UNIT on Language Oppression Final Revision 1/10/03

http://www.socialjusticeeducation.org Tools for Building Justice, January, 2003

UNIT on Language Oppression final revision 1/10/03

Session outline: 1. Introduction and photos After a brief introduction on languages and the domination of English in the United States, students brainstorm the meaning and effect of the command: “Speak English!” What is the implied message about one’s own speech? Photos are distributed and discussed, and students brainstorm resistance and alliance interventions to discrimination against people whose first language is other than English.

2. Silenced Voices Students examine the mistreatment of immigrants whose first language is other than English, developing a base from which to construct a picture of language oppression in the United States.

3. English Only Students examine the mistreatment of children of immigrants and indigenous people whose first language, or ancestors’ first language, is other than English. The class then defines language oppression and explores institutional forms of English-Only discrimination in the United States

4. Monolingual Culture Students review facts about language oppression in the United States. The session concludes, optionally, with a speakout from students whose first language is other than English or students, acting as a “school board,” modifying current school practices and structures to promote a multilingual school with access for “todos nosotros”all of us.

5. Todos nosotros means all of us Students act as a “school board” to modify current school practices and structures to promote a multilingual school with access for “todos nosotros”all of us.

Preparation for the unit If you have more than one or two students whose language of origin is other than English (bilingual students or monolingual students whose language is other than English), several options are indicated at the opening of session 1 (“bilingual introductions”) and the closing of sessions 3 and 4. Following option a, you will continue to session 5; following option b, you will conclude with session 4. You will have to assess the comfort and safety level for the non-English students and the resources you have to translate their words appropriately into English, not making them responsible for translation. Review the process entirely with these students prior to the unit, in confidentiality; use the “bilingual introduction” and “speak-out” options only with their agreement.

Unit on language oppression 1 Session 1: Speak English Aims • To introduce the unit on language oppression • To identify and discuss day-to day conflicts affecting people whose first language is other than English

Skills Students will: • Identify facets of the domination of the English language usage in day-to-day life • Identify negative effects of the conditioning of children to “speak English” only • Analyze depictions of conflicts involving English language domination and suggest resistance and alliance responses to conflicts

Preparation If you have students who speak existing languages other than English (bilingual students or monolingual students whose language is other than English) and you have the resources to translate their words into English, ask them prior to beginning this unit if they would be comfortable, with support from you, with introducing the unit by welcoming students to it in their non-English languages. If they agree, proceed with option a; in all other cases, proceed with option b. You will need photographs for the group discussion

Session Description After a brief introduction on languages spoken in the United States, students brainstorm the meaning and effect of the command: “Speak English!” What is the implied message about one’s own speech? Photos are distributed and discussed, and students brainstorm resistance and alliance interventions to discrimination against people whose first language is other than English.

Session Outline 1. To Begin: Bilingual Introduction 10 minutes 2. Language 10 minutes 3. Speak English! 15 minutes 4. Photographs 15 minutes 5. Conclusion 5 minutes

Agenda 1. To Begin: Bilingual Introduction 10 minutes a. (Option) Begin by having students who speak languages other than English and who have volunteered to do so introduce the unit by offering a simple welcome to all students in their own languages. Have remaining students simply listen to introductions for a few moments without translation.

Have students consider, silently, what it might mean to them not to understand the language being spoken. Then, ask them to notice, silently, any urge to demand that the speech be translated.

Then provide brief translation.

Unit on language oppression 2

Have students think for a few moments about what it is like, in fact, to welcome other languages into the classroom: • Have students who conducted the introduction volunteer how it felt to them to be welcomed to speak in languages other than English; • Then have other students talk about what it was like to have other languages welcomed in the classroom. b. (Option) Begin by having students observe the classroom. What signs are there, on the walls, in the textbooks, in students and teachers’ interactions with each other, that English is the language spoken here? What would be different about any of these things if other languages were present and welcome?

Close with the question: • Why have a multilingual culture? How would it benefit students in this classroom, at this school, and in the larger world to be able to live in a multilingual society?

2. Language 10 minutes Introduce the unit on language oppressionon how people may be discriminated against in the United States based upon languagereminding students of agreements.

Explain that throughout the unit you will use “monolingual” to refer to people who speak one language fluently and “bilingual” to refer to people who speak at least two languages fluently.

