by David Safier (Exclusive to El Blog for Arizona)
I haven't written about Tom Horne's decision to get rid of teachers whose English is heavily accented and possibly not grammatically correct. It's one of those stories that take a little time to wrap a post around, and I haven't had the time to do it justice.
But here's some news that makes Horne's decision look doubly wrong-headed.
According to a new research study conducted in Israel, students learn a second language better from a teacher who speaks in the same accent as they do.
Here's the idea, and it makes a lot of sense. If I'm a Spanish speaker learning English, my speech is going to be heavily accented as I'm learning. If my teacher speaks English with the same accent I do, I'll be able to recognize the sounds more easily. In other words, I won't have to translate U.S.-English pronunciation into the Spanish language sounds my ear is accustomed to. That's one less hurdle for me to jump over.
Over time, my English will lose some of its Spanish accent, but job one for me is to learn English words and figure out how to put them into English sentences. No teacher is going to make me sound like a native in my first few years of study, no way, no how.
I'm trying to think of a single instance where nativism actually makes sense. Maybe someone out there can come up with one for me.
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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu May. 27, 2010 5:43 PM PDT.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/05/24/am.gutierrez.az.ac…
Tom Horne is WRONG, if you are going after public school teachers then you must implement this auditing of the taxpayer supported Charter schools. Can he really pick and choose which laws he wants to support and only go halfway?
The Sonoran Science Academy’s in Arizona have immigrated Turkish teachers into the USA under HB-1 Visas. They have THICK accents and no experience teaching, their backgrounds are questionable. Many parents and students have complained that this is an issue.
The Sonoran Science Academies have Turkish American Clubs, teach Turkish Language, Dancing, Singing Poetry. Et Al, Turkish Nationalism. and selected students get a trip to “Europe” which is actually a trip to Turkey at the end of the year for a performance. Turkey is actually in the Middle East (Asia Minor) and is not even apart nor will ever be part of the EU. Why do they call it a Euro Trip? Part of the deception of safety in words. Not to mention they do have an affiliation with the Islamic Gulan Movement.
Schools like this are in violation in two ways. One under the No Child Left Behind act implemented by Georgie Bush 2002 and two, the Ethnic studies program ban set in motion this year. Sonoran Science Academy is in violation of the law under both of these policies.
Tom Horne, you cannot audit one school and turn your back on the Charter Schools that you support. Hypocrate. !! Charter Schools are public schools. Supported by our tax dollars. For some us already knowing that Turkish Non Profits in the community have already been given free trips (delegation meetings) to local journalist, State Lawmakers in Education and the assistant to Janet Napolitano.
Cited from the Arizona Daily Star.
“In my main story that day, Superintendent of Public Education Tom Horne said all that matters to him with the regard to the Turkish-run schools is results.
He was unconcerned with possible connections to this religious-political movement or the large scale use of teachers from Turkey and Central Asia. And many commenters after the story took this position as well: If they’re not proselytizing and the kids score well, so what?”
Tom Horn is a Hypocrate….Either lift the ban or go all the way !!
You’re making the rather staggering leap of faith that Mr. Horne actually wants to educate these kids.
I suspect, like conservatives everywhere, Mr. Horne firmly belivees that “Government can’t do anything right” and he’s spent his term doggedly pursuing that very goal.
I don’t know if accents help or hurt but I would suggest drawing the line at “possibly not grammatically correct” when it comes to teachers.
If I wanted to learn Spanish I certainly wouldn’t pay for one whose Spanish grammatical ability was only “possibly correct”.