Siding with Zorn

Last week, we focused on readings about the SRTOL, which allowed students to have their right to write in their own language and native tongue. I personally agree and disagree with SRTOL because I think that the language and environment where "professional" english is used should remain a very 'high' standard of english where everyone is at the same level and understanding of 'business' english compared to slang and normal day-to-day english. I think if I were to have to pick a side, I'd choose Zorn because the point of coming to America, for example, is to learn how to speak fluently and communicate "properly" with the rest of the population. Letting students speak in their native tongue is nice because they get to combine both their home language and new language together but if they want to be taken seriously in the future, it's better they learn under the 'standard' english form. Most generations born here will probably have a better chance at success due to their english speaking skills acquired here than of someone who immigrates here.

 When I was reading Ashanti's input about the SRTOL, I couldn't take him too seriously because it was too slang for me. I admit that it's cool to see someone speak so seriously in their everyday language but there's also a point where the line between professionalism and casual meet. I think Zorn's arguments were very strong because at first, I was pro-srtol because I thought it'd be more fair if students were able to learn and talk using their comfortable span of words. Zorn made me realize that by letting them stay so restricted in their language, they will never properly learn and will never be at the same level of english as the dominant, or the white population.

Zorn also makes an argument that we are purposely restricting them to their own language and their english will never improve because it will be improper because of their combination of native tongue and new english. Ashanti makes a point that we are forcing these students into a new world, and that everything from their culture is erased when we force them into this new discourse of speaking. I do not agree because there are different levels of english. If we allowed students to start writing in their natural everyday voice, the english language would become a joke. Nothing would be taken seriously, and there'd be no such thing as proper or professional english.

When Caitlin assigned us a free write to write in our own voice, I personally had no problem writing in my speaking voice. I speak very slang, and casual and somehow I was able to portray all my attitude and sass and weak english vocabulary to paper. I couldn't see how it was difficult because I was basically talking to myself. I think I may just be used to writing in my voice because I've kept several journals/diaries when I was younger and the amount of cuss words, improper english, slang..etc in those pages are ridiculous..

"Wassup" or "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Wassup" or "Hey, how are you doing?"

After reading the one primary and two secondary sources I am split between the two. After hearing the primary source I thought to myself "Hell yea, that's what we need!” But after hearing the two secondary sources they changed my mind a lot.

I want to be for the side in favor of freedom of expression and being proud of your native tongue, but there are some difficulties that go along with that. Like one of the blog's I read had had to do with bilingual classes as a kid. My brother was enrolled in those same classes from K-8th grade. Yes, my brother can speak my native tongue, and yes that is a tool that can really help him, but I see how it has hurt him.

In high school I seen him struggle in English classes, messing up on all of the minor things that shouldn't be a problem he would mess up on. It sucks because I would see he would get frustrated and discouraged by this, and he would fail these classes because it tore his self-esteem up. If we were to write in our discourse this could happen to everyone!

What about the whites who's only language is English; we would be learning Spanish, Chinese, and French and they would just be strengthening their English. We would take steps back because now our English would be weak while theirs is real strong. This would give them a real big advantage! We already have a big academic achievement gap; I would not want to make that gap even bigger! That's not what we want; we want to make that gap smaller!

The one thing I can say is that I wish that I spoke more in my discourse. I am full Mexican and I cannot speak Spanish. This is something that always comes back to bite me. I hate that I am such an outcast when it comes to this, I would love to learn and I feel the need to. So I would say, never forget your roots or culture, always stay in touch with that! Yes I believe that we should speak and formally for school, but always practice and improve your native tongue. Don't be the fool that does not know how to speak their native language. It's NOT cool what so ever.

Now for the upcoming assignment, I am pretty excited about this one because I can write about something I am passionate about. My topic is about Stop and Frisk law that is in New York. It is an issue that needs to be dealt with because it is such a racist issue. This is just targeting blacks & Latino's in low income neighborhoods. This is incriminating them before they are even in trouble. This is making it difficult and even scary to be out. Police are here to make us feel protected, not paranoid!

This law has gotten a lot of attention, and it should be granted unconstitutional because it is not making things any better. To top it all off, of all of the searches they do, most of them are unsuccessful and the police end up not finding anything! Is this what we want for t

he children of the future,  to be scared of police and intimidated while walking in their own neighborhoods because the color of their skin. Wait….that’s a problem everywhere for people of color!

-Eucalyptus

Writing Right is Writing White

"Writing Right is Writing White", how does this phrase/statement make you feel? What went through your mind when you heard this last week in English 214? My first thought was that's a load of bullsh*t because there's right writing in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian really every single language has it's professional level as well as slang. As I was thinking this I was like none of these places are white for it and then I was like wait they are all originated from Europe, which is basically white. So after that I had a huge WTF moment and I didn't know what else to add to that or contribute. At that exact moment I came to a bigger, larger realization that our whole world is controlled by the "White". 