Continue with the following questions: • What are some examples of languages other than English spoken in the United States? Include examples from Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, the different parts of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia and the North American continent itself. • What is the dominant language used in the United States? Give as many examples from daily life as you can, quickly and briefly, that show English is the taken-for-granted language to be used. • Give brief, one-sentence opinions, referring to U.S. history, about why English seems to dominate.

Acknowledge that in many or most countries and cultures one language may as a matter of course be dominant. The problem comes when other languages, and speakers of other languages, are discriminated again. Review responses to the last questions and continue: • How large a role in English-language predominance in America, if any, was played by: o military conquest o occupation or annexation, or o exclusion of languages other than English by “English-only” laws or other means?

3. Speak English! 15 minutes

Unit on language oppression 3 Have students prepare for visualization, sitting comfortably, closing their eyes or looking at the floor, &c. Reminding them of the heart exercise, invite them to think of themselves as young children, “hearts.” Ask them to imagine silently, in turn: • the first moments in which they began hear and understand words and sentences • the first moments in which they began to use words and sentences • the people who taught them their first words • how the latter responded when the first words came • what it was like to begin to hear, understand, and speak with others in the home • what it was like to begin to hear, understand, and speak with others outside the immediate home • how the earliest language learned from home, whether a language other than English or a variety of English, still affects them

Continuing the visualization, inform students that you will be giving a command in a stern voice. Invite them to notice silently what thoughts or feelings arise when they hear the command.

Repeat the command “Speak English!” in an imperative, measured voice several times. Allow a few moments of silence.

Bring students out of the visualization to answer the following questions: • How did it feel to hear this voice? (Try to use feeling-words to answer). How might it make you feel about yourself? • What was the voice implying that you were not doing, or were doing wrong? • What was it telling you to do? • Suppose you were raised in a home where people you were close to regularly spoke with a regional dialect or “accent” of English: e.g. “Midwest” or “Southern” or “Appalachian” or “Texan” English. What would the command be telling you about the way you are speaking? About the people you were close to? About what you are supposed to do? • Suppose you were raised in a home where people regularly spoke a language other than English, e.g. Japanese, Tagalog, Spanish, Navajo, Italian. What would the command be telling you to about the way you are speaking? About what you are supposed to do?

Write the words “language” and “culture” on the board, circling them and connecting them with a line. Have students build a word map to define culture, loosely, including following items: • one’s background or community • one’s heritage, or the history of the people they come from • part of one’s identity • the ways people live together, or • the ways they do things

Close by asking students: • What connections can you draw between the first language one learns to speak and the culture one comes from? • What might be lost about language and/or culture when one language is made to be dominant or exclusive over other languages?

Unit on language oppression 4 • How might this classroom be affected by suppressing the use of languages other than English? What might be lost by the students who speak those languages? By the students who don’t speak those languages?

4. Photographs 15 minutes Distribute photographs to continue the discussion, considering them in turn:

Incident # 28: “speak English!” (Two Haitian youth are discussing something in Creole/French by their lockers. Two white youth scowl at them while passing. One of them says, ""I hate it when they do that. Why don't they speak English?") (without captions): • What do you think this scene is about? • What do you think the white student is saying?

(with captions): • What are the Haitian students doing? • What does the white student mean by what he (?) is saying? • What reasons do you think he would give for “hating” what the Haitian students are doing? • What do you think of those reasons? • How might the other white student be feeling? • Are the Haitian students aware of the white students’ reactions? If so, how might they be feeling? • How might the Haitian students successfully resist or intervene with the attitude of the white student? • How could the other white student intervene with his friend as an ally of the Haitian students? • What connection can you find between this interaction about language and racism?

For this photo you may wish to take a moment to define the term “Creole,” to be used here and in the following sessions: “Creole” refers primarily to people with multiple heritages of African and French descent, from Caribbean islands like Haiti and Dominica and the southern Gulf coast of the U.S., and the languages or dialects they speak.

Incident #29: “can’t understand a thing she’s saying!” (Latina youth and her mother sit across the desk from a vice principal. The mother says, "Nice to finally meet you." The vice principal looks at the daughter and says, "What did she say? I can't understand a thing she is saying.") (without captions): • What do you think is happening in this picture? • What parts do each of the characters in the photo play? • What message do you think the older woman is conveying? • What message or attitude do you pick up from the “professional”? • Why do you think he’s not responding directly to the woman?

