Voices and Silences: Language is Power : Week 4

Aria

By: Richard Rodriguez

In this story, Richard faces a difficulty in school, specifically with language. The first language he learned was Spanish but the nuns were determined to force him to learn English since this school believed in bilingual education.  I believe the way the nuns tackled the situation was not exactly the best, every student is different in the way they comprehend material in class and how it is taught. His brother and sisters took to it much more easily than he did but that is completely find because everyone learns at different rates of time.

 It was easy to see that Richard was not a fan of learning English even though its important to know this language. Despite that i do not agree with the nuns actions. They seemed very forceful as one nun said, "Richard stand up. Don't look at the floor speak up. Speak to the entire class, not just me!" The nuns never asked how Richard felt, he stated to himself that "without question it would have pleased me to hear my teacher address me in Spanish when i entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid. I would have responded with ease." This type of teacher student relationship does not work well as i can say i have been in this kind of situation a couple of times before.

They are very uncomfortable and gives a harsh environment to attempt to learn in. 

My first encounter occurred  in fourth grade. My teacher  had began a new unit in math class, which was computing long division. The idea of working with numbers terrified me already since my dyslexia loomed over me significantly at that time. We first learned one way to understand this concept, i found it very difficult to find the answers which caused anxiety to arise. My mom became very worried so my teacher had my aid and i work on this together in a separate room. During this time my aid had asked me why i was having so much trouble, i simply said that i did not understand this specific approach. As a result she showed me another way to solve this type of problem and by the end of our time together a light bulb inside went off. I was overjoyed and so proud of myself. 

The next day i had stayed in the class during math. I did my math assignment using the new approach and i did not think anything of it until my teacher gave me such a hard time as she noticed i did not use her way to solve the problems. I was almost to pieces by the time i went home. My teacher was being unfair just as the nuns had been when they went to Richard's house to speak to his parents. They said that English should improved upon in the house but in the kind of tone that meant you should never use your spanish language around them anymore. Its a lot to ask children to forget a part of them because each part is important. Richards language is part of his culture. While in my position my learning style could not be altered because its how i adapt to learning since i cope with a disability. My mom had gone  into school to give my teacher a piece of her mind. I had to learn to what was expected of me but what my teacher could not see was the fact that in many cases some ways are not always best for everyone's learning style. Overtime it improved, and she showed us the way i liked as a way that was okay to use in class.

Comments:

We are made different for a purpose so if we learn differently that is not a problem, its a part of what makes us different.

"I am a part of a school of fish where i comprehend material differently but it is all about seeing each other eye to eye or fin to fin."