Struggle and Love

Hanjiaxin Bao

I feel very lucky to be able to attend the Voice Your Language Forum where I have learned so much from all the thoughts shared. Particularly, the speech given by Ms. Reyna Grande impressed me the most. With her own story, Ms. Grande deeply touched my heart and inspired me to be a supportive and loving educator, showing me not only the damage the English-Only program can do to students of other languages, but the way teachers can help them heal and succeed.

In her story, Ms. Grande described the classroom under the Proposition 227 which outlawed bilingual education, making English the only language of instruction. She talked about her experience in the first school she went to after she came to America, about how it made her feel strange, insecure and lost. Being a young girl who could not speak English, she was in a whole-English classroom where her teacher spook little Spanish, and she was seated in the corner with other non-English speaking kids and was silenced when speaking Spanish. Her experience touched me because, apart from my own struggle with the anxiety and lack of confidence caused by language, it made me think of my parents who are here now visiting me. It hurt me deeply when they said that having lived half of their lives, English made them feel like dependent babies. Therefore, I can feel it is more than frustrating to be in that classroom. Surrounded by language they cannot understand, students are blocked outside the world; unable to speak in their own languages, students’ thoughts are kept inside their minds. This kind of classroom under dominant power is shaming (Hooks, 2013), and gradually it results in low self-esteem and then fear and anger; this act of assimilation leads to culture loss and difficulty in self-identification (Anzaldúa, 1987). Moreover, determined by a language policy, the English-Only classroom reflects the affect politics has on education and the way schools function to perpetuate the status quo.

However, for me what makes Ms. Grande’s speech so powerful is the hope she inspired in educators’ minds. “She did not know how far her kindness could bring me” (Grande, 2017). She attributed a lot of her success to the teacher who embraced her and valued her story. Her story about her teacher proved it to me that the key to help students heal and to build a community is love. Love is “a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.” (Hooks, 2013, P.131). Ms. Gande’s teacher embraced her life and her culture, which helped Ms. Grande embrace her culture herself. And more importantly, Ms. Grande’s teacher valued her story and trust her ability to fight for a bright future. It was the trust that she had a story to tell that encouraged her reach her full potential.

To sum up, Bilingual education is the struggle of both students and teachers and also the place where teachers and students can support each other and grow together.

Reference:

1. Hooks, bell (2013). Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Taylor and Francis, NY.

2. Anzaldúa, Gloria E (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books.