Teaching Bilinguals and Aria (Argument)

     Both videos, Teaching Billinguals episodes 1,2, and 5, and Aria by Richard Rodriguez discuss similar concepts and have identical arguments that are made. In Aria, Rodriguez talks about his experiences in school during his younger years and how speaking Spanish affected him. Rodriguez felt that there was a disadvantage when he was not being taught his family's language. When he was young, he left that teachers addressing him in English were more intimidating since the English language was new to him and had so many different tones of voice being used. He wished that teachers could address him in his own language and be able to speak in Spanish. Rodriguez’s family was asked to speak English at home to get him used to English in the school setting. If I was Richard’s parents I would have been very offended and would not have made that commitment but I do understand why Rodriguez’s parents obliged and thought it was best for him. I would argue that under no circumstance should a school community force students and families to do anything outside of school and especially in their own homes.

        The Teaching bilinguals videos showed me the importance of speaking different languages in the classroom especially reading the end of Aria, I saw how it affected Rodriguez when he did not speak Spanish and how sad it was because of the changes he had to face. Rodriguez described it as a “painful reminder of the change in his life” and saw how comfortable his father was speaking Spanish and was able to express his ideas and feelings more comfortably. He felt that giving up Spanish was “losing his individuality” and I would never want to do that to my future students or students anywhere. I saw how important it is to learn about others and not force them to speak a different language. 

The revolutionary power of bilingualism