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1) She's an idiot for saying "Speak American." She should have at least said, "American English"... though our English is about as trash as that Spanish spoken in the Caribbean.
2) If you are a foreigner in the US, and in an close working environment - school or work - where you actually know English and have co-workers or co-students around you who only speak English or don't speak your particular language...the proper, polite and decent thing to as a human being is to speak in English.
Immigrants have more responsibilities and duties toward their new country than vice versa. Its' rude and alienating.
The stereotype used to be "ugly Americans" abroad being loud and brash and speaking English everywhere. But in America, we get the ugly immigrant stereotype. As a first generation individual with family that is ESOL, it's amazing to watch the same crowd that complains of being other-ized and being seen as not American by the general populace take every opportunity to assert their otherness and not-Americanness whenever its convenient.
Being humiliated and forced to is different than being encouraged to and wanting to. How would you know anyway? You weren't alive, or you were too young to remember
That was the practice in previous generations students were sometimes shamed into speaking English and their heritage was mocked but it didn't stop there they were also in some cases "corrected" on how to properly pronounce and spell their own surnames to make them more Anglicized. There was a concerted effort to forcefully assimilate and shame people into being "proper Americans" in previous generations. The arrogance of superiority was unbelievable and you can still see remnants of it is some of the posts on this thread.
Being humiliated and forced to is different than being encouraged to and wanting to. How would you know anyway? You weren't alive, or you were too young to remember
There are zero Spanish speakers in America today who are FORCED or HUMILIATED into speaking English against their will.
Zero Spanish speakers who didn't move to the United States on their own free will. Nobody alive today is forced to live in the US, and it's super easy to move if you don't like it. In fact, people throughout history with far less options and resources have left their homes and set off into the unknown so NOBODY is stuck here. NOBODY.
The ONLY spanish speakers who would have a potential gripe about being "forced" to Speak English would be the very few whose families were the original Spanish-Mexican families who found themselves this side of the Rio Grande after the war.
Only 9% of Mexican-Americans can trace their ancestry back as such, and something tells me they've been well integrated into the US for... oh... 150 years or so. I'd venture many have long ago lost Spanish language proficiency.
There are zero Spanish speakers in America today who are FORCED or HUMILIATED into speaking English against their will.
Zero Spanish speakers who didn't move to the United States on their own free will. Nobody alive today is forced to live in the US, and it's super easy to move if you don't like it. In fact, people throughout history with far less options and resources have left their homes and set off into the unknown so NOBODY is stuck here. NOBODY.
The ONLY spanish speakers who would have a potential gripe about being "forced" to Speak English would be the very few whose families were the original Spanish-Mexican families who found themselves this side of the Rio Grande after the war.
Only 9% of Mexican-Americans can trace their ancestry back as such, and something tells me they've been well integrated into the US for... oh... 150 years or so. I'd venture many have long ago lost Spanish language proficiency.
You have no way of determining this so your claim is a lie.
The teachers behavior is ridiculous and very disrespectful of their culture, she's trying to shame them into speaking English by saying "speak American". So Stupid!
Exactly, the clear implication from the teacher is that Americans don't speak Spanish, which is not true and is an appallingly racist thing for a teacher to say to students.
You have no way of determining this so your claim is a lie.
I can absolutely determine that 99.9% of people living within the borders of the USA - where it has been common knowledge for 200 years that English is the common tongue of business and government - are here VOLUNTARILY and on their own accord. Therefore, they are not FORCED to speak English, because they signed onto THAT social compact by deciding to move here in the first place.
Even the Puerto Ricans can stay on the Island if they don't want to speak English. But once they hop to the mainland. Well, time to learn it. It's not only how immigrants speak with Americans.... but also how immigrants of different backgrounds speak to EACH OTHER.
If you are an immigrant and you move to another country, you're a damned idiot if you cry about having to speak the language of the land. I mean, honestly, what kind of dummy are you to think you need to be accommodated? We accommodate because we are NICE ENOUGH to do it. And tons of immigrants who don't come from a major linguistic group NEVER get accommodation the way Spanish speakers do.
Honestly, just leave if you don't like it. There's a line 100 years long of people behind you who WILL respect the culture and language of this country that MAKES it an immigration DESTINATION as compared to somewhere people have to LEAVE.
We went through this in the workplace.... and what was said, was... It was not good manner to speak in a different language for the purpose of preventing others from understanding what is being said.
