more weeks in succession, I will be able to get a better grasp on the teaching style and techniques being utilized in the classroom.

Language Cartoon

I found this while browsing and thought it very relevant to complaints we hear about the inconsistency of the English language. Keep in mind that this contrasts between American English and British English, so some of the Briticized (is that a word? I just made it one) you may not be familiar with. But, as we probably know as language educators, pictures help.

Race & Demographics

Chapter 3 of Olsen's Made in America and the demographic myths presented in Samway & McKeon's Myths and Realities go hand in hand when read together. Chapter 3, titled "We Make Each Other Racial," was a very powerful chapter in Made in America due to its personal testimonies from many students about the racial makeup and relationships at their school. The students gave frank interviews and quotes about who does and does not interact with one another in the school (the information that resulted from their social mapping projects), the dilemma produced with differing ideas about racial relations, and the hardships that exist as a result of this lack of harmony between the different races of the school. These stories were really hard for me to read and understand partly because I do not come from a community with the degree of diversity that these students experience everyday. I really thought about what was meant by the quote "We Make Each Other Racial." How it resounded to me was that the ESL students' misunderstandings and insecurity about the schools they were in was founded on the unknown: because they didn't experience the racial relations first hand. That is to say, actually interact with the different groups much and that they were basing ideas on observations, as were all of the other students giving their perspective. "It's not like we choose to be with our own race, but that's who we are comfortable with and have things in common with, and kids see us and they don't approach us so it gets more and more rigid" (Olsen 78). This excerpt from one of the student interviews lays the foundation of the problem perfectly. I thought it was great that Ms. Stern's class did the social mapping project, though, because it forced them to think about the relations or lack thereof.

Samway and McKeon's first chapter of Myths and Realities presents four myths regarding demographics in relation to TESOL. They are as follows: 1) The number of students who don't speak English is decreasing. 2) Most English language learners were born outside the United States; most ELL students are recent arrivals to the United States. 3) Students who do not speak English are found only in large, urban areas. And 4) Only teachers in urban areas can expect to teach ELL students. If I have learned anything in the last two weeks, it's that with ELL students, in terms of culture and demographics, anything is fair game. There will always be a student population who does not speak English. Differing circumstances lead to US-born students  or long time residents not speaking English. Non-English speaking students are found everywhere, and teachers can expect to teach them everywhere.

Tomorrow I start my practicum experience in an ESL classroom. Reading these two sources for my past readings and thinking about critical forms of pedagogy really makes me nervous about what I am going to encounter in the ESL classes. Will the students have such fighting identities as the students in Made in America? Will the struggle with American-ness be a constant roadblock in the education of these students? Will it be anything like what I am reading? ....Find out on Friday! :o)

Made in America Discussion

After reading only two chapters of Laurie Olsen's Made in America, I can already tell that I'm going to love this book! Althought it is structured and written as an ethnography, I still found it very interesting due to all of the rich stories and interviews she includes. Olsen defines her study as an anthropological study on the design and set-up of ELL culture in the classroom. So, she is studying the behaviors and customs of the classroom as an outside observer just as an anthropologist would in the field.

Olsen brings an interesting theoretical background to the study. As the head of CA Tomorrow, she works with educational policy and defines schooling as a system of inquality--it is often a struggle between class relations, capitalist division of labor and race/language relations--again, a very anthropological theme. Olsen utilizes standard ethnographic research methods of developing social maps, engaging with teachers and students to get specific quotations and insights, and engaging teachers and students to make their own social maps that discuss cultural, racial, and language divisions. The participants in Olsen's research are "fifteen faculty members and administrators at Madison High and seven at the Newcomer School" (Olsen 19). Forty-seven students took part in Olsen's research. Additionally, she selected ten female students and five teachers to focus on in more depth.

The research questions and central questions explored by Olsen included:
-How did they understand "America"? What does it mean to be "American"?
-What borders and boundaries did they create or detect in social relations? What language did they use to articulate and create those borders and boundaries?
-How did they experience and view their encounters with each other across languages, cultures, and national identities?

The resources that Olsen used to collect data were her three journals: one story, one field, and one personal. She collected data through observation. Her role as a researcher was mainly to sit back and observe, but at times she was drawn in or jumped into the experience. The demographic of Madison High School is a very diverse one: in the 1990s, 2/5 students were language minority students and 1 out of every 4 students spoke no English at all. 53 different languages were spoken between all students in the school. As far as individual percentages, 26.1% were Hispanic, 13.5% African American, 13.3% Asian, 11.1% Filipino, and 2.4% Pacific Islander.

Finally, getting specifically into the students' experiences in chapter 2, something that struck me as interesting in immigrants' attitudes towards their clothing was that although one ESL student stated that the American students wear whatever they want and make fun of the native clothing, they also made fun of a Brazilian student for wearing a dress. I would think that the students would be used to wearing dresses or do that more commonly instead of often wearing pants and shirts like is mentioned. It is awful how the ESL students thinks that they will call her a slut for wearing a dress and walking while shaking her hips.

The ESL students' notions of what it means to be American are interesting to the American but also very understandable. Being American represents a lot of freedom to the foreign students: in their cultures, maybe they are not allowed as much freedom of interest or dress, as is one student whose uncles forbids her to wear jeans. They enjoy having fun, playing loud music, and "like to be in the middle of things." An interesting observation that one student makes is that "Americans have very good conditions about education but they don't want it" (Olsen 49).