(with captions): • What is happening in this picture?

Unit on language oppression 5 • What attitude is the professional conveying about the older woman? • How might the older woman be made to feel by his attitude? By his talking directly to the younger woman? • How might the young woman be made to feel about this interaction? About the older woman? About herself? • What could the older woman do to intervene against the “professional” response? • What could the younger woman do to intervene against the “professional” response? • If you were the young woman’s best friend, how could you be an ally to her? • What connection can you find between this interaction about language and racism?

5. Conclusion 5 minutes Close by summarizing: Our ability to speak provides us with access to the world. Our first languages provide us with speech and culturebackground, heritage, identity, a way of doing thingsor, put another way, with access to the world through a particular speech and culture. When languages are suppressed, culture is suppressed as well.

Reminding students of the opening visualization of them as “hearts,” with first language experiences. Have them speculate, for a few moments, on what it would be like for everyone to have their first languages invited into the classroom.

Unit on language oppression 6 Session 2. Silenced Voices Aims • To identify major groups in the United States discriminated against on the basis of language • To examine discrimination against immigrants, refugees and migrant workers in the Untied States whose first language is other than English

Skills Students will: • Identify major features of anti-immigrant oppression in the United States • Identify major features of racism directed against immigrants to the United States whose first language is other than English

Preparation You will need markers and butcher/poster paper for small groups. (Keep posters for use in the following session.)

Session Description Students examine the mistreatment of immigrants whose first language is other than English, developing a base from which to construct a picture of language oppression in the United States.

Session Outline 1. To Begin 5 minutes 2. Language Oppression 10 minutes 3. Entry Papers, Gatekeepers 30 minutes 4. Conclusion 10 minutes

Agenda 1. To Begin 5 minutes Remind students of agreements, and ask for volunteers to review the last session. Explain that in this session students will look more closely at the effects in U.S. society (and, increasingly, the world) of the dominance of the English language.

2. Language Oppression 10 minutes Explain that in this unit you will be using the term “language oppression” to explore how, in the United States, the dominance of English is used to discriminate against people whose first language is other than “basic English,” including: a) immigrantspeople who come on purpose, for economic or other reasons, from non- English-speaking countries, b) refugeespeople fleeing war or persecution, or seeking political asylum, from non- English-speaking countries c) migrant workerspeople who come temporarily to the U.S. for workfrom non- English-speaking countries d) U.S.-born children of immigrantspeople who were or are raised in the United States speaking languages other than English e) African-American descendants of African peoplepeople who were brought to the U.S. as slaves, speaking languages other than English

Unit on language oppression 7 f) descendants of people whose lands were taken or “annexed” by the United States, including o Native American peoples from across the continent and from Mexico to Alaska, o Spanish-speaking people from Texas and the American southwest, o French and Creole and Filipino and Afro-Caribbean people from Louisiana, and o people from Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands and Pacific Island communities such as Hawaii, (and, formerly, the Philippines) which were taken over or “owned” by the U.S., &c

List the italicized category headings on the board as you review them.

Point out that the definition could be extended to include other, looser forms of language discrimination, for example: a) against people who speak modified forms of English, e.g. “Black English” spoken by African-Americans, or “Spanglish” spoken by Latin-Americans (which are often forms of resistance to English domination, for example through retaining words, phrases and speech patterns from African or Latin American Spanish languages), or b) against European-American people with ethnic or regional “accents,” e.g. “Southern,” “Appalachian,” “Texan,” English speakers, or whose “ accents” represent heritage from Mediterranean countries, eastern Europe, or Ireland, e.g. people with Italian, Polish, Irish &c. “accents.” But explain that for the purposes of this unit you are asking students to consider the previous particular description of language oppression in order to focus on how people with other languages may be treated in the United States.

Have students review these categories, one at a time, and call out the names of some groups of people by nationality or race who fit in this category.

