Transcript
Julio Elizondo
Boise State University student and Manager with Sears Credit
I had a comment as far as bilingual education. I remember starting the first grade and kindergarten and I grew up in a home where the Spanish language was a majority of the part even though I had older brothers and sisters who spoke English. And going into school, my teacher really didn't understand where I was coming from when I would address issues in class. I remember being sent into a special needs class in which the teacher was showing me flash cards and I remember saying pajarito for bird and she would say, "No, no, it's bird." And so, finally, it was ingrained in me that no I shouldn't speak my language if I wanted to fit in and don't want to go to this trailer where kids are making fun of me thinking that I am not smart enough or that I am not competent enough to stay in their class. I better not speak Spanish at school. For several years after that, I didn't speak Spanish at school. I would speak it at home and with only a few people that I understood and I felt comfortable with. But finally, when I was in 7th grade, there was situation that occurred at my high school where they were trained to incorporate junior high school students to go and mentor the younger kids. While being there, I just saw kids that were in the same situation that I had been in that felt frustrated and didn't feel that they were fitting in, and I opened up and started speaking Spanish to them and translating for them. So it just empowered me to become a mentor for them and not to ignore my culture or where I come from and to value it because opportunistically. If I don't value who I am, who is going to value me? I understand that English is our main language here in our nation, but at the same time, we are nation of diversity. We do not want to become isolated; ignorance is caused because you are not open to learn other people's cultures and understanding what their difficulties are. We don't want to be in a situation where we are not embracing diversity and become isolated, vulnerable to situations where we are not communicating effectively.
|