CUIN 4361 Vblog Post #2
I interviewed an adult who learned English as a second language in the U.S. public school system for VBlog Entry 2. I chose to interview my dad, Jesus Mario Moreno, who attended an elementary school in Roma, TX. I started the interview in English, but we did do a few of the questions in Spanish as well. My initial question was “What is your native language?” My father’s response was “my first language is Spanish I do speak, read, write Spanish. I also speak, read, and write in English.” When did you start learning English and how did you learn it? My father responded with “I remember while in elementary school my teacher teaching us phonics and I remember the teacher teaching us the ABC phonics song.” I then asked my father if there were any factors that have positively influenced your English language development and if there were any obstacles?” My father stated that while living here in the United States and going to elementary school in Roma, TX there was a time in which my father’s dad and mom both wanted different things. While my father’s dad, my grandfather, wanted to move back to Mexico, my grandmother wanted to stay in the United States. Unfortunately for my father, his mother, and his siblings, since his father was the main provider for the family, he ultimately made the decision for the family, and everyone was moved back to Mexico. Later however, my father returned to the United States, picking up where he left off, going back to school and continued to learn English. My next question discussed the law, No Child Left Behind, I asked my father, in 2002 former president George W. Bush passed a law called No Child Left Behind, in which he labeled non-English speaking students as “Limited English Proficient” how do you feel about that? My father had a surprising answer, where I feel that the label of “limited English Proficient” feels like it has a negative connotation, my father answered that “I don’t think they were trying to label the children in a bad way I think they were trying to help them learn English.” He felt that they were helping students by identifying them so that they could find these students and put them into language instruction classes. My dad agreed, stating that “these children come from another country, they don’t know nothing, that’s the way I see it, that’s the way that I feel.” I was surprised by his answer, I had never really thought of the label in this way. My father felt that by identifying these children/students as limited in English that now teachers and the schools would know that these students were the ones that need help in learning English so now aid could be given to those students. After I interviewed my dad in English, I also wanted to interview him in his native language to make him feel more comfortable with the process. I did notice in asking the same questions that my dad did add a little bit more personal details when answering in Spanish. I think that this is because he was more comfortable talking in his native language and felt that he could articulate better.
While reflecting on the interview with my dad, Jesus Mario Moreno, I have come to realize that he attended elementary school in Roma, TX during the time of Title VII Bilingual Education Act passed by former president Lyndon B. Johnson (Wright, 2019, p. 74) and attended school between the year 1973 – 1979. The Title VII Bilingual Education Act was in effect from 1968 – 2002 as stated by Wright “within the context of the civil rights movement, educators and policymakers became more sensitive to the needs of the rapidly growing language minority student population” (2019, p. 74). Additionally, “Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas introduced a bill to provide federal funding for school districts to support bilingual education programs. His bill eventually became the 1968 Bilingual Education Act and entered federal law as Title VII of the [Elementary and Secondary Education Act]” (Wright, 2019, p. 74). This program was in effect for 34 years and it “establishes federal policy for bilingual education for economically disadvantaged language minority students, allocates funds for innovative programs, and recognizes the unique educational disadvantages faced by non-English speaking students” (LPAC: Language Proficiency Assessment Committee, 2007) and it was reauthorized five times to meet the needs of the students, parents, and teachers, it worked. It was also made originally to develop the Spanish surnamed students to learn English but then it was “called for inclusion of all children of limited English-speaking ability” (Wright, 2019, p. 75). Even though, my dad only attended an elementary school in the United States, he can speak, read, and write in English very well. He never attended middle school or even high school, so that shows he was determined to learn English in that most of his learning of the language occurred in those few elementary school years with educators. He had great teachers that took their job seriously and taught their young non-English-speaking students to speak, read and write in English well. In the interview, my dad mentions that there were some differences of opinion when it came to living here in the U.S. between his mom, Mirthala, and his dad, Jesus Mario. In the end, my grandmother separated from my late grandfather, and relocated back to the U.S. where my dad continued his elementary education. Due to financial hardships my father at a young age began working in a mechanic shop with a family member to help support the family. That was when he stopped attending public education, but he continued to use his English language and nurture his learning.
In the interview during the last question, I had failed to provide my father with the background information about the Title VII Bilingual Education Act. If he had this information beforehand, he would have had an opportunity to compare both programs. I feel that even though my father felt that NCLB was a good program to identify those limited English proficient students to get them aid in learning the language, I felt, and agree with the Wright book in that ultimately this program had “unrealistic expectations, and overreliance on high stake tests ended up causing more harm than good” (2019, p. 76). After the interview I did discuss these programs with my father and informed him of what I had learned in this class and in reading the Wright book. He now sees my opinion and the opinion of others, the Wright book, and it has opened his eyes to new processes and programs that are better for students. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and getting to discuss these ideas with my father.
Bibliography
LPAC: Language Proficiency Assessment Committee. (2007). Retrieved from TEA: Texas Education Agency: https://www.txel.org/lpac/chronologyfederalstatelaw/#:~:text=The%20Bilingual%20Education%20Act%2C%20Title,disadvantages%20faced%20by%20non%2DEnglish
Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy and Practice (Vol. 3rd edition). Philadelphia: Caslon.