But what exactly is "white"? The Dictionary gives you a few definitions one of them being "belonging to or denoting a human group having light-colored skin (chiefly used of peoples of European extraction". I did a little bit of google streaming and I found that Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Uruguay and Venezuela all have white in them. To me that's a crazy fact! Does the majority of the world have at least a little white in them? Damn I'm not too sure but I'll maybe get back to this on another blog post if possible I'm getting off track there for a second but anyway going back to writing "right". What is the right way and why does the "right" way have to be right? Does that mean if you know proper English you are better than someone who doesn't?

Every country you go to has people who will be able to translate their native language to English. English has being the universal language, being the most spoken language worldwide. The thought of this is scary but I also feel it is of great benefit. Communication amongst everyone in different countries will be able to connect and chat in English. I see this as a way to really get to know other people, their culture through their own voice. Although it will not be their native language at least we will have English to understand each other and to me that's beautiful.

Growing up, Spanish was the language spoken at home. I learned English through television, music, and kindergarden. At a young age I was already able to read, write and speak English well at the age of maybe about 6-8 years old. I knew well enough for my age. The process of learning a new language is easiest when you're still a child, your brain is like a sponge and has the ability to absorb all this knowledge like if it was water. 

The first requirement in any job here in the USA is to be able to speak, read and write in English, if you don't have this prerequisite you're lucky enough to get a job as a cleaning person, where you're interaction with people is minimal. Although at times I do think of how messed up it is for some people who don't know the language or are unable to, it's one of the easiest languages to learn. Have you ever tried to learn Chinese, Russian, or even German. I have and it's completely different than English and Spanish. English and Spanish both use the Roman Alphabet and 30% to 40% have relatable words that can be easily translated from one to another. They have similar sound, appearance, and meaning. That's why also Spanish has become the second most spoken language in the United States and probably also in other countries worldwide.

Languae discourse

In class we talked about a bag of language discourse. Using certain languages in writing or speaking has different responses depending on what discourse you're or  a part of. In class we are taught to use standard English and that's the only style we're expected to write in. Otherwise it won't look or sound right and will be considered stepping out of the language discourse. When in reality with forced to step out of our own language discourse by Co- switching to fit or match school language discourse. Although I don't like how school in forces English and test our use of language. I do agree with standard English because It prepared us for the business world. Without learning how to write or speak in school we wouldn't know how to write; resume,cover letter, and essay.for example school teaches us formating  an essay. we’re taught that an essay has to to have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Within the essay we have to use transitional words and paragraphs have to include; topic sentence, analysis and quotes all in order to back up the thesis statement which is included in the introduction. I admit without being taught how to write my writing will be all over the place with run on sentences and hard to prove or get my point across. School teaches students how to organize their way of thinking, Also helps build our vocabulary by having us read and we get to see how others use language in their writing. school keep students structured by the teaching  us proper English. Another example  some people  speak differently to their friends by using slang or curse words but when it comes to school  they know how to co switch in school by speaking  and writing differently because we're taught not to write the way we speak because it not as professional. I think it's a good thing that school keep students structure that way when speaking to someone other than a friend people can understand you.  

           
                                                       Using our own Dialects


            In class we are learning various things that are very interesting and sometimes extremely shocking. Specifically this week, we learned about he importance of dialects through two different assigned reading and class discussions. One of the reading SRTOL had really good points on how as English students we should be allowed to not only communicate in English but also in our native dialects. Not only that the reading also talked about something that really caught my attention was that we associate speaking English correctly with an image of a wealthy white person and most of the times a wealthy white male. I had never though or even heard the saying “Writing right is Writing White” until it was said in our class during our discussion.

         It’s honestly really crazy to see how we can judge a person who isn’t white based on how they speak English and straight up say they aren’t speaking English correctly when most of the time we understand them! Reading this declaration I was so pro using our dialect in English to allow everyone to comfortable express them selves and let people hear their voice until I read the counter argument.

            After reading the counter argument I realized that maybe we shouldn’t write the way we want or in our personal discourse or dialect. It felt so weird to ready such informal writing like that. It might be because I’m so internally oppressed that I can’t detach from my oppressed nature. I will admit that I understood the writing in the second reading and I identify with most of it because the language use can be linked to some of my personal discourses.

      But that isn’t the only reason why I think that maybe we shouldn’t be using our own dialects and discourse language be cause not everyone can actually know every language/discourse/dialect that exists. Its simply impossible. Communicating in different dialects can create barriers in communication when in reality we should try to build communication and understanding between individuals but them it comes to accepting all parts of an individual, which includes their dialects, or discourse language.

