RODRIGUEZ AND TEACHING BILINGUALS (CONNECTIONS)

After reading Aria by Richard Rodriguez and watching the videos Teaching Bilinguals, both describe the reality, success, and experiences of people who speak different languages. Rodriguez explains that during his educational journey, the difficulties and hardships he was faced in school due to the language barrier affected his ability to always be successful. Rodriguez struggled with learning every aspect of a new language in an educational sense and a social sense. Suddenly the way people (like his teacher for example) addressed him was only by his name in English, and not his Spanish name. While learning the English language in his school life, he was still at home speaking in his native language with his family. This created confusion and often feelings of being overwhelmed and anxious, which for someone new and still learning must feel awful. Reading about his experience left me feeling like our education system failed him and as a future educator I will take steps to making sure that this is a reality in education and there is no such thing as one language that fits all. 

The videos on Teaching Bilinguals allowed me to learn about the importance of language and speaking different languages in a classroom. As a future educator it is important for me to above all else be able to communicate and connect with each of my students. The videos gave me insight as to how and why teachers should be encouraged to speak more than one language in their classroom. It not only creates more of a welcoming environment but it allows you to reach every student and make sure no one is left behind. After all, that extra step and effort you put into learning a different language, may ultimately be the reason a child begins to successfully thrive, not only within the walls of education and academia, but all aspects of their life moving forward.