Teacher Under Fire For Telling Student to Speak English

[The Sage of Main Street]

I've had Tibetan students who couldn't speak English when they first started in school. Guess what? They learned. Over time. With great effort. Going from beginner to capable of using a second language for challenging academic work takes about 7 years. Most of the posters wagging fingers on this thread couldn't do it.

The Melting Pot Has Had a Meltdown

They should have learned English before we allowed them to come here. But invaders don't need to do that.

 

[Unkotare]

Only Those Jobs Dealing With Lowlife, Which Means the Employee Is Also of Low Status

Wrong again.

Demand for Bilingual Workers More than Doubled in 5 years, New Report Shows

Learn more from New American Economy

www.newamericaneconomy.org

 

[Unkotare]

The Melting Pot Has Had a Meltdown

They should have learned English before we allowed them to come here. But invaders don't need to do that.

Americans born right here are not required to speak English. Don't like it? Too fucking bad.

 

[toobfreak]

I've had Tibetan students who couldn't speak English when they first started in school. Guess what? They learned. Over time. With great effort. Going from beginner to capable of using a second language for challenging academic work takes about 7 years. Most of the posters wagging fingers on this thread couldn't do it.

I'm cornfused. What are the odds of getting a Tibetan student? And you say you teach grades 9 thru 12. You seem conversant enough with current educational acronyms that I'll take you at your word that you teach high school, but it seems rather fantastic that a child who only knows an obscure foreign language would still not know english in the 9th grade.

School is hard enough without trying to deal with learning in another language you're not fluent in.

 

[Unkotare]

The Melting Pot Has Had a Meltdown

...

The Melting Pot is still working just fine.

 

[Unkotare]

I'm cornfused [sic]. What are the odds of getting a Tibetan student? ....

That depends on a lot of things.

 

[Unkotare]

...it seems rather fantastic that a child who only knows an obscure foreign language would still not know english [sic] in the 9th grade.
....

That depends on when the student first came to the US. I've had Tibetan students in the 10th grade who came here when they were entering the 10th grade. Ever been to Tibet? Not a ton of English schools around.

 

[Unkotare]

....

School is hard enough without trying to deal with learning in another language you're not fluent in.

It sure is. That's why these students work so hard.

 

[ReinyDays]

The 1A has nothing to do with delineating English or any other language, it has to do with the government not censoring/restricting freedom of thought, expression and communication, but that doesn't mean anything goes in standardized speaking and communication neither. What would happen if kids started showing up for school wanting to speak Klingon? Or Breton? Tibetan or Belarusian?

It is one thing to speak a native foreign language or learn others where appropriate, but quite a different thing trying to force teachers and schools to cope with multiple languages all at the same time in a haphazard way all in the same class. That is Chaos.

Much like a computer trying to work in hex, octal, binary and denary all at the same time.

I don't know why your local school district does things this way ... blind stupid or horrifically prejudiced ... any child who moves into Oregon not speaking Englishing is immediately placed in Englishing class ...

Guess what ...

Any child who moves into Oregon is immediately placed in Englishing class ... even if Englishing is their mother tongue and they speak no other language ... like me ... Englishing class every year up to Junior level at university ...

<nitpick> Computers only understand binary ... either the transistor is "on" or it is "off" ... we don't use the in between spaces for digital communications ... don't you remember the writing on the wall "Op Amps are obsolete"? ... </nitpick>

 

[Road Runner]

,
Communication is universal.

Yes, but many different languages are spoken around the world.

I do know, of course. That is not the same as an "official language." The majority of people in the US speak English, but we do not have an "official language."

Then it should be.

It's about 60/40.

Which number does the English speaking people represent?

 

[Unkotare]

I don't know why your local school district does things this way ... blind stupid or horrifically prejudiced ... any child who moves into Oregon not speaking Englishing is immediately placed in Englishing class ...

Guess what ...

Any child who moves into Oregon is immediately placed in Englishing class ... even if Englishing is their mother tongue and they speak no other language ... like me ... Englishing class every year up to Junior level at university ...

<nitpick> Computers only understand binary ... either the transistor is "on" or it is "off" ... we don't use the in between spaces for digital communications ... don't you remember the writing on the wall "Op Amps are obsolete"? ... </nitpick>

The word is "English." You know that, right?

 

[Unkotare]

Yes, but many different languages are spoken around the world.


....

There are many different types of mathematics.

 

[Unkotare]

...
Then it should be.
....

We've done fine the way it is so far.

 

[Road Runner]

There are many different types of mathematics.

Yes but people around the world do them all. There isn't a native mathematic system to a specific country like there are native languages to different countries.

 

[Unkotare]

...
Which number does the English speaking people represent?

The 60, although at least 10 of that represents other non-English languages spoken on a daily basis.

 

[Unkotare]

Yes but people around the world do them all. ...

People around the world use languages to communicate.

 

[ReinyDays]

The word is "English." You know that, right?

I'm distancing myself from those who have graduated college and high school ... I don't deserve to be numbered among them ... Englishing, spelting, grammering and puncturing have all been difficult for me ...

Why I'm good at math and science ... the stuff we talk about down in the ditch while digging ... there's more to construction than looking up girls' dresses, there's downblousing as well ...

 

[Road Runner]

People around the world use languages to communicate.

Reread the rest of what I said.

 

[Unkotare]

Reread the rest of what I said.

I did

 

[Unkotare]

People around the world use languages to communicate.

82 million people in China can speak English. Millions of people in the Chinese diaspora can speak Mandarin. 442 million people in around 20 countries speak Spanish.