Note that the people targeted by language oppression divide up into people coming from outside the U.S. and people already within the U.S. Explain that students will “circle in” on English dominance by looking at several forms of discrimination that happen in the United States: anti- immigrant oppressionthe mistreatment of immigrants, refugees or migrant workers who come from other countries to the United States, the racism that happens to the children of immigrants born in the U.S., and the racism that happens to people already here whose land was taken or annexed. In this and the next session the class will take turns looking at how language oppression affects these three larger groups.

3. Entry Papers, Gatekeepers 30 minutes Twenty million “noncitizens,” immigrants, refugees and migrant workers who do not have “citizenship” status live in the United States today.1 Focusing on this first large groupingpeople who come from outside the United States, point out that immigrants, refugees and migrant workers face barriers of various degrees, depending on where they come from and why, to entering and living in the U.S. To think about how English dominance affects

1 Crawford, James, “Heritage Languages in America: Tapping a “Hidden” Resource,” October 1999, on Language Policy Web Site, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD

Unit on language oppression 8 them is to touch on the much larger issue of the mistreatment, discrimination against or oppression of immigrants.

Divide the class into three groups, reviewing your definitions of the relevant categories for each group: • Group 1 will think about non-English-speaking immigrants; • Group 2 will think about non-English-speaking refugees; and • Group 3 will think about non-English speaking migrant workers.

Distribute markers and a page of butcher or poster paper to each group, and have the group write its category across the top of its poster.

Within each group, students should pick one or two persons to write up responses, and divide the remainder of the group into two parts: one part will represent the target groupimmigrants, refugees or migrant workerswhile the other part will represent the “gatekeepers,” people charged to limit access to this group of people with which it deals.

What is a “gatekeeper”? Take a few moments to explain what you mean by “gatekeepers,” writing the definition on the board and listing examples. In this exercise, “gatekeepers” means anyone who is supposed to keep things the way they are, the status quo. Gatekeepers are put in place by a society to keep order, to keep the way “things are supposed to be” from changing or being upset or overturned.

Gatekeepers could be people who patrol or police the border of a country to keep “undesirable” or “different” people outor they could be congress people or newspaper editors or even teachers, whose job is to sure that things stay “the way they’ve always been.”

Guide groups together through the following timed exercises: a. the Heart Draw a large heart in the center of the poster. For 5 minutes, have the members of the target group (immigrants, refugees, or migrant workers) speak first, brainstorming as many answers as they can to the following questions. Scribes should write responses within the heart, using a different marker for each question. • Who are the people you represent, by race, nationality, &c.? • What are your “heart” qualitieswhat things are true about you as human beings? • Why did you come here? What were you looking for, or what did you need?

Stop the exercise, having students examine what they’ve produced for a moment. What connection can they see, so far, between this exercise and the “heart” exercise? b. the Border Have the scribes draw a tight, close, thick “wall” or “fence” or box around the heart. For five minutes, have the students who are “gatekeepers” brainstorm as many answers as they can to the following questions. Scribes should write responses outside the “wall” as supports holding the wall up, using a different colored marker for each question.

Unit on language oppression 9

• the ways in which we try to restrict access or entry to the immigrant group in its “heart” • the “standards” or requirements we insist people meet, in order to try to keep people from entering • the stereotypes about them we assume • any justifications we can use for making these restrictions

Stop the exercise. Have the “immigrant” students notice the access restrictions and “standards.” For a few moments, have them talk within their groups about how these would affect them if they were immigrants: how would they be made to feel about themselves? About their families?

Then have the entire group examine the “justifications” given for restricting access. • Which justifications might depend on stereotypes, assumptions, or simple misinformation about the targeted group? Circle these with a color not already used. • Which justifications are being used to protect privilege or power of people in the U.S.? Circle these with another “new” color. • Who are the “gatekeepers” that restrict entry for the people of your group? Who do they work for? Write these words around the outer circumference of the entire poster.

Reconvene all groups, having them take turns reporting their findings, posting them on the board.

Close by having students do a 2-3 minute “quickwrite” about their feelings in response to these findings.

4. Conclusion 10 minutes Close by having each student pick one of the examples of the “gatekeeper” they discussed in their groups, and imagine doing a “speak-out” to this gatekeeper on behalf of the people who the gatekeeper is “keeping out,” restricting their entry. Either in journal writing or out loud, have students complete either of the phrases:

• What I want you to know is______. • What I never want to see again is ______.

