My Language Isn't Everyone's

Language is the key.

Growing up, this is something that was taught to me going through elementary school all the way through high school. Sure, I was exposed to Spanish class, but that was just an "elective". Speaking a different language was saved for our language classes. Anywhere else within the school was reserved for English only. Even the ESL students were reserved to one room; separated from everyone else because they consistently spoke a different language.

Why?

Like Linda Christensen says in her chapter "Language and Power", my teachers told me the same thing: in order to get a job and make it in the real world, one had to properly learn how to speak and write. Otherwise, you would never get a job.

I took this as my religion. Fear of failing in life, failing out of college because my writing and diction wasn't up to par pushed me. I worked on my grammar and said nothing else on the matter. I never even thought of my peers that were forced to leave a part of themselves behind because they had to speak proper English rather than their home language.

Language may be the key to the professional world but language is also power, and by taking away a student's home language, you are also taking away their chance to empower themselves. Schools tend to "white wash" students so that they are able to conform to the dominate society. By doing this, students have "...a disconnect between generations of language speakers and a loss of family ties, traditions, and cultural memory"(Christensen, 209). Where a person comes from is often a big part of their identity. By telling someone that the language that they use isn't proper, it can cause a lot of personal confusion and devaluation.

This makes me question, how can I teach my students in a way where I am setting them up for the professional world, but at the same time, I am showing that I value where they come from?

Here is a video I found from a documentary about using Ebonics within the classroom. It talks about how the lesson isn't teaching the language, but instead is guiding students toward the language they should be using within the classroom. Using the word "translation" instead of correcting the ebonics makes the children feel like their language is still valued because it is not being labeled as "wrong".

Language might be the key to the American world, but empowerment is the key to student success. By taking into consideration students' backgrounds in lessons, we empower them to be proud of where they come from and bring to the table what they have learned from their own cultural background.