Chapter 2 Summary

I enjoyed the way chapter 2 explained different aspects about wording and pronunciation.  These are factors that I have not considered in the past when dealing with someone who does not speak English as a first language.  I have heard about being careful with hand gestures as some countries can take these very personal or offensive.  The other factor that I had not considered was how Americans calue time and see it very differently than other countries.  This can be a big factor to consider when setting up times for parent teacher conferences or even meetings with the child.
The biggest factor for me was the considerations for pronounciation of words.  This is a big factor for me as I have always enjoyed phonics and keeping in mind that children from other countries may not be familiar with pronouncing certain sounds at the beginning of words or even in the middle depending on the sound.  Then there is the point of putting two words together to create another meaning.  This makes languages difficult as learning the two words is fine but now you also have to know what these two words mean when combined.  Looking at this can help to understand why a new language can be so difficult to learn.

Wide Angle Video

Watching these videos was real eye opening.  I did not realize that there was a plan to make sure every child is to get an elementary education by the year 2015 from 187 nations.  Many nations charge for public school and even though it is a menial amount, it made it impossible for some children to go to school as the money was not there to pay for schooling. 
Lifestyles also played a large part in some communities.  Women in some of these countries were not thought to be allowed to learn and until recently many women were not allowed to receive any education at all.  I feel I have taken the United States Education System for granted in these aspects. 
In Pakistan the fear of war and being killed as a child just trying to go to school would be horrible to have to deal with on a day to day basis.  Taliban is against education and have burned the school buildings down in some areas that they have a stronghold of.  Also because of these problems, books, pens, pencils. and other materials are just as hard to come by too.
Other countries such as Kenya where poverty is high and there are other problems such as drug dealers and police raids where opening fire can cause many other casualties as well. This is just daily life for these people and yet the children are still going to school even though there parents have died, there is no food to eat, or the violence in the street has come closer than usual. 
These children seem determined not these almost unbearable circumstances get in their way of education.  American children seem soft in comparison to these children whose way of life seem impossible.  We complain if we cannot have a book to take home and one to keep in the classroom, or that our backpack is too heavy, while these kids walk miles to school everyday dodging drug dealers, gunshots, or bombs, only to get to school that has no supplies and maybe one book for every five to ten kids in the room.  These kids are still expected to do homework without books and learn.
A few of the children have other problems besides poverty which is the way of life.  The girls are expected to take care of the house and do all of the family work as well such as farming, cooking, and cleaning, meaning that there is not a lot of time left over for an education.  The few that are going to school are lucky to be able to get even some education, while others are not able to receive any education at all.  THis is a way of life for these people and change is moving very slowly.
There were a couple of other children that were getting a highly desired education but there were sacrifices in those families as well.  In Romania a girl in kindergarten had to take the subway/train system to get to her school by herself.  In America this would be considered child abuse. If a bus does not pick our children up then we drive them or they go to a school locally. High Schools are earned so testing is not just a statistic to see if the teachers are doing things correctly. The testing in these schools determine what type of high school education the students can get into. 
School systems around the world are vastly different from those here in America.  We seem to take a lot of things for granted in this country including our education. Many children around the world have a larger than life struggle, yet they still attend school and realize that without an education, even basic, they will not be able to get out of the slums that they are currently living in.

Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter one was a little dry to read as there was more data than anything else.  Statistics are never easy to get through and it seems as though there is a data overload with the abbreviations and learning acronyms.  It reminds me of learning a new language only on a smaller scale.  The stories of people in the chapter as examples made it a lot easier to read and tied much of the data together.  It was like getting an "Aha" factor.  The chapter did make me realize that there is a whole other side to teaching that has to be considered these days.  This is a factor that I had not fully considered when going into the profession, but now realize it is just as crucial as all of the other parts that I had considered.  Making sure there is a connection to each student and not let them fade away is something that we all need to be knowledgeable about.
Working with students from other cultures will obviously have its challenges as not all speak Spanish, but come from all over the world and each student has to be dealt with differently, to help keep them plugged into the learning system.  This first chapter was a wake up call with regards to what challenges that will come about as I get closer to my teaching degree.  After completing this class I hope to be better armed in taking care of all the children in any classroom that I am teaching.

Community experience

My family was visiting Arkansas State University as my son is looking to possibly attend the college this fall.  We were visiting the track and cross country teams during our two day visit.  While we were there one of the coaches began to explain why the college recruits students from other countries.  The first reason I thought to myself was due to the students talents, which is true, but another benifit is that there is a large increase in revenue to the community due to the increase of students from other countries.  The college has learned this first hand by looking at the revenue in the community and total number of students in the college.  The college did not increase the amount of students, but increased the amount of foreign students and the community saw an increase in revenue.  I had never thought about this as a benifit for the community and how much of a benifit there would be with bringing in foreign students.  Shortly after this conversation, we then met a student from South Africa and in just a few minutes we learned some details about her village and community that I felt we could have never received from a book.