Becoming Something Different

When going through this reading it seemed to be the same story I had read before in other readings. It was talking about a child growing up and learning in a school system that did not appreciate the cultural differences that the child had. This reading immediately connected me to our former readings by Kozol and Rodriguez. All dealing with children that do not speak English as a first language. We are introduced to Esme Martinez who is learning the english language and developing to be proficient in her second language. She is unable to learn at the speed she wishes and finds herself constantly frustrated with the level of work she can do. But on the same token she is unable to express herself in the only way that she knows.

One of the differences that I saw in this rather than in the previous readings. Her parents were more understanding and did what they could in order to help and motivate her. While being in school she was trying more and more to let go of what she knew and try and learn new things about her American culture that she was trying to figure out in Middle School. She refers to herself as an American and tries to lose that Mexican heritage in school. She speaks as little Spanish as possible when she is outside of school and at home.

I think that schools truly make a difference in the way people act at home. If they have a teacher that will not give up on them and help them. I think that ESL classrooms always help students to better their learning. ESL classrooms let children be themselves while learning how to speak the language. In my elementary school that I visit weekly there are ESL classrooms and children in my room leave for about an hour a day just to go with the ESL teachers.

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/advantages-pull-out-esl-classes-18279.html