This is why we fight...
For anyone who thinks I'm exaggerating when I talk about the backlash against Latin@s, here's a little something for ya:
Arizona Expands Its Discrimination: Teachers With Heavy Accents Can’t Teach English, Ethnic Studies Are Banned
Arizona’s supporters of the state’s draconian new immigration law insist that it has nothing to do with race and isn’t ( Read more... )
Arizona Expands Its Discrimination: Teachers With Heavy Accents Can’t Teach English, Ethnic Studies Are Banned
Arizona’s supporters of the state’s draconian new immigration law insist that it has nothing to do with race and isn’t ( Read more... )
Native speakers can do fine with an English teacher who speaks grammatically correct English with a foreign accent... but when you're acquiring a new language, it's hard enough to train the ear without also having to later unlearn someone else's poor pronunciation. Difficulty speaking the dominant language is penalizing enough -- that burden is not something ESL students should have to contend with.
(Interesting that this is coming up now -- last weekend I met a social worker [a Mexican-born speaker of unaccented English] who works with high-school girls who have babies, who was telling me about the problems that can develop in children whose parents speak Spanglish or another linguistic mix and who don't automatically develop a full vocabulary in either language. Language appears to be in the air...)
ETA: I just read your ETA, and don't get me wrong: there is some utterly scandalous racist legislation going on in AZ. I just feel strongly that second-rate English instruction positions ESL students as less valuable, future second-class citizens.
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