Rodrigeuz, and Collier

I had a lot of trouble reading through Aria. I understand that Rodrigeuz is saying that in the process of gaining to become an English speaker, he feels he is losing part of his home culture. He says that when “English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents” (37). I understand he felt he was losing a part of himself, But I don’t know how to fix that. I don’t want to sound mean, but in America, we speak English, and I don’t really know how to say, don’t lose your culture, but learn ours too.

In Colliers piece, one quote stuck out to me the most. She says that “Educators have tended to blame the language variety and/or home environment for a child’s lack of success in school” (226). I agree with her. It is not a child’s fault because they have another first language, or they have an accent, nor is it the write of the teacher to blame anyone for it. The job of the teacher is not to blame, but to educate. It really bothers me when teachers pull stuff like this, and just say, lets just make it to the end of the year, and then it’s not my problem. The only that does is tell multilingual children that their teachers don’t care about them or their culture, or education.