ESL as a Tool of System Racism
One student’s perspective from the frontlines of racist curriculum
Author’s Note
When I first started this project, how do linguistic and cultural diversity connect to teaching and learning, I immediately thought about a former student of mine. As an undocumented immigrant living in the United States since the age of 7, they have a great deal of experience attempting to navigate the American education system. I recently called them to talk about their experiences with ESL classes and this brief, informal interview, is the focus of this paper. For the purposes of this paper, this student is referred to a Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess venerated as the mother of gods and mortals, to recognize the heritage they were encouraged (and sometimes forced) to abandon through their educational journey.
Introduction
Immigrating to a new land and society is an incredibly challenging experience on many levels. One of the most challenging experiences is learning the new language. In the United States, some schools in our education system provides opportunity for students to acquire English aptitude through English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Depending on the curriculum and the instructor, this experience can be more or less threatening to the culture of their incoming students. On…
