Binding Languages: ‘American’ Identities and Bilingual Education :: Free Essays Online

Binding Languages: ‘American’ Identities and Bilingual Education The turning points in one’s lifetime remain imprinted in a person’s mind like stamps on an envelope. They are always vivid and no matter how long time passes, the smells, noises and emotions felt always remain on our minds. The day I arrived at St. Vincent Ferrer ’s elementary school, I was only nine years old. Three days earlier, I had stepped off a plane at the Cincinnati’s international airport from Italy. My English knowledge was constrained to naming colors and counting up to one hundred. And yet, when I first stepped in my new 4th grade class, I felt welcome. Perhaps this was because I was the novelty in the class and all eyes that day remained on me. Many stood in awe wondering how and if an Italian girl looked, dressed, or talked differently from an American girl. That day, I was assigned to spend the day with Amanda, a girl with blue eyes and brown hair who seemed to have a happy expression on her face. It is still amazing to me today that, despit e completely not understanding each other, Amanda and I got along. This became evident during recess when she taught me how to play tag, a game not common in my native land, by using gestures to explain the rules. However, this use of gestures could not remain as the permanent mode of communication between us. Soon, the inability to interact with others because of a language barrier would impede my social development. This not only meant that I could not grow deep friendships with my peers, but also that I was left completely alone. No one talked to me during lunchtime; no one included me in his or her games; no one wanted to be my partner in any activity. Furthermore it would also slow down my intellectual expansion. Being unable to understand the meaning of words spoken by my teacher, I could not understand what the lesson was about. This made me feel as if I had lost my intelligence and my capability of learning. However, if I had been allowed to speak my own language within the school system while learning English, perhaps much pain and frustration might have been spared. The bewilderment, excitement and sense of fitting in on the first day of classes began and ceased that day. It would take months before I would feel again that I could belong with these people.

Reaction Paper on Economic Forum on Philippine Governance Essay

Our country has great potential for mining developments. It was also mentioned by Dr. Habito that mining has contributed significant economic growth for the country. I am working in a mineral exploration company, and I have witness the mining investments flourished when the government made structural changes to the mining laws. More mineral exploration companies opened acquiring mining tenements and pouring in million of investments. Not only that, we generated employment and uplifted the lives of the local communities thru road developments and other rehabilitation programs where our mining area is situated. But as time goes by, the promises of the government were not fulfilled. Rampant â€Å"Red Tape† is still present every time we process exploration permits and other pertinent documents. The government bureaus still practices bribery for easier approval. Another important concern of my company and other exploration companies is the â€Å"Peace and Order† situation as the government promised to control 10 years ago. The situation has not been improved. Mining camps are still attacked by these belligerents/insurgents groups to threaten the mining companies to fulfill their wishes. The LGU’s of the particular community were not given full force to set directives in dealing with insurgencies. The local military always heed for directives from the national military to propagate security but then incidents have been done. As the same example mentioned by Dr. Habito, on over centralized agrarian policy, that the national government disposed fertilizers to national agrarian in belief that it was good for all farm lands of the country. But then some farmers on respective provinces don’t find this disposition as effective as the use of the Carabaos to mow and cultivate their farms. He pointed out there is a need to give stronger roles for LGU to direct the concerns of the local community. LGU’s knows more what is better for their community. Another good example discussed by Dr. Habito is the development of Clark Airport Tourism. The emergence of international flights in Clark Airport paved way to business expansion but fell short when the crab mentality of other â€Å"Airlines† instigated and aided from the government to minimized the international flights in Clark Airport to serve their self-interests. Dr. Habito instilled that the government should develop more liberal aviation policy and open skies environment to attract more investments. Subsequently, our company is moving our exploration activities to other Asian countries for better opportunity and effective government policies. We believed that our investments here in the country are not optimized due to these flaws and self-serving government operatives. Evidently, Philippines is rich in natural mineral resources that could bring great opportunities for the people. But we cannot maximize development because of poor governance. Even if the laws are severally revised for optimal purposes but they are just written instrument if these are not effectively realized.