Unit on language oppression 10 Session 3. English Only Aims • To examine mistreatment of people within the United States borders whose first language is other than English • To define language oppression as applied to the domination of English in the United States • To define two of major effects of language oppressionlimitation of access and destruction of languages and cultures

Skills Students will: • Identify examples of mistreatment of people within the United States borders whose first language is other than English • Understand the concept of language oppression in the United States • Identify examples of institutional forms of language oppression

Session Description Students examine the mistreatment of children of immigrants and indigenous people whose first language, or ancestors’ first language, is other than English. The class then defines language oppression and explores institutional forms of English-Only discrimination in the United States

Preparation You will need posters from the last session and markers and new butcher/poster paper for small groups. Label ahead of time the posters for the activity in #2.

Session Outline 1. To Begin 5 minutes 2. The borders within 20 minutes 3. English Only 20 minutes 4. Conclusion 10 minutes

Agenda 1. To Begin 5 minutes Review the concepts of language oppression and anti-immigrant oppression developed in the last session using the posters created by small groups.

2. The borders within 20 minutes Explain that having looked at discrimination against immigrants, refugees and migrant workers, you will now turn to look at what happens to non-English-speakers within the United States: • U.S.-born children of immigrants, people who were or are raised in the United States speaking languages other than English, especially including U.S.-born children of people from countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, South and East Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Middle East, Africa and parts of Europe • African-American descendants of African people originally brought to the U.S. as slaves, speaking languages other than English slaves, and • descendants of people whose lands were taken or “annexed” by the United States, including Native American peoples from across the continent and from Mexico to

Unit on language oppression 11 Alaska, Spanish-speaking people from Texas and the American southwest, French and Creole and Filipino and Afro-Caribbean people from Louisiana, and people from Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, Pacific Island communities such as Hawaii (and, formerly, the Philippines), &c.

Return students to their three groups, assigning one category to each. Distribute markers and a new, prepared page of butcher or poster paper to each group; each paper should be titled with one of the three categories and the appropriate lists of groups included in that category, as detailed above, written in along the left margin of the paper.

From the center of the room, conduct the following exercise with these instructions:

• Draw a large circle on your paper; then draw a small “heart” inside the circle within. Notice the groups of people in this category listed along the margin. Think silently for a moment how people in this group, by race and nationality and ethnicity, may be targeteddiscriminated against, mistreated, treated as a minorityin the United States. Now write responses to the following questions.

a) How are they mistreated? (Write all responses to the following in the larger circle around the heart) • How might they be teased or made fun of? • How might their intelligence be undervalued or ignored? • How might they be discriminated against at school? In classes they are assigned to? In grades they receive? In activities open to them? In jobs available to them? • How might their original languages be destroyed or taken from them? b) What pressures might they be made to feel to learn English? (Write responses around the outside of the heart, as if these were closing it in.) c) Review the responses to these last questionsthe ways people are mistreated. Which responses do you think have to do with racismmistreatment of or discrimination against people of color? Circle these. d) Finally, write responses to the following questions inside the heart itself: • How might this treatment make them feel separated from the people they come from? • How might the destruction or disappearance of their language affect them?

When they have completed the three circles of the “borders within,” reconvene students, having them put up their posters next to the previously-made posters on immigrants, taking a few moments to look at each other’s work.

Have students return to seats for the final question: • Compare the mistreatment of these groups, because of racism, with the mistreatment you put up on the posters about immigrants, refugees and migrant workers. What features do you notice that are common to racism and anti- immigrant oppression?

3. English Only 20 minutes

Unit on language oppression 12 Review the definition of “oppression” from the foundation sessions, writing the formula on the board: prejudice + power/power-over = ism

Accordingly, you are using the term “language oppression” within the United States to mean the mistreatment of people whose first language is other than English and the elevation of English- speaking people into positions of power and privilege over them. Acknowledge that in the United States language oppression is often associated with racism, the mistreatment of people of color whose first language, or first language of their ancestors (in the case of African-American, Native American, Latin American and other groups)r. Explain that in their work on anti-immigrant oppression and mistreatment of people already within the United States, students have in fact mapped two forms in which language oppression works: a) Access: the restriction of access to rights and privileges of a full life in the United States, especially for immigrants b) Destruction of language/culture: the prohibition against, destruction of, or assimilation out of one’s original language and, thereby, culture, especially for indigenous peoples and children of immigrants.

