As I sit here and study for my sociology exam (which obviously is not going well hence why I'm blogging)
I come across a very interesting article in the textbook that talks of an Ojibway woman that describes her experience involving boarding schools and her original language....
Boarding school was supposed to be a place where you forgot everything about being Anishinabe. And our language too. But I said, "I'm going to talk to myself" -and that's what I did, under my covers-talked to myself in Anishinabe. If we were caught, the nuns would make us stand in the corner and repeat over and over, "I won't speak my language." (Ross, 1996:122)
It got me to really thinking about when I become a teacher how vital it will be to allow student's culture background to not be hindered in any way. This being said I believe it is important for the knowledge of all historical backgrounds to be brought to the education curriculum. Students should not be shunned for wanting to speak their own native language. ESL (English as a Second Language) students should flourish and expand their native language not be punished for it.
In closing I came across this document on the US language policies which I recommend you check out
http://www.linguapax.org/congres/taller/taller1/Beykont.html
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