Monolingual

875 Words2 Pages

“Bilingual Education looks pretty on the surface but it’s cracking up underneath,” Jill smirked as she took a spoonful of the salmon brioche. Seated at the corner of a quaint café, Jill was dressed formally as she was from her workplace. Being one of the few Eurasians who interns at an international law firm, she has definitely proven herself to be an outstanding candidate for the firm due to her impeccable command of English. However, on that day, Jill reverted to speaking conversational English as she recollected her thoughts and unveiled her experiences during her ten years of Bilingual Education.
As a monolingual child, Jill was exposed to speaking English language at home. Both her parents are Eurasians and were not exposed to any form of Mother Tongues, other than English Language which they considered to be their Mother Tongue. Upon turning six, her parents were faced with a tough decision, knowing that regardless of the language chosen, their child will still be at a disadvantage. Eventually, Malay Language was chosen in a hope that Jill would be able to cope.
In Malay lessons, Jill struggled to enunciate Malay words as phonetically, English Language and Bahasa Melayu have differing phonetic variations for vowels. Her habitual pronunciation of words with an ‘ang moh’ accent and her constant use of inappropriate words in a context made her the subject of mockery in class. Her inability to comprehend the text as well as her classmates culminated her teacher’s frustration and in return, Jill retreated from seeking assistance. In addition, her Malay teacher had a tendency of conducting religious preaching discussions at the end of the lesson which created an exclusive environment for Jill. In an attempt to be included in ...

... middle of paper ...

...s Bilingual Education seem impressive on the surface, but in reality, there are many prevalent issues that policymakers have conveniently overlooked which affects other monolingual children who are ‘underrepresented’ and forced into a Bilingual Education. Jill critiqued that the current ‘drip-feed’ system; in which students are exposed to Mother Tongue for only two periods a day is clearly insufficient and students should be offered more languages that are of interest to them. As Jill sips her coffee, she contemplates the future of her children. Will they go through the same experience? Which Mother Tongue must she choose for them? Will this experience be a vicious cycle? Jill vowed to provide the best for her children but as for herself, her adamant refusal to acknowledge Malay as a second language has successfully reverted her back to be the striving monolingual.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Lisa Kanae's 'Voices Merged To One Tongue'

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Standard English was imposed on children of immigrant parents, then the children were separated from native English speakers, then the children were labeled “inferior” and “ignorant” (Hughes 70) because they could not speak Standard English. In addition to feeling inferior about their second language skills, these students also felt inadequate in regard to speaking their own mother tongues” (qtd in Kanae)

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue By Amy Tan And Richard Rodriguez

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    The writings of Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez’s depicts a bilingual story based on two differing culture. On Mother Tongue, “Tan explores the effect of her mother’s “broken” English on her life and writing” (506). On the other hand, Richard Rodriguez “recounts the origin of his complex views of bilingual education through Public and Private Language” (512). From a child’s eyes, Tan and Rodriguez describe each joys and pain growing up in a non-English speaking family. Hence, may be viewed that cultural differences plays a major role on how one handles adversities.

    Read More

  • In Richard Rodriguez's Mother Tongue And A Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.

    Read More

  • Amy Tan's Mother Tongue

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?

    Read More

  • Amy Tan Mother Tongue Quotes

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan, Mrs. Tan talks about (in the book) her life and how she grew up with different Englishes was very hard and how it has affected her today. The setting of the book goes from being at lecture to the past of Amy Tan and her mother along with the different Englishes she had to come accustomed to. In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, the author’s attitude towards the “different Englishes” she grew up with is fascinated. Amy Tan conveys this attitude through wanting to learn all different kinds of Englishes, her use of Englishes in her novel, and the acceptance she developed of her mother’s broken English.

    Read More

  • Hunger of Memory

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez 26). He explains that the imperative "radical self-reformation" required by education is lost by offering bilingual education and such a program suggests a place where the need for a sense of public identity disappears. A bilingual program gives a student the opportunity to be separated from real life and institutes a life that leaves out an essential understanding of the world. Bilingual students do not know the complexities of their world, including emotion, ethics, and logic, because the bilingual program secludes the eager minds to a much simpler, more naïve idea of how the society works, leaving out the confidence of belonging in public. This situation not only limits the education experience for non-English speaking students, but also hinders the further education of English speaking students by erecting a communicat...

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...

    Read More

  • Language Barrier: Bilingual Education vs. English Immersion

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Donegan, Craig. “Debate over bilingualism.” CQ Researcher. 19 January 1996. 6, 49-72. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).

    Read More

  • Amy Tan’s A Mother’s Tongue

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.

    Read More

  • What Is The Mother Tongue Summary By Amy Tan

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amy Tan, the author of The Joy Luck Club, talks about in the article, Mother Tongue, how her mother’s broken English would affect her daily life, how people treat her because of it, and how she feels about her mother’s language. She also talks about when she was in school she was pushed towards science and maths because of her cultural background, as an Asian American student; when she really wanted to write English and become an English major. In the beginning paragraph of the article, Tan explains how she has to depict the different Englishes she uses throughout her daily life in writing and how she is able to deal with it. Tan recently learned about the different types of English she uses daily. When speaking to a group of people about her book, The Joy Luck Club, she didn’t realize a difference in the way she was speaking until she saw her mother sitting in the room listening to her speak.

    Read More

  • Bilingualism And Bilingual Values, By Maria De La Luz Reyes

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long

    Read More

  • What Is The Theme Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her narrative Mother Tongue, Amy Tan speaks of how the English language has shaped her life, drawing from personal experiences in her early life, to her daily use of English in the present. Tan begins her narrative by identifying her own “mother tongue”, which is simply the broken English her mother uses and has been accustomed to. Tan says that due to her mother’s broken English some are unable to understand her, thereby limiting Tan’s mother to function properly in our English speaking society. Tan shows the reader how her feelings toward her mother tongue have changed throughout her life drawing out a personal experience from her adolescence.

    Read More

  • A Language Barrier

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.

    Read More

  • Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.

    Read More

More about Monolingual

Open Document