Blog Post 4

This second quotation from Lisa Delpit expresses several ideas teachers need to keep in mind as they go about their business in the classroom. Teachers need to be conscientious of where their students come from. More specifically, teachers need to be aware that sometimes maybe the language spoken in the classroom is not the language their students are used to. For example, perhaps a student is a first generation American whose parents immigrated from Mexico, and his or her parents only speak Spanish in their home. Consequently, as the teacher gives her lesson to the class, that student might be translating in his or her mind what the teacher is saying in English to Spanish in order to better understand the concepts. If the teacher were to tell that student that his or her process of thinking was “wrong,” like the quotation says, then that teacher is being disrespectful. Not only does that student then feel unloved because that’s the language his or her nurturing parents speak to him or her, but that student also may be hesitant to participate in class now, fearing that the teacher will ridicule him or her.

This concept is also a two-way road. My physics teacher in high school is from Egypt. My teacher expressed to us one day that as we are asking her questions in English, she is coming up with her response in Arabic, and translates her response back to English in order to communicate with us. Even though I was frustrated at times with her, we were able to work with her as a class to get passed this language barrier. If more students and teachers realized where everyone comes from, then the classroom will be a more peaceful and an efficient place for learning.