       Over all it is very complicated to actually take a side in this debate. I love writing in my own voice but then again I feel like even in this blog post I am not exactly writing in my voice even though it feel like I am. I feel like I have many voices .For example, I have a super academic one that I use in class or at an interview. A semi academic voice, which I am using right now, and my voice I use with my friends. So I understand how dialects and discourse specific language plays a role in my life but I can also see what problems it can cause for people outside my discourse.

Language Discourses

BILINGUAL CAN BENEFIT

Every culture has its own tradition, and every tradition has its own language. As a Mexican-American i grew up in a household where everything we spoke, we spoke it in spanish. I didn't learn to speak English until i was in 5th grade. I remember that by the age of 8 all I understood has "Hi" or "whats your name", now my younger sister at the age of 8 knows more than I did when I was her age.

 In school I was placed in bilingual classrooms all the time from K-4th grade. However, the teachers would practice spanish more than english, and i believe this was because most of us where Latinos. So by the time I was in 5th grade my spanish was great, but my english not so good.

Testing language level

I later learned that throughout all my life that English would become the main language of my discourse. standard english was very import an for my schools district. We were even tested and placed in different levels.

In my opinion standard english is the my language of our American culture. Therefore, it is ok for us to be used to writing in this discourse. However, I think that one should not forget its primary discourse, meaning do not forget the language you grew up in. 

In a personal feeling, I feel that having a standard structure, yes it makes me sound and write professional, but it does not allow me to freely express my self. 

LPS Hayward English teacher teaching

Through out middle school and High School we are getting prepared to learn how to write standard English, so we would be prepared for college. However, in college every major has its own discourse, and thats the power of college to learn new things, and new structures. All with the exception of english class. There we stick to the same standard English we learned in Middle- High school. 

To conclude my opinion, we should be able to write in our own language in certain class activities, just so we can practice. We should be able to fully express our selfs how ever we are pleased.  

The truth behind it all

In this class I learned so much about invisible narratives I realized that it is every where now especially in movies, books, and even speech. I never really payed attention to the invisible narratives that are put into movies. Now that i think back to my favorite movies there are more than one invisible narratives and most of the time these narratives are portraying a darker side of the story that is not picked up unless it is pointed out or viewed with a different lens.

After writing my last blog on the invisible narrative on the Little Mermaid which is still my favorite movie, but it has such a degrading hidden narrative on females. Ariel gave up so much of her identity just to get her prince's attention. She gave up what she adored most her family, her home,  her unique features, and lastly her voice. Now that I think about it there is another hidden narrative her voice was taken away, so it is like she is silenced and unable to express her feelings. She just has to deal with the decisions the prince makes, some can say she was blinded by love she lost who she really was and what she wanted in life. She made her self inferior to him. In Hollywood films they always specific on the race while they are casting for actors and actresses. I barely see races other than white having a big role.

After reading many of the blog posts that my classmates posted up from the previous weeks and they all brought things into my attention. What scares me is that these hidden narratives are negative stereotypes that are put out there to entertain their viewers or peers. No one really speak about this because not that many people pay attention to it since it has now been part of our norm. What is seen as normal and what is not. Since these social norms have been made ages back it impacts how people view this world. What I also noticed is that each paper has its own writing discourse their format and sentence structures are different.

From the readings that we had in class the one that I related to was from Ariely about the "High Cost of Zero". This is so true because when I shop I walk in a store all set on what I want, but the stores will always put on BOGO sales (buy on get one free). The word FREE has such a powerful meaning it is scary. It will automatically attract attention and it will incline the consumer to purchase this over the marked down price of the item you intended to buy in the start. This is only because you pay one price and you get more of it or the term FREE just catches your attention. Don't get me wrong,  I LOVE  free things and saving money just in general since I am a broke college student. I never really thought much about the hidden narratives I just always went in to shop and I always come out buying more than I need...Now that I look deeper into what these companies are trying to do make profit by manipulating how our brain will think is scary only because we will still buy these items even if we are aware that the store is trying to get us to buy more and spend more.

Language Discourse

Language Discourse

 

            I have learned a lot of aspects in my English class. One of them is language discourse. What I mean by language discourse is that people have different language style when they write and talk. Language discourse occurs a lot at schools because schools are where students are “forced” and “required” to speak and write English standard, rather than their own styles. This creates certain problems such as invisible narratives and discourses towards themselves and other people.

 

 

 I agree that since we live in the United States, we have to learn to speak English and write in English, but we can’t just forget and throw away what we have earned and learned to become who we are until now. Students won’t be able to show and express where they came from. For example, myself, I have my own discourse towards my language when I talk to my friends and my teachers. I feel more comfortable if I treat (talk and write) other people, regardless of who they are, like a friend because I feel more confident, open minded, and honest towards them. However, it’s impossible to do so because for me, I’m not showing respect to them and therefore, I have to stick with English standard.