Draw a word map of the following institutions on the board under the overall heading “English Only.” Inviting students to refer to these two conceptsaccess and destruction of language/cultureand the “findings” in the last two poster exercises (from last session and this), have them brainstorm the ways in which, in each and any of these institutions, people whose first language is other than English are discriminated against, or their voices are silenced. Use the following questions as a guide:

a) What outright violence or mistreatment happens to people whose first language is other than English? b) How is access to full participation in life in the United States limited for people whose first language is other than English? c) How might people whose first language is other than English be made to feel unwelcome in the U.S.? d) What might people be forced to give up or lose if they try to stay in the U.S.?

English Only Religion Real estate/housing/property Business/jobs police/prison/courts

sports military banks health/medical care

Unit on language oppression 13 media (TV, music, books, internet, video games, magazines, etc.) school/education

government/laws/voting/running for office history books

4. Conclusion 10 minutes Close by asking students to contemplate silentlyor write privately for a few moments aboutthe “silencing of voices” they have discussed throughout the session. Then have them volunteer to speak to what they would gain if all voices could speak, including those speaking languages other than English.

Unit on language oppression 14

Session 4. Monolingual Culture Aims • To define monolingual culture • To apply the concepts of oppression and alliance to language oppression (option a) • To map and strategize for a multilingual school environment (option b)

Skills Students will: • Define monolingual culture in the context of English as a dominant language • Identify early experiences of language oppression, conditioning of monolingual-English speakers, and alliance (option a) • Identify features of a multilingual school environment (option b) • Identify actions to promote a multilingual school environment (option b)

Preparation Assess your class, as indicated in the overall unit introduction, to determine which of the two options in the close of this session to follow. Option b will require small groups to have a note taker and paper

Session Description Students review facts about language oppression in the United States. The session concludes, optionally, with a) a speakout from students whose first language is other than English or b) students, acting as a “school board,” modifying current school practices and structures to promote a multilingual school with access for “todos nosotros”all of us.

Session Outline Both options a and b: 1. To Begin 10 minutes 2. Monolingual culture 15 minutes Option a: 3. Speak-out 25 minutes 4. Conclusion 5 minutes Option b: 3. Todos nosotros (from session 3, part 3) 20 minutes 4. Todos Nosotros means all of us (from session 3, part 4) 5 minutes 5. Conclusion (from session 3, part 5) 5 minutes

Agenda 1. To Begin 10 minutes Place students in dyads, having each student take turns remembering and summarizing as much as possible what the class undertook in the last two sessions and what they came up with in homework. At the close of the dyad, have a few volunteer to review the sessions. Explain that in this session students will begin to look at resistance to and alliance against language oppression.

Unit on language oppression 15 2. Monolingual culture 10 minutes By way of overall summary of facts of English domination, cite the following items from one language study report2: • The United States is more linguistically diverse than at any time since the early 1900s. In 1990, a language other than English was spoken in one out of six U.S. households • While the number of “minority”-language speakers is rising, their rate of Anglicization (assimilation of their speech to English) is rising even faster. • In Native American communities, about one-third of indigenous tongues have disappeared since the coming of Columbus. Of those that survive, nine out of ten are no longer spoken by children. Virtually all Native American languages could be extinct within two or three generations. E.g., a generation ago 95 percent of Navajo six-year-olds were monolingual in their ancestral tongue; by the early 1990s, less than a third started school fluent in Navajo. • Newcomer languages are being lost as well, notwithstanding new immigration. 64 percent of 8th and 9th graders first- and second-generation immigrant students in Miami and San Diego know English “very well,” while only 16 percent know the heritage language very well. • The most prominent cause of language shift is the domination of English in American economic and cultural life. In the Miami-San Diego survey, two-thirds of immigrant students said they preferred to use English as their dominant language. There are strong pressures on children to assimilate, combined with few opportunities to develop heritage languages in school and limited respect for such skills outside ethnic families and communities. • Sixteen states current have English-only laws. In a single year 4 English-only bills, attempting to make English the only official language in the United States, were brought before the U.S. Congress.

