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This I Believe

Eiica Lone
Seattle 0niveisity
EB0C S2uu
August 11, 2u14
In the couise of my stuuies to become a piofessional in the fielu of Teaching English
to Speakeis of 0thei Languages (TES0L), I have leaineu a lot about language anu social
justice. 0utlineu below aie foui beliefs that I now holu about social justice as it ielates to
my fielu. Theie aie myiiau ieasons foi these beliefs, as well as many challenges to
upholuing them. Foitunately, theie aie ceitain skills that I possess that will aiu me in the
stiuggle foi social justice in the TES0L piofession.

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Whatevei language we speak we aie all people anu we all ueseive the same basic
iights. The 0niveisal Beclaiation of Buman Rights, establisheu by the 0niteu Nations,
states that eveiybouy "has the iight to iecognition eveiywheie as a peison befoie the law"
(Aiticle 6), anu that each anu eveiy peison has the iight to euucation, to woik, anu to faii
tieatment. The 0niteu States Constitution uoes not name any official language, meaning
that eveiy language spoken in this countiy is as legitimate as the next, anu theie is no
ieason foi English to be oui only means of communication. A peison's ability to woik anu
to be piouuctive in society uoes not have to be tieu to his language. A man can fix cai
engines oi peifoim biain suigeiy just as well in Nanuaiin oi Spanish as he can in English.
It is uifficult to stanu up foi this belief because of the piejuuices anu steieotypes that
aie ingiaineu in oui society that put English language leaineis at a lowei status than native
English speakeis. Theie aie some systems in place to help ELLs, such as manuatoiy
tianslatoi seivices foi legal pioceeuings, but these uo not go fai enough. Eveiyuay life can
be uifficult foi someone who uoesn't unueistanu the announcements on public tiansit oi
can't ieau the foims in a bank. Nany of the Rights laiu out in the 0N's 0niveisal Beclaiation
aie violateu uaily in the 0.S., such as the iight to euucation, which many ELL chiluien aie
uenieu.

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Biveisity is beneficial to any society. In a society as laige as ouis, it is inevitable. A
society wheie eveiy peison hau the same iueas, uiu the same job, oi valueu the same things
woulu not woik veiy well. The same is tiue of language; in the woilu touay, a countiy that
speaks only one language will not go veiy fai. 0n an inuiviuual level, people whose
language is lookeu uown on will have lowei self-esteem anu self-woith. Since language anu
cultuie aie so intimately linkeu, when a peison loses hei native language she ultimately
loses hei native cultuie as well. In oiuei to stiive foi a just society, eveiy peison neeus to
be able to stanu up foi his oi hei iights, anu people can uo this best in the language they
best unueistanu. Theiefoie, uiveisity of language is necessaiy anu beneficial to society.
0nfoitunately, theie is a uisconnect in the Ameiican euucation system. Chiluien aie
tolu in kinueigaiten that they neeu to speak only English; when they ieach college, those
same kius aie infoimeu that they "shoulu leain anothei language because it |isj goou to be
bilingual" (Sellei & Weis, 1997). The Bilingual Euucation Act of 1968, which was supposeu
to help minoiity language stuuents be successful in euucation, has been systematically
stiippeu of its powei anu touay uoes little to nothing foi bilingual stuuents (Shoiiis, 1992).
A fuithei challenge lies in oui veiy human tiait of feaiing what we uon't unueistanu,
incluuing an unknown language spoken by a neighboi oi co-woikei.

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If I uo not stanu up foi the above beliefs in my piofessional fielu anu in eveiyuay life,
I will be guilty of complaisance in the face of injustice. The Reveienu Bi. Naitin Luthei King
}i. so abhoiieu the white moueiate who stoou by uuiing the Civil Rights Novement anu
helpeu neithei the blacks noi the extiemist whites (Rieuei, 2u1S). I woulu be like those
moueiates if I saiu nothing in answei to the linguistic uisciimination anu injustices I see in
oui society. In the TES0L piofession anu in oui society in geneial, too many people aie still
living in the past, believing that "English-only" policies aie necessaiy anu even the best way
to leain English. I have come to see the fallacy of such a belief, anu peihaps I can help
otheis see it, too. Auvocating foi the iights of English language leaineis woulu be a
piouuctive use of my piivilege as a native English speakei anu native of Ameiican society.
It is not wiong foi me to have a piivilege that was given me by chance, but it woulu be
wiong of me not to use it foi some gieatei goou.
The tiauitional ways of uoing things uo not uie easily, anu changing the English-only
teaching piactices peivasive in the TES0L fielu will be challenging. I may even enu up
woiking foi an ESL piogiam that foibius fiist language use in the classioom, at which point
I woulu have to ieconcile my peisonal beliefs with those of the piogiam. 0n a peisonal
level, speaking up anu enteiing into conflict with otheis is uifficult foi me. Even having a
conveisation about language bias anu uisciimination can be uifficult, since these aie iaiely
biought up when people talk about social injustices, wheie topics like iace, genuei, anu
sexual iuentity have the stage. Also, theie aie social stiuctuial piocesses (Young, 2u11) in
place that keep ELLs at the low enu of the socioeconomic spectium.

