Blog #4 for Antonio & Delfinio

First, I have thoroughly enjoyed the reading of this book. The tale of the Mennonite drug cartel in the Epilogue was mind-boggling . . . well, on to the prompt for this last blog.

In the small high school where I teach, I am not an ELL teacher, but I have had ELL students in English or in study hall. One young man in particular, I remember from study hall. Most students do not expect to be disliked by their teachers, but this kid did. He had very limited English and was dating a very pretty caucasion young woman. She would try to help him with his homework, but when she was "stumped," she would ask me to help him. He was pretty beligerant at first. It wasn't long before I found out why. In the course of helping these two in study hall each day, they told me quietly of how they were made fun of for dating each other. The young man, in particular, had few friends. I became aware of the fact that the caucasion students made the Spanish-speaking ELL students feel as if they thought the ELL students were not as bright as they were, and any dark-skinned immigrant student was automatically involved in gangs or drugs. This young ELL student was a really sweet, smart young man. But, his existence in school was not the same as the kids who grew up in this small town. It wasn't anything as obvious as in the book where the Spanish-speaking kids played soccer, and the caucasion kids played football. On the surface, it might look like this ELL student had the same existence as everyone else: he had friends; he attended classes; he attended pep rallies; he had a girlfriend, etc. But there was one world for caucasion students and another for immigrant ELL students who were made to feel "not quite as good" as their monolingual, caucasion friends.

I had not seen this particular young man in years, but not long ago, while standing outside a grocery store in the next town over waiting for my husband to pick me up, I couldn't help but notice a young man staring as if he knew me as a smile literally bloomed on his face. He came up and hugged me and called me by name. At that moment, I remembered his name - it's been years since he graduated. He told me he was working and had recently married and was expecting his first child. He was so proud of all he's accomplished since graduation. I asked if he was now or had been studying at a college or tech school . . . but it was apparent pretty quickly that he did not consider that important. I reminded him how bright he was in high school and that I thought that if he ever decided he wanted to go back to school, I knew he had it in him to be able to do it and succeed. However, I told him I was very happy for his success with his job and rejoiced with him as he showed me a picture of his new bride.

As teachers, I think we need to be aware of introducing ELL students to other students, especially really outgoing students who are willing to include others and are not cliquish. One way to do this inconspicuously is to be sure we incorporate small group work where kids are made to work with people outside their immediate group of regular friends. But, this is just one small way of trying to aid in the dissolving of the "dual existence." In working on projects, the students have to communicate and it's a lot easier to be drawn into someone's personality and see that person for who they are & not for the label they happen to wear because of the particular school culture. As teachers, students need to see us as excited to get to know all our students, and they need to see that we find them all fascinating, that we don't play favorites or play into stereotypes.