Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h83KAs714418; Wed, 3 Sep 2003 16:10:54 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 16:10:54 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <000001c37257$50556200$1a01a8c0@cccchs.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Sylvan Rainwater" <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9387] RE: Resentment X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4510 Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2922 Lines: 56 It may be true that the natives of a country develop resentment toward the immigrant, but it's interesting that the perception is that it's because they "refuse to learn the language." None of the people I work with is refusing to learn the language. All of them want to learn English. One question that could be asked is "what exactly is the language of [this] country?" That's the question the English-only crowd is trying to address. They are trying to change reality. The reality is that there are many languages spoken in this country, and that has always been true. English is the predominate language spoken, and that's not likely to change any time soon. But that's not good enough for some. I suspect that the resentment is coming from other things, like the fact that these people can be identified as different, and the fact that they are perceived as being "unwilling to change" (i.e., to become "like us," whatever that is). This has been called fascism on this list. I would call it racism. They are certainly related, and maybe it could be called both things. Maybe it doesn't matter what it's called. It's acceptable these days to say "English-only," which is often a code for "white only," which is not acceptable any more. I would agree that resentment toward the immigrant is a problem. But it's interesting that the immigrant is being blamed for causing the resentment, when it's not coming from the immigrant at all. Immigrants often do try to do everything asked of them, including learning English, and I don't notice that it really alleviates the resentment much. One more factor that has been only lightly touched upon -- literacy. Many of the people we work with are of low-literacy levels in their native language. This makes it a lot harder to learn a new language. Usually there's a need to reinforce reading/writing skills in the native language while beginning to teach English conversation and gradually move into English reading/writing. If you try to spring both English reading/writing and conversation on an immigrant who can barely read and write in his/her own language, you are setting everyone up to a lot of frustration. It's a long, slow process. ------- Sylvan Rainwater mailto:sylvan@cccchs.org Program Managaer Family Literacy Clackamas Co. Children's Commission / Head Start Oregon City, OR USA -----Original Message----- From: nifl-esl@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-esl@nifl.gov] On Behalf Of ttweeton Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:59 AM <SNIP>However, consider this fact, don't you think that the natives of these country develop resentment towards the immigrant , who from their point of reference, refuses to learn the language? Isn't this the problem? Resentment towards the immigrant?? I am not sure that it is a wise idea to reinforce the fact that it is ok to live in ANY country and not find it expedient to learn the language of that country. <SNIP>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Mar 11 2004 - 12:16:23 EST