Mezimene's sonorous singing rang clearly above the voices of her classmates. A, B, C, D . . . L-M-N-O-P . . . W, X, Y, and Z. Wednesday night language classes all started the same way; we introduced ourselves and a neighbor: I am Mezimene. He is Francisco. All eighteen students came for the same reasons. Learning American English would allow them to pass the U.S. citizenship exam and interview, to advance at work, or to find better employment.
Listening, speaking, and writing were our tasks. The women did very well; they learned to collaborate and worked together filling the gaps in their understanding of the reading or writing assignments. Most of the men struggled to stay awake as we worked into the late evening hours, lagging behind in their lessons-but Francisco managed to excel and always stayed on track. Tired, weary-the students trickled in before 6:10 pm, coming from work or taking care of children. They paid forty dollars for six months of classes, money invested toward achieving their goals and dreams in America.
I had never taught adults before, but embarked on the endeavor full of idealistic hope and fervor. My students came to America from Ethiopia, Somalia, Haiti, and Cape Verde. None were younger than forty and some were already in their sixties, but that, for me, was the charm of teaching the class: nurturing the desire to find new opportunities through citizenship or assimilation into the American way of life.
I saw the class as an avenue of passage, a beacon, a training ground, where the students could complete the difficult passage from being seen as outsiders to becoming full-fledged Americans, even of a hyphenated variety: Ethiopian-American, Somali-American, Haitian-American, and Cape Verde-American. Finding out the goals and aspirations of my students was as important as marking down progress notes about their reading and writing skills. I was not there to teach language in isolation, or phonics alone; I felt called to teach my class about American English in the real world, in their world.
Yet there were those who disagreed with me: the alphabet and kinesthetics practitioners, who touted the importance of writing the alphabet over and over again at each class session and engaged in physical activities that would reinforce classroom learning. The program director was one of these devotees, and I watched as she began instruction one week.
The program director was a tall, bony woman with wild, frizzy hair and a smile that seemed more snide than kind.
Lisa Delpit’s book, “The Skin We Speak”, talked about language and culture, and how it relates to the classroom. How we speak gives people hits as to where we are from and what culture we are a part of. Unfortunately there are also negative stereotypes that come with certain language variations. There is an “unfounded belief that the language of low income groups in rural or urban industrial areas is somehow structurally “impoverished” or “simpler” than Standard English” (Delpit 71). The United States is made of people from various cultures and speak many different variations of languages. As teachers we must be aware of some of the prejudices we may have about language and culture.
As I look back into my high school years, I thought I wrote papers well. But then coming into a college environment, my papers were mediocre. By overlooking at my past papers, I found that they were unorganized, sloppy and had bad use of diction. From now on, I will use the tools I learned in English 1100-40 as a foundation for the future papers I intend on writing in college. Following the criteria of organizing ideas so that they flow, impacting the reader with diction and also by being creative, will help become an ideal writer. Following the criteria of staying motivated in short and long term goals, taking responsibility for actions and finally the ability to study well will help me develop into a supreme student.
As the narrator’s mental state changes so does the way she perceives things around the house. The most prominent example of this is the imagery of the wallpaper and the way the narrator’s opinion on the wallpaper slowly changes throughout the story; this directly reflects what is happening within the narrator’s mind. At the beginning of the story the narrator describes the wallpaper as “Repellent...revolting... a smoldering unclean yellow” (Gilman 377). As the story continues the narrator starts to become obsessed with the wallpaper and her opinion of it has completely changed than that of hers from the beginning. Symbolism plays a big part in “The Yellow Wallpaper” too. This short story has a multitude of symbols hidden in it but there are specific ones that stand out the most. The recurrence of the wallpaper definitely makes it a symbol. An interesting interpretation is that the wallpaper represents women, in the sense that the 18th century woman was considered almost decorative and that is exactly what the purpose of wallpaper is. Another prominent symbol that runs parallel with the wallpaper, are the women the narrator would see in the wallpaper. The women appear trapped behind bars in the paper and one could argue that the women the narrator sees represents all women of her time, continuously trapped in their gender
Students were grouped by IQ, those who had an above average or higher were helped to go to college and those who had a low IQ’s were not given the support or the push needed to get them into college. Educators allowed low education standards and refused to see students as equals. The advisors set students sights low for the future by encouraging how service jobs were a practical choice for us Mexicans. Cleaning houses were the normal thing to do for Mexican-American females. Students were tired of the inadequate staff and the staff's lack of concern for their students. The students sent out a survey among the other students to see if they were satisfied with what they were getting from their education. The result was that the schools and instructors were not meeting the needs of the students’ more so of the Chicano students.
