I'm assistant teaching ESL Advanced Begining English and Intermediate English to Somali students again this morning. Last week i got to witness the abject stupidity of standardized testing applied to people who have not been indoctrinated into the cult of the sacred bubble sheet. I couldn't tell whether to laugh or cringe when the teacher started flipping out when one of the girls used a pen instead of a number 2 pencil. To clarify, I mean I was laughing at the teacher. All her cultural sensitivity seems to fly out the window whenever she gets frazzled. How was that girl supposed to know she HAD to use the No. 2, when it had simply been hande dto her without explaination, and so often teachers tell you only to write in pen?
I guess in their reading class the kids are going over a condensed version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Ordnarilly, I'd be pretty in to this idea, but their reading materiel included a section explaining what Gypsies are. "Baby eating thieves who use magic and cause trouble." One of my closest friends is of Roma descent, and when I heard about this reading I was absolutely floored that they could use stuff like this in any class. If this passage had regarded any other race, I guarantee you, they wouldn't be reading it in class. I fully realize that, in the context of the reading, the Gypsies are not viewed in the most flattering light. However, I don't expect that Somal refugee ESL students to be masters of discerning context, especially when 19th century racist ideology is presented as modern day fact.
I guess in their reading class the kids are going over a condensed version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Ordnarilly, I'd be pretty in to this idea, but their reading materiel included a section explaining what Gypsies are. "Baby eating thieves who use magic and cause trouble." One of my closest friends is of Roma descent, and when I heard about this reading I was absolutely floored that they could use stuff like this in any class. If this passage had regarded any other race, I guarantee you, they wouldn't be reading it in class. I fully realize that, in the context of the reading, the Gypsies are not viewed in the most flattering light. However, I don't expect that Somal refugee ESL students to be masters of discerning context, especially when 19th century racist ideology is presented as modern day fact.
