Blog #4: A New Look

I went for my final visit at the Rock Island High School, I was there for quite awhile. I arrived at the school around noon to help the kids out with some math. A few of them and I went out into the hall and played a math game. It was so much fun watching them interact. All the boys got to excited when they got an answer right and it was wonderful to see them all trying so hard. After math I was able to help out another ELL teacher, Mrs. Miller. I was able to talk to her more about the program and how she got started in it. Mrs. Miller prepares the kids for the test they have to take in order for them to graduate the program. I found out that there is about 152 students enrolled in the ELL program at Rock Island High School and about 54 of them are all freshman. It is nice to see the program growing. Mrs. Miller absolutely loves being able to work with these kids. She said they are all wonderful kids that work so hard at learning new things. When she heard about the program, a little over ten years ago, she jumped at the chance to work with these kids. She is strict with the students but she does a good job with them and you can just tell that she loves her job. During the class I was able to teach the kids and Mrs. Miller something about one of their test questions because it had to do with the human brain. During my final Class period at the high school, I was given the chance to work with level four kids. These kids are at the final stage in their studies. When they pass this level, they take their test and they get to be done with the ELL program. I had usually worked with level one students so seeing level four was a huge change. Three of the kids and I went to the library and read a story about an Indian girl being captured form her home and had something very important to her taken away, her hair. It was a sad story because the girl said she felt trapped and that her freedom was gone. The worst part, was that one of the boys said, "I know exactly how she feels." It broke my heart a little but I tried not to show it. I'm sure he didn't really want to talk about it. I asked these three boys what they wanted to do when they graduated. One boy said he wanted to be a cop, one said that he wanted to be a marine, and the other didn't quite know. He wanted to be famous some how. I enjoyed hearing these things because it made me happy that they wanted to really be apart of the American community, especially the boy who wanted to be a marine. He is from a different country yet he wants to be able to fight for this country.

I believe there could be a few concepts from class that could be seen in this day. One large one I saw was acculturation. The boy who wanted to be a marine when he graduates is trying to adapt some of the American cultures. In the American cultures it is considered an honor to be apart of the military and even though he is from another country he wants to share in this honor. The kids wanting to work hard and getting so excited about being in this program could be experiencing the "Honey mood" stage of culture shock. I believe that the excitement of learning about the new country and its ways is viewed as exotic and fun. I noticed that the kids in the level four group didn't seem as excited about the learning but they didn't seem opposed to it either. I believe the higher level students have reached the acceptance and integration stage of culture shock.

I feel that in knowing how the way the students act can be related back to what we have learned in class, helps me to really understand the kids better. Being in this country has got to be scary to them at first only knowing so much of the language and being thrown into our school systems. It may seem irritating to the American kids at the school that they don't know as much but it shouldn't be. The other students should realize that these ELL students are so much stronger and braver than they might ever be. You cannot just expect people to come into our country and know everything about it and speak fluent English. These things take time and I personally am glad we have these programs to help these kids in learning our language and culture. I have learned that it is unacceptable to think that America is only for Americans. The point of America is to be the home of the free where the people who reside here can practice whatever culture or religion that they so choose. We do not need to judge others just because they are different or because they are from a different culture. We need to accept what America is suppose to stand for.