...chniques that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to suggest that a type of loneliness (in women) caused by imprisoning oppression can lead to the deadliest form of insanity. By using setting, Gilman shows how the barred windows intensifies the young woman's imprisoning oppression, the isolated summer home represents the loneliness the young woman feels, and her hallucinations of the wallpaper pattern indicates her transition to insanity. Wallpaper symbolism is used throughout the story the pattern representing the strangling nature of the imprisoning oppression, the fading yellow color showing the fading away of the young woman, and the hovering smell representing the deadly insanity to which she succumbs. Like the darkness that quickly consumes, the imprisoning loneliness of oppression swallows its victim down into the abyss of insanity.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," the reader is treated to an intimate portrait of developing insanity. At the same time, the story's first person narrator provides insight into the social attitudes of the story's late Victorian time period. The story sets up a sense of gradually increasing distrust between the narrator and her husband, John, a doctor, which suggests that gender roles were strictly defined; however, as the story is just one representation of the time period, the examination of other sources is necessary to better understand the nature of American attitudes in the late 1800s. Specifically, this essay will analyze the representation of women's roles in "The Yellow Wallpaper" alongside two other texts produced during this time period, in the effort to discover whether Gilman's depiction of women accurately reflects the society that produced it.
Recently, the effect that violent media has on society has been the focus of many psychological studies. According to an article published in the New York Times, research has found that: “Exposure to violent imagery does not preordain violence, but it is a risk factor” (Pozios, Kambam, Bender, 2013). There has yet to be a direct link between violence actually causing people to go on these massive shooting sprees that have been so common lately. It is natural and understandable for the
Societal control of the accepted terms by which a woman can operate and live in lends itself to the ultimate subjugation of women, especially in regards to her self-expression and dissent. Gilman does an extraordinary job of effectively communicating and transforming this apparent truth into an eerie tale of one woman’s gradual spiral towards the depths of madness. This descent, however, is marked with the undertones of opportunity. On one hand, the narrator has lost all hope. On the other, she has found freedom in losing all hope. This subversion of the patriarchal paradigm is tactfully juxtaposed against a backdrop of the trappings of insanity.
In “Lost in America”, the audience Douglas McGray is attempting to target is the part of American society that is concerned with the American educational system and foreign affairs. In the article the author talks about how Americans, mainly American students, have little to no knowledge about the world around them. The author goes on to speak about how Americans would benefit in worldwide business by speaking another language. The purpose in the story was to discuss and inform concerned individuals of how Americans, especially American kids, are falling behind in language.
As writers, many students write to the expectations of their professors and not to their fullest potential. Throughout English 101 I had been writing only to please my professor or to fill the basic requirement to pass English. I always felt that my writing ability was never enough for my professors throughout the previous years. They always wanted clear and concise essays, which for some reason was unreachable by me. However, starting college and taking English 101 helped me with my weaknesses and changed my technique of writing essays. My experience in English 101 taught me to write to my fullest potential and to write what I felt; rather then writing what was required.
But incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are predictable; they are not a random act of brutality because such violence is a learned behavior. Americans glorify violence and this attitude is illustrated through the tolerance of violence portrayed through the media. And although distinguishing between violence as pure entertainment and violence as social criticism is important, good intentions can still lead to terrible outcomes. The effect of viewing violent films has been insufficiently considered, yet plays a significant role in encouraging aggressive behavior.
Daniels, Harvey A., and Urbana, IL. National Council of Teachers of English. Not Only English: Affirming America's Multilingual Heritage. 1990. ERIC. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
In a research analysis of Media and Violence, studies show that “Although the typical effect size for exposure to violent media is relatively small ... this ‘small effect’ translates into significant consequences for society as a whole” (“Media and Violence: An Analysis of Current Research”, 2015). This states violent behaviors can come from the smallest variables, or clips from videos, which is why it is important for parents to control what their kids see, read, and watch, and limit the amount of violence exposure.
As I look back on my English 101 experience, I have come to the conclusion that I have learned many new things that have improved my abilities as a writer. I have learned some new techniques that have improved my ways of approaching an essay. I learned all about the rhetorical appeals and how to apply them in my writing and how to look for them in a essay written by a author. I have also learned how to argue both sides of a argument, and how to look for reliable sources and to properly quote and site the author of the essay. I feel as if I have become a better writer and my improved writing skills are shown within each essay.
Smith, Pat. "Freeing the Woman behind the Wallpaper: The Symbolic Meaning of the Yellow Wallpaper." Bergen Community College Homepage. Bergen, 15 Nov. 2006. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.