Point out that one of the prominent institutions in the United States in which language oppression can be played out is in schools. Ask for examples of English-only language oppression that students ascribed to education institutions in the last session, as well as any new ones that suggest themselves, in: • How students treat each other • The curriculum—what is taught and how it is taught • Textbooks • The classroom environment • Testing and grading • Discipline, suspension, expulsion of students • Selection of “gifted and talented” students • Failing or dropping out of students • Tracking students into different grades, different courses • School activities

2 Statistics gathered in Crawford, James, “Heritage Languages in America: Tapping a “Hidden” Resource,” October 1999, on Language Policy Web Site, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD, and Arteaga, Alfred, An Other Tongue, Duke University Press, 1994.

Unit on language oppression 16 • Activities for parents • Services for students whose first language is other than English How can you tell, in the above areas, that English is valued and other languages are valued less or ignored?

Explain the term “monolingual culture”: a culture that elevates, or leaves room for only, one kind of language, and by extension one kind of cultural expression, one set of values, and so forth. Point out that to the extent schools promote the elements of language oppression students have listed, they produce a monolingual culture.

Explain that schools can have the opposite effect, especially in the United States where there are potentially many languages and cultures that can meet in a classroom. Explain that students will turn to look at inclusion: how we can resist and become allies against the restriction of access and destruction of language and culture that happens in language oppression, by including all of us.

At this point take one of the two following options, based upon your assessment of your class.

Option A: If you have more than one student whose language of origin is other than English, conduct the following speak-out process and continue with session 5:

3. Speak-out 25 minutes a. Caucuses Convene separate caucuses, for students whose language of origin is other than English and one for the alliesstudents who are monolingually English. Have each group discuss the appropriate questions:

Students whose language of culture is other than English (invite students if they wish to answer questions in their own languages, with the option to translate or not): • One thing I love about my first language and culture • One thing I never want to see, hear or have happen again to people who speak my language is • One thing I expect from my English-speaking allies

AlliesMonolingual English-speakers • Languages other than English in my family or ethnic background, if any • Earliest memories of hearing someone’s language other than English made fun of, stereotyped, or mimicked, and how that experience might still affect me • One thing I could do to be an ally to people whose first language is other then English b. Speak-out

Unit on language oppression 17 Reconvene students. Have students whose first language is other than English come to the front of the class. For a timed period of 5-10 minutes, have them speak to the following questions, popcorn-style, while allies practice active listening. • One thing I love about my first language and culture • One thing I never want to see, hear or have happen again to people who speak my language is • One thing I expect from my English-speaking allies

At the close of the speak-out, for a timed period of 3-5 minutes have the ally students report back statements they heard, one at a time, without paraphrasing, commenting upon or replaying to the statements.

Close the process by appreciating both groups, and place students in dyads with other members from their own caucuses, 2 minutes each way, to talk about how it felt to conduct the speakout.

4. Conclusion 5 minutes Remind students of confidentiality, especially with relation to the speakout: confidentiality means not to talk to particular speakers about what they said without asking their permission, and not talking to other students about the personal experiences speakers might have shared. Close with students reporting one thought, one highlight, or one new idea they have from today’s session.

Option B If you do not conduct the speak-out process, close this session (and the unit) with the process outlined in the next session.

3. Todos nosotros (modified from session 3, part 3; note reduced time) 20 minutes Introduce the Spanish words “todos nosotros,” explaining that you will use themor “todos” for shortto stand for “all of us,” welcoming everyoneand everyone’s primary languageinto the classroom equally.

Explain that you are now appointing students as the new school board of this school: the people in charge who will build on the existing strengths of the school to build a learning community of and for “todos,” all of us who are here or could be here.

Divide students into school board committees for the following topics a) Curriculum and textbooks b) Testing/grading/student ranking practices c) Hiring practices: who gets hired and retained as teachers, administrators, front-office staff, counselors d) Physical classroom and physical school environment e) School activities and sports f) Community-related events g) Student interrelations and student government

Unit on language oppression 18 Explain that for the purposes of this class, students are now to make policy that converts the school from existing monolingual features toward a school in which all languages and cultures thrive. The task of each group will be to:

a) Brainstorm a list of things it wants to accomplish in your area (5 minutes) b) Prioritize and select one primary goal from the brainstorm list (3 minutes) c) For this goal, make a list of two or three primary barriers to overcome to achieve this goal (2 minutes) d) For each goal, make a list of three actions to take to achieve the goal, addressing the barriers and naming who (teachers, students, staff, parents, community leaders, &c.) will do what. (5 minutes) e) Using the classroom you are in right now, brainstorm one change you can actually make in this room right now to reflect your vision for the new “todos” school. (2 minutes)

Each group should have a note taker to report out what the group decides. Proceed with the exercise, keeping time and telling groups when to move on to the next part of their task.