Even though my English style is against my discourse, I become more responsible and organized towards myself academically. For example, right now I’m typing this blogging with academic English essay structure. The reason is because I was taught to write and type this way. If I mentioned my discourse in my blogging or in any writings, the reader would think that I’m not responsible and organized towards my own tasks. Therefore, I mostly spend more than an hour writing even though the writing is short.





Invisible Narrative Reflection

Invisible Narrative 

Over the last few weeks in our class we have been talking and learning about invisible narrative, when the teacher first introduce invisible narrative to the class i had no idea what she was talking about. She explained it as a type of writing that says one thing but means another. The crazy part about this is that invisible narrative is in a lot of things that you would think it wouldn't be in, they don't call it invisible for nothing.

In class the teacher gave a really good example of an invisible narrative, she talk about this news headliner that talked about two different type of people that was in the same situation but use two different words to describe there actions, for the white man the news paper used the word found and for the black man they used the word lewd. I found this example really deep the fact that both of this mans was in the same predicament but was doing two different thing because of one word.

Not only is invisible narrative in writing but it's also in movies and TV shows that we love to watch the scary part its even in cartoon that our young people are watching. One example of a cartoon that this is in is a show called "American Dad" the invisible narrative that is in this show is what the perfect american family looks like, you have mom, dad, son, daughter and also the family pet.



I have never been the type to analyze things in movies or tv shows or even in this that i read until I learned about invisible narrative. I fine it deep that even something thats supposed to be for kids to enjoy and learn from like Disney has a lot of invisible narrative as well in there movies.

A good example of this is the well known movie called "Aladdin", Aladdin is a movie that take place in the middle east and the invisible narrative that is in this movie is that people in the middle east steal and take things that they did not work for due to the fact that the first scene of the movie is Aladdin stealing food for him and his pet monkey.



The fact that invisible narrative is all around it deep know that we know what it is and what it look like its up to us to point it out and let it be known that we see it and its not ok. Learning about this has really open my eyes not when I'm watching tv or reading things i fine my self looking for invisible narrative.

ROLL OUT THE BARREL

Home Alone is the penultimate classic Christmas movie. And maybe Elf starring Will Ferrell. They are memorable and feel-good. If this class were a Christmas movie, it would not be Home Alone or Elf.

I dunno what I was going for there. Anyway I feel like much of this class has been very underwhelming. Very little of the material we have covered is new to me, and I feel like I'm being led on a leash through an illusion of choice. Meaning we are often given rhetorical questions that are designed to lead us into canned responses. There is discussion, but our paths were laid out before us before the discussion even began. Any conclusion we reach becomes meaningless, and so does our discussion. It is patronizing and suffocating. A glorified Introduction to Critical Thinking and Social Justice. 

Invisible Narratives Do Exist

Doing different activities to analyze and learn about invisible narratives was very new to me. I don't recall a time when I actually looked for hidden meanings in texts, movies, or even in our society. The reason why I didn't was probably because throughout my whole life, I have been exposed to the social norms in our society, especially through the media.

Reading most of the blogs that my peers wrote, regarding analyzing an invisible narrative implicit in a text that we have not discussed in class, made me much more knowledgeable about what is going on in the world, how it is changing, and how we are unknowingly conforming to the social norms. I have learned that I should question everything and acquire all the information that I can before I believe it.

The blogs that my peers wrote were so interesting because they used examples of real life situations that I would have never guessed to have invisible narratives. For example, one of my peers analyzed the hidden narrative in the movie The Little Mermaid. This person came to the conclusion that the invisible narrative he/she found was that Ariel gave up her voice, which was her strongest trait, in order to get the man of her dreams. In reality, women sometimes degrade themselves in order to be acknowledged by men, which should never be the case.

We also had several readings in class that helped us identify some of the invisible narratives that were applicable to our lives. The reading that stood out to me the most was Ariely's "High Cost of Zero Cost" which he explains how we react to the words "free" and "zero". To illustrate Ariely's point that we humans make irrational decisions when we see those words, he conducted multiple experiments. One experiment was when he and a couple of his peers set up a table in front off a large building offering two kinds of chocolates: 15 cents for the Lindt truffles and 1 cent for a Hershey Kiss. They found that customers compared the price and quality of both chocolates resulting in  most costumers picking the Lindt truffles. However, when they decided to see how making the Hershey Kisses for FREE, they found that most customers chose chose the Kiss instead of the Lindt truffle. They gave up a better bargain for something that they didn't really want but the word FREE persuaded them to do so.

Furthermore, learning about invisible narratives have changed my perspective of the world. It's funny because whenever I read, see or watch something, I am now obliged to look for those hidden narratives. It is also very important to look for these things because we can easily be fooled if we don't educate ourselves to what is right or wrong. In order to distinguish between what is right or wrong, we have to separate ourselves from the social norms in our society and analyze its hidden narratives and what their true intentions are.