Louis Armstrong And The Civil Rights Movement - 974 Words

Louis Armstrong is a man of many talents and skills known for creating a new environment, especially in his home town of New Orleans. He was born into poverty on August 4, 1901 in the streets of Back o’ Town (Meckna). He’s a professional jazz performer who played with Oliver and Henderson. He started as a soloist for Henderson after marrying Lil Hardin. He has many nicknames in which some are Satchmo and Pops. He also played as a second trumpet for King Oliver. He interprets and contributes to the genre of jazz, creates great form through his performance in the â€Å"Hot Chocolates,† and his work represents a whole for equality and the civil rights movement. His contributions â€Å"ended one jazz era and started a new one† (Louis). Armstrong contributed to jazz by incorporating his own style of music. He was a soloist who played the cornet, trumpet, and sung. He created the Blues scale and incorporated a new feeling called the â€Å"Bleusy† feeling to Jazz. Bleusy was different from of music because it was being expressed more than the music itself. His work was also improvised, which means that he did not have a planned piece to play if he was performing. The pieces he played were made up on the spot which makes his pieces more expressive and in the moment. He turned jazz into an individual improvisation which did not break away from the ensemble. While swaying from the standard jazz form, he also transformed jazz from polyphony to solos. One of his most famous songs â€Å"Hotter Than That†Show MoreRelatedLouis Armstrong : The Father Of Jazz And The Starter Of A Whole New Way921 Words   |  4 Pages Louis Armstron g was perhaps the father of Jazz and the starter of a whole new way to express the African-American culture, but he was also much more than that. Armstrong was one of the greatest leaders that the African Americans could have asked for, whether or not they knew it at the time. He was not recognized for his leadership skills as much as he was for the iconic jazz music he created. Louis Armstrong expressed black culture through his music and did not make it for people to enjoy, insteadRead MoreThe Legacy Of Jazz And The Civil Rights Movement1432 Words   |  6 Pagesoften underappreciated and hidden from the general public. There is evidence of this covering up of the history of jazz for example in the civil rights movement. The roots of jazz started with the bringing of African slaves to the Americas. While many do not know this origin of jazz even fewer would know about the involvement of jazz in the Civil Rights movement. For the entirety of America’s history jazz has refle cted the political and social climate of the current state of the country. SimilarlyRead MoreComparing Bix Beiderbecke And Louis Armstrong1567 Words   |  7 Pageslikely to cross paths than Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. Coming from radically different backgrounds, both musicians drew upon their influences to make music that revolutionized jazz, creating two separate legacies interwoven among each other in the peak of jazz popularity. Both Beiderbecke and Armstrong used their trumpets and their unique styles of playing, ranging from hot jazz to cool jazz, to fuel political, cultural, and social movements, inspiring individuals inside and outside of theRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance and Its Effect on the American Dream1541 Words   |  6 PagesAfrican American intellectuals, artists, and poets had already â€Å"set up shop† there. One of the places in which they did so was Harlem’s Cotton Club. This cabaret was famous for launching the careers of jazz musician s such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. However, the club was owned by whites, and its primary audience was whites. Still, the importance of the club is untestable. It was the way for upper class White Americans to experience what the African American culture was like at the timeRead More Louis Armstrong Essay1336 Words   |  6 Pages Louis Armstrongs Influential Career Louis Armstrong’s Influential Career Louis Armstrong was the most successful and talented jazz musician in history. His influence and expansive career continues to make waves in the jazz world. That is what made him become what he is to many today – a legend. Born on August 4, 1901, in the poorest section of New Orleans, Armstrong grew up with his grandparents due to his parents’ separation. On January 1, 1913 he made a mistake which turned out to be theRead MoreLouis Armstrong : An Era Of Fast Beat And Improvised Style1121 Words   |  5 Pagestwentieth century was Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong through playing and singing with a unique sound, spreading the influence of jazz throughout his life, and overcoming racism in the 1920s, helped to revolutionize music of the twentieth century. Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Louis Armstrong was born to a poor family and for many years of his childhood, Armstrong lived in an orphanage for delinquents (Slawecki). When he was seventeen, Armstrong was introducedRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance, A Cultural Movement Essay1063 Words   |  5 PagesAlly Johnson November 13, 2016 African American History Art, Music, Literature†¦Freedom. The Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement that began in the 1920s and continued until the early 1930s, brought excitement and a new found freedom and voice to the African-Americans who had been silent and oppressed for far too long. â€Å"Centered on the Harlem district of New York City, the Harlem Renaissance was part of a nationwide urban revolution sparked by World War I. The cultural outburst, which followedRead MoreLouis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, And Nat King Cole Essay2010 Words   |  9 Pages Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Nat King Cole. These men all lived vastly different lives, but one exploit that they will always hold in common is that they helped to develop jazz into the integral part of music it exists as today. Jazz created a form of expression that allowed an entire generation to show what they valued and what they represented in life, which is exactly what the men I mentioned earlier did. Accordingly, they did not just make catch y tunes for dancing to andRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance, A Social, Cultural, And Artistic Movement1298 Words   |  6 PagesRenaissance was a social, cultural, and artistic movement that started in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s. Although it is generally considered to span from 1918 to the mid-1930, many of its ideas continue today. â€Å"The Harlem Renaissance was a phase of a larger New Negro movement that had emerged in the early 20th century and in some ways ushered in the civil rights movement of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s† (Thomas, 2017). â€Å"The social foundations of this movement included the Great Migration of AfricanRead MoreLouis Armstrong : The Influential Shapers Of Jazz Music1311 Words   |  6 PagesLouis Armstrong is one of the influential shapers of Jazz music. Armstrong had an ability to master both the instrumental and vocal aspects of older Jazz, and hence revolutionized contemporary jazz. Armstrong’s ability ch anged his position in the band. He quickly became the centerpiece of a performance, while other performers became more of a background due to his incomparable talent in both vocals and the cornet. This helped emphasize his unique style of performance of contemporary jazz. Armstrong’s