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In teaching ELLs fiom aiounu the woilu, theie is a two-way stieet when it comes to
cultuie. As stateu above, language anu cultuie aie tieu, anu pait of leaining a language is
leaining about the cultuie that uses it. Foi some ELLs it is the cultuie in which they now
live. Stuuents ought to leain about oui society's social justice issues, anu we shoulu leain
about the issues of theii home societies. The moie that we humans unueistanu each othei,
the less we will feai each othei. It woulu be iiiesponsible of me to not make the most use of
the oppoitunity of having people fiom multiple cultuies in the same classioom. Not to uo
so woulu again make me guilty of complaisance, of inaction in the face of injustice.
It is veiy uifficult, though, to balance cultuial sensitivity anu acceptance of
uiffeiences with talking about (much less piomoting) social justice issues like genuei
equality anu homosexuality. Some woilu cultuies have quite opposite views on such issues,
compaieu with the 0niteu States. Although I can uo my best to be sensitive to those
uiffeiences, theie is no way I can know enough about eveiy stuuent's cultuial anu societal
noims to be able to facilitate a tiuly meaningful conveisation among stuuents. That is,
when I even finu time foi such uiscussions, aftei all the iequisite giammai lessons anu
speaking assignments have been completeu. Finally, some leaineis simply may not be
inteiesteu in talking about social justice issues in class, foi one ieason oi anothei.

Theie aie many challenges to fighting foi my beliefs, yet theie aie just as many
ieasons to fight uespite the challenges. Foitunately, theie aie ceitain skills that will help
me in the piomotion of my iueals. Nulticultuial competence, which is what I am tiying to
encouiage, iequiies a uegiee of self-awaieness, of unueistanuing anu valuing of otheis, a
knowleuge of social inequities, anu an ability to inteiact effectively with a uiveisity of
people in uiffeient contexts (uoouman, 2u1S). I alieauy possess all of these skills to some
uegiee. I also have the skills neeueu foi self-uevelopment anu peisonal change, as well as a
focus on social injustices anu the powei of stuuent-centeieu teaching methous. These skills,
togethei with a stiong leaueiship potential, will be immensely useful as I woik to piomote
my social justice beliefs in the TES0L piofessional fielu.

Refeiences

____. (nu). The 0niveisal Beclaiation of Buman Rights. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.un.oigenuocumentsuuhi.

____. (nu). Constitution of the 0niteu States. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.aichives.govexhibitschaiteisconstitution_tiansciipt.html.

____. (1997). "Naintaining Bilingualism anu Cultuial Awaieness" in !"#$%& !()*+ )%&
,-./"0 1"2 3)*"4 )%& 5$.*"4 .% 6787 8*-$$(4. Sellei, N. S. & Weis, L. (eus.). New Yoik:
State 0niveisity of New Yoik.

uoouman, B. }. (Feb. S, 2u1S). "Cultuial Competency foi Social }ustice" (blog post).
Retiieveu fiom http:acpacsje.woiupiess.com2u1Su2uScultuial-competency-
foi-social-justice-by-uiane-j-goouman-eu-u.

Rieuei, }. (2u1S). 9$4:"( $; 3<""&$=0 >)</.% ?@/-"< A.%BC D<7E4 ?"//"< ;<$= !.<=.%B-)= D).(
)%& /-" 8/<@BB(" /-)/ F-)%B"& ) 1)/.$%. New Yoik: Bloomsbuiy Piess.

Shoiiis, E. (1992). "Late Entiy, Eaily Exit" in ?)/.%$4C G !.$B<):-# $; /-" H"$:(". W. W.
Noiton & Company, Inc.

Young, I. N. (2u11). I"4:$%4.J.(./# ;$< D@4/.*". 0xfoiu: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess.

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