Transcript
Julio Elizondo
Boise State University student and Manager with Sears Credit
I had a comment as far as bilingual education. I remember starting the
first grade and kindergarten and I grew up in a home where the Spanish
language was a majority of the part even though I had older brothers and
sisters who spoke English. And going into school, my teacher really didn't
understand where I was coming from when I would address issues in class.
I remember being sent into a special needs class in which the teacher
was showing me flash cards and I remember saying pajarito for bird
and she would say, "No, no, it's bird." And so, finally, it
was ingrained in me that no I shouldn't speak my language if I wanted
to fit in and don't want to go to this trailer where kids are making fun
of me thinking that I am not smart enough or that I am not competent enough
to stay in their class. I better not speak Spanish at school. For several
years after that, I didn't speak Spanish at school. I would speak it at
home and with only a few people that I understood and I felt comfortable
with. But finally, when I was in 7th grade, there was situation that occurred
at my high school where they were trained to incorporate junior high school
students to go and mentor the younger kids. While being there, I just
saw kids that were in the same situation that I had been in that felt
frustrated and didn't feel that they were fitting in, and I opened up
and started speaking Spanish to them and translating for them. So it just
empowered me to become a mentor for them and not to ignore my culture
or where I come from and to value it because opportunistically. If I don't
value who I am, who is going to value me? I understand that English is
our main language here in our nation, but at the same time, we are nation
of diversity. We do not want to become isolated; ignorance is caused because
you are not open to learn other people's cultures and understanding what
their difficulties are. We don't want to be in a situation where we are
not embracing diversity and become isolated, vulnerable to situations
where we are not communicating effectively.
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