Letter

Demarie Enriquez
2580 17th street NW
Washington DC, 2009
D’marieEE@giggabits.net
November 24th 2009

Cc: Dr. Manuel Feliciano, President of Language & Literature of the National Student Association.
807 Ruddick Ave
Los Angeles, CA 545930
Dear, Dr Manuel Feliciano
I am writing you this letter to encourage and request that more professors in the department of languages in universities across the United States teach in a more oral approach to the class instead of grammatically.
I make this request not to be exasperating but to provide a critical commentary on the performance of most students learning languages in universities here in America. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian scientist, mathematician, linguist, philosopher, educator, artist, playwright, & social thinker, believed that “early introduction and approach to modern foreign languages is through development of speaking and listening through an emphasis on oral work; the good pacing of lessons through an emphasis on rhythm”.
While grammar is important in any language, when students have no real frame of reference to their native languages’ grammar, they struggle with learning a new one. I feel in order to absorb a language you must be totally submerged in the culture where you’re forced to learn the language because that’s the language they speak. An ideal way of teaching students language is to use oral expressions such as questions, phrases, dialogue, readings, and songs. With this technique you can not only teach the grammar but the right pronunciation of words and use more realistic phrases so that students can actually dialogue with people who speak that native language. A lot of the grammar and oral taught in class are not conducive to what is used in the real world. So why not replace it with practicing sentences and conversations so that over time the repetitive sequences become second nature to the students.
Understanding how to read and write in Spanish is a very good skill, but unless you are working for an international business or something that involves understanding written work it wouldn’t be very helpful in someone stopping them on the street asking them a question. The improvement of oral idiom in a language is very vital to the success of a student attempt to embrace and comprehend what they are taught. I sincerely hope that this diminutive amount of advice that I gave can be used as a frame of reference to make more developed lesson plans of language courses. Thank you for being charitable with your time. If you have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
DeMarie Feliciano

Racial Faux Pas

Have you ever had someone address your race to your ability to do something? Everyday African Americans like myself have dealt with race being correlated with are ability to articulate,communicate, or conquer some type of outstanding accomplishment. In the essay " Excuse me your race is showing" Author Karen Bates describes some events that her fellow associates and her herself have encountered while being black in America. Her essay describes how whites or others often think about blacks. They are illiterate, "Ghetto", work in low paying jobs, poor, only successful in sports and entertainment,and lazy. She describes their actions towards blacks and how it is very much of a Faux Pas in social etiquette. Many cases of these Faux Pas occur everyday, where its someone saying " I didn't realize you were black when i spoke to you over the phone, your very articulate." or Handing someone the keys to your car because they look like valet, even those statements like "all black people can dance", and "do you work here?" even when you see that the person doesn't have a work shirt on. Its common courtesy, all blacks don't make statements like, "I didn't realize you were white, you have so much common sense," or ask "what trailer park complex you live in"? We do just assume because they are white that they are any less or anymore then they are as a person. Unfortunately, i believe whites subliminally do that to keep blacks in that mindset of never being better than what they already are. Statements like that can have powerful holds over people, because your not only belittling their race but questioning their authority,social status, and their intelligence. And there is nothing more outraging then someone questioning your ability to think for yourself. "Excuse me your race is showing" depicts how ill viewed blacks are in America today and shows that some whites don't have the proper etiquette to know when to say or do things at certain times or even at all.

Afro-Latinos (Boricua y Moreno)

In revelations Roberto Santiago talks about his struggle with identity, in his essay he discusses the struggle of being an Afro Latino not knowing what race to claim as his own. As a child he could never quite understand why white people referred to him as black although he was also Latino, but to other Latinos he was Latino not black. Latinos separated themselves from being black as if to be black is negative. As if Latinos are not part African just like us. The battle with acceptance and his understanding of his own race is identified through situations he encountered in his childhood. A prime example would be when a white woman referred to him as a “Nigger” not understanding the capacity of hate in that word he had received advice from his aunt ( Tia/Ti-Ti). In her statements she subliminally tells her nephew that the need for separation is a mindset and that in the end even with our different culture and skin color we are all the same. He took her advice and decided not to let anyone categorize him into just one group he was a Boricua y Moreno and he loved it and appreciated it. Because in the end he knew no matter what even if black people don’t except him, he can be sure a white person will treat him as if he was black with no knowledge of his Latino heritage. To me this essay touches on a lot of things, 1. The fact that Being Black is looked down upon so degradingly, Black is not taught to others as being beautiful, it’s taught to be depressing and worthless. This keeps black separated from being a part of cultures that are relative to their own native one. 2. In many Latin American Countries discrimination against the Africans that live in the different countries like Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and many more. Many of them identify themselves separately in categories of Mestizo, White, Mulatto, Black, mixed Black-Amerindian, Amerindian, indigenous, and Mayan. To us, they are all Hispanic/Latino but they consider themselves different depending on their skin color. In most countries their census don’t account for the afro Latinos living in the slum parts of the countries listed above, therefore poverty and hunger is prevalent amongst those who are evidently of African descendent. 3. How ignorant white people are to judge people/ or assume that if your skin is dark then your black without even acknowledging that fact that you might be a different ethnicity. They continue to talk about us as if we are unsuccessful, unattractive, unsociable, and ignorant people. They assume that because we are not successful in the same things that they are in that it is of less value. No matter what Africans, Afro-Latinos, African Americans, Afro-Europeans, still have the richest culture and history and are built with skills to survive and make use of what they have to be successful.