Blog#2 Lisa Delpit’s “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children” (Quote - Connection)
“Children have the right to their own language, their own culture.”
This quote resonated with me in many different levels and aspects of my profession and my own life.
Therefore, from my perspective of a foreign student and a teacher of mostly Hispanic students, I had
many connections to the text and I concluded that I agree with the correlation of teacher-student cultural
language alignment and instructional efficacy.
As a college student and newly second language learner (as the example of the Native American college
student girl), I have struggled to find help on learning not only the language, but also the “Formal English”
necessary during my college years. As a result, I was left alone on that journey, yet inspired and pushed by
my cultural background of relentless strive for achievement.
Once I became a teacher in my own country, I had the privilege to teach children with whom I shared the
same language and culture. On the other hand, within the culture there is also diversity due to
socioeconomic status, which in turn was somewhat of a challenge and as the author mentioned in this
reading, required open heart and open mind to serve this children in the best possible way.
A couple of years ago I moved to the USA and I have been teaching in a bilingual setting in my own
language to a mostly Hispanic population. In this scenario, my students and I share a cultural language
up to some degree and although there is a wide cultural language diversity within the Hispanic population,
we still share many aspects of the Hispanic culture that add on to the instructional efficacy. Some examples
of cultural similarities are; being family oriented, focused on relationships, culture of respect, traditional
gender roles and the struggles of biculturalism among others.
Bicultural Identity Struggles – TEDxSHSU
Latino Culture and Cultural Values Video
Finally, one other connection that I had with the text is the fact that in my class we often explore different
Spanish dialects that enriches the students’ appreciation for a variety of linguistic forms, help students
practice tolerance for linguistic diversity, help them acquire knowledge of other cultures, help students to
distinguish and handle languages, dialects and language register, nourishing the flexibility to interchange
their language depending on the environment, which is preparing them to succeed in the larger society.
Alejandra, thank you for sharing your personal account and how you personally connected with Delpit's ideas. It is powerful to hear about your experience in teaching, as so many teachers only have to deal with pursuing certification or managing their students. To know how much you have overcome to be where you are is humbling. I really appreciated the last connection that you shared about dialects. I think that creating those touch points of cultural diversity and steering the conversation in a direction that includes all walks of life is an important initiative. I think it also helps to show just how complex language can seem, but at the end of the day, we are all trying to communicate the same basic needs.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra, this was a great post. We don't often think about the layers of diversity not only in our communities, but also within our classrooms. I like that you are able to connect with Spanish speaking students while recognizing the different dialects.
ReplyDeleteAs an English speaking person, I do understand the varying dialects of English and how proper English can be so difficult at times.
Thank you for sharing!!