It did not prevent people from speaking Spanish, but it did make the recommendation as a policy, that "IF and As" communication relates to work process, that the English Language is to be used for communication, for effective communication about work matters and for the safety of every ones understanding what is being communicated.
IF people used a second language to ridicule or make unflattering and/or condescending commentary about others or the group, it was inappropriate conduct in the work place, and promotes workplace dissension, that could lead to a hostile work environment.
I worked in China and often had to communicate things to the workers, and I'd find Chinese who spoke english, and ask them to translate it to the group.
I work in Los Angeles, with many Spanish as 1st language people, and some items of concerns, I would ask a person who was fluent in both language, to translate something in Spanish to ensure "the context" of what was being communicated was fully understood.
Point being: There is a way to do things, without doing things in ways where people can likely interpret it as being "a slight" against human differences.
1st in a classroom, a Teacher can give instruction of "No Talking" among the classmates during Class Presentations.
As to the address of "language differences"... If that is to be address regarding "side bar conversation between students", there is a way to address it, under the point and premise of "ethic and manners". But first, find out the proficiency difference between those who are engaging conversation, "were they translating something in another's 1st language so the other party in the exchange could better understand the context?
If they are talking after being instructed not to talk during presentation, then whether they engage in English or Another Language, they are "by act" disrupting the class proceeding, by "Talking among class mates when instructed not to do so during class presentations and/or assigned class work. If it was a situations where a class members did not understand a point or factor, the student has the responsibility to raise their hand to be acknowledged and address their concerns to the teachers, and at that time, if the teacher finds challenge in conveying the response in English, they may inquire if it would be suitable if they can ask a dual language student to translate the information.
Classrooms are a work process... it is not only dispensing of tech focused structural information, it is a process of helping students learn how to conduct themselves in a broad group with many character and cultural variances. It takes patience.
Students are no different than adults... many times when people "don't" understand something, they may "act out" in some form or manner, because we as a society, have a historical habitual irregularity of "making fun of", as in "ridiculing" people when they don't know what others think and assume they should know, in the context others may expect them to know.
This has to be very well understood to effectively and efficiently conduct a class room teaching sessions, when a grouping of people, including those who may not have English as a 1st language.
"Communication is a great gift, and the more we develop the patience to learn better how to engage and utilize it, the better it becomes for all, in the usage of the great gift of "communication".
I find on a personal level, great appreciation for any people who can speak multiple languages, whether fluently or not, the appreciations includes the act and effort to speak with ability to do so in multiple languages.
I recall how the terms "Spanglish" was often used to reference people who mixed their communication with English and Spanish... and often their communications would be somewhat "fragmented" or "broken and intertwined with parts of both languages"... Others ridiculed many who spoke as such.
I found that it was not something to ridicule, the point was, to try to understand what they were conveying.
Many times, people would come and ask... "how do you say various things in English" after they had made an attempt using a mixture of both languages. They were quite pleased when they were assisted. They were also willing and even eager to help English speaker learn various words in Spanish. I would too ask them, "how do I say certain things in Spanish".
There is a beauty of learning communication and communicating in ways that can improve much as referenced above, in classroom conduct, and manner and tact in how to address certain things. We have a society where the history in America is filled with biases among cultures and ethnicities, and then when it comes to "youth", they are from all these cultures and ethnicities, and each is establishing themselves in terms of their individualism, and their culture, ethnicity and heritage elements are of much importance to them as they learn how to identify and place themselves within such a diverse society.
For a School... it may be less about a "direct harsh reprimand of the Teacher, but more an Address unto the Teacher and a Conference WITH the students to discuss DIVERSITY, Ethics and Manners in a Diverse Environment, while also addresing School Policies and Teacher Instructions and Students Class Room Manner.
It's a "Teachable Moment" !!!!!!! We should as a society, not pass up the moment to make it so.
Often the "Drama and Spin" overtake the awareness to see an "Opportunity" to Expand Our Abilities to Learn Each Others, and move past the Historical impacts and inferences from a long History of Bias and Bigotry, Racism, Cultural Disregard and the ramifications from a society that spent 100 yrs promoting segregationist ideology.
Last edited by Chance and Change; 10-19-2017 at 08:58 AM..
I always crack up when provincial people cite multiple language options on an ATM as a sign of their oppression as an English speaker. Have they ever travelled to another country and used an ATM?
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