Close by having student groups stop, stand, and take 2-3 minutes to rearrange the classroom with at least one change relevant to the immediate classroom environment they came up with in the last instruction.

4. Todos Nosotros means all of us (from session 3, part 4; note reduced time) 5 minutes Reconvene students. Have them point out changes that have been made in the classroom, and explain what the changes has to do with making room for “todos.” Close by having members of the different groups post their policy/action lists.

5. Conclusion (from session 3, part 5) 5 minutes Close by having students report one thing they learned or one highlight of the process.

Unit on language oppression 19 Session 5. Todos Nosotros means all of us Aims • To define multilingual culture • To map and strategize for a multilingual school environment

Skills Students will: • Define multilingual culture • Identify benefits for all students of promoting a multilingual culture • Identify features of a multilingual school environment • Identify actions to promote a multilingual school environment

Preparation Note takers for working groups will need writing implements and paper.

Session Description Students act as a “school board” to modify current school practices and structures to promote a multilingual school with access for “todos nosotros”all of us.

Session Outline 1. To Begin 5 minutes 2. Multilingual Culture 10 minutes 3. Todos Nosotros 25 minutes 4. Todos Nosotros means all of us 10 minutes 5. Conclusion 5 minutes

Agenda 1. To Begin Have students report any reflections they have had since the last session. Explain that in this session they will turn to building a multilingual, multicultural classroom.

2. Multilingual Culture 10 minutes Contrast “multilingual culture” to the “monolingual culture” described in the last session: a culture that makes room for all languages of its participants, and by extension all kinds of cultural expression, sets of values, and so forth.

Conduct the following discussion in two parts:

a. Returning to a question from the first session of the unit, have students form groups of three and take turns, within their group, speaking aloud to the following questions for one minute without interruption, while others listen. (Keep time and advise them when to switch speakers.) • Why have a multilingual culture? How would it benefit students in this classroom, at this school, and in the larger world to be able to live in a multilingual society? b. Reconvene students and invite responses from the entire group to the same questions.

Unit on language oppression 20 3. Todos Nosotros 25 minutes Introduce the Spanish words “todos nosotros,” explaining that you will use themor “todos” for shortto stand for “all of us,” welcoming everyoneand everyone’s primary languageinto the classroom equally.

Divide students into school board committees for the following topics

h) Curriculum and textbooks i) Testing/grading/student ranking practices j) Hiring practices: who gets hired and retained as teachers, administrators, front-office staff, counselors k) Physical classroom and physical school environment l) School activities and sports m) Community-related events n) Student interrelations and student government

Explain that for the purposes of this class, students are now to make policy that converts the school from existing monolingual features toward a school in which all languages and cultures thrive. The task of each group will be to:

a) Brainstorm a list of things it wants to accomplish in your area (5 minutes) b) Prioritize and select two or three primary goals from the brainstorm list (3 minutes) c) For each goal, make a list of two or three primary barriers to overcome to achieve this goal (3 minutes) d) For each goal, make a list of two to five actions to take to achieve the goal, addressing the barriers and naming who (teachers, students, staff, parents, community leaders, &c.) will do what. (10 minutes) e) Using the classroom you are in right now, brainstorm one or two changes you can actually make in this room right now to reflect your vision for the new “todos” school. (2 minutes)

Each group should have a note taker to report out what the group decides. Proceed with the exercise, keeping time and telling groups when to move on to the next part of their task.

4. Todos Nosotros means all of us 10 minutes Reconvene students. Have them point out changes that have been made in the classroom, and explain what the changes has to do with making room for “todos.”

Unit on language oppression 21 Close by having members of the different groups post their policy/action lists.

5. Conclusion 5 minutes Close by having students report one thing they learned or one highlight of the process.

6. Follow up Sessions/Activities

Assessment/Evaluation

Unit on language oppression 22