ayala920's Xanga

Bilingualism

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:44:46 GMT

When I was a Gallaudet student I heard a lot about "bilingualism." Gallaudet, in an effort to comply with MSCHE's accreditation standards, is in the process of making the university “bilingual.” To do this, they’ve begun providing ASL interpretations of many of the written announcements on the website, such as the website for the new SLCC building.

It doesn’t bother me that they are providing both ASL and English interpretations of information. What concerns me is the manner in which they’re doing it. The university has stated that they are including videos of signed information to aid people in understanding the material. THAT ISN’T BEING BILINGUAL. That’s saying, “Oh, you can’t read English? All right, we’ll interpret it for you.” Call it was it is- translating. It’s not bilingualism.

The same could apply to virtually any language. People say America is becoming a bilingual country because we have so many Spanish speakers. Um… no. Having two distinct groups of people who speak two different languages isn’t bilingualism. If all children were raised speaking Spanish AND English, we could call it bilingualism. Instead, there’s a big push for English speakers to take Spanish courses in order to better communicate with Spanish-speaking immigrants. That makes a lot of native English speakers bilingual (myself included), but doesn’t make the COUNTRY bilingual.

This rant came to me while at work. Several months ago a coworker (who was raised in America by Mexican immigrant parents) expressed shock that our boss didn’t know Spanish, despite having worked at Panera for three years. When I pointed out that several of our non-English speaking employees had been at the store just as long, she didn’t understand my point. “They don’t speak English… So? Why doesn’t he learn Spanish?”

Why the double standard? I always use the example of myself travelling (or moving to) another country; if I wanted to move to France for an extended period of time (several years of more), I would learn French. Maybe not fluently, but enough to get by on a day to day basis. I’d want to for my own comfort, knowing that I could go into a restaurant and order my own meal.

Day after day I encounter non-English speaking customers who approach me and order in their native language. I’ve had MANY people get angry with me because I could not understand what they were saying to me, and been cussed out for it on several occasions. If we want to call ourselves bilingual, let’s actually make people bilingual. Not SOME people learning two languages to communicate with those who don’t know the majority language.

Same applies to Gallaudet. We can be a bilingual university, but only if we stop babying deaf people who can’t use English properly. Teachers (and students) are afraid to criticize those who write English poorly for fear of being portrayed as “audist” or “oppressive” (the two most over-used words at Gallaudet). Last I checked, a professor’s job included teaching, not simply waving along students.

Rant over.

National Powwow

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:35:26 GMT

For those of who aren't aware, this weekend the National Museum of American Indians is hosting the National Powwow at the Verizon Center in DC. If you've never been to a powwow, this is your chance! I was fortunate enough to attend one when I interpreted the 2005 National Indian Education Association conference in Denver, Colorado, and I'm eagerly anticipating this one as well.

There will be CART and ASL interpreters for the Saturday night festivities. Admission is $15. Hope to see some of you there!

Foot in mouth disorder?

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:27:09 GMT

Once again Ridor has put his foot in his mouth, this time in a big way. I don't care what school you support or what colors you "bleed," it is NEVER acceptable to cite amusement as a reaction to a devastating massacre that killed 32 innocent students and faculty at Virginia Tech. I can only imagine what Ridor would have said had something this tragic occurred at Gallaudet. I doubt "amused" would have been one of the words he used.

What happened at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 is not only devastating for those involved, but a terrible reminder that we are not immune to violence and heartbreak, no matter how safe we think we are. Please keep VT in your thoughts and prayers, and may nothing this terrible ever befall anyone else.

SBG

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:41:23 GMT

As we all know by now, Rob McConnell and Sara Collins won the SBG race for President/Vice-President for 2007-2008. Congratulations to the two of them. Despite what some are saying, I think they were the most qualified candidates, and they'll do a great job in office.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 04:01:58 GMT

For the first time since 1995, the USA deaf hockey team has won the gold medal in the Deaflympics. Congratulations to the whole team!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:26:54 GMT

For those of you who have somehow missed the boat on the live webcasts of hockey games at the 2007 Winter Deaflympics, check out DeafNation TV's live coverage of hockey games this week. I'm still upset that I wasn't able to fly out to Salt Lake City for the Deaflympics, as I work with the hockey team at the week-long Stan Mikita Hockey School every year, but at least I was able to watch my boys kick Canada's butt. Go USA!

Canada and the USA have a long-standing rivalry in hockey:

2003; Sundvall, Sweden: USA took home the bronze, behind Canada and Russia (respectively).
1999; Davos, Switzerland: USA took home silver, behind Canada
1995; Rovaneimi, Finland: USA took home the gold
1991; Banff, Canada: USA took home Silver.

Here's hopin' the USA keeps up with their amazing playing!

A rare venting session

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:35:51 GMT

I don't typically use this blog to vent. Really, I don't often use it for much of anything. However, today has proven a difficult day for me, and I figured that Xanga was a good substitute for an ear or an eye.

I am a hearing student at Gallaudet University, which I'm sure anyone reading this already knows. What most people don't know is how and why I came to be here. I began signing at the age of 6, when I was a kindergarten student in a mostly hearing class with two or three mainstreamed deaf pupils. I took annual after-school classes every year, and maintained my connections with my deaf friends when the mainstream program whisked them away to a different junior high and high school. I knew from an early age that I wanted to have a career in a deaf-related field, and I worked to keep my signing skills up to par.

I entered Gallaudet last fall, when the university was in the midst of turmoil and on the cusp of a protest. Despite some screaming that Gallaudet was exclusive to those who were deemed "deaf enough" by some higher power, I rarely encountered any problems when my peers discovered my magical ability to hear. Most people were surprised to find that I was hearing and not of a deaf family, and I soon got used to the phrase, "You sign like a deaf person!"

Today, however, was a different story. I'm in a linguistic class at Gallaudet that is a rare find: 9 hearing students (all female), 5 deaf students (4 male, 1 female). 7 of the hearing students are not actual Gallaudet students, but "visiting" students from other schools; one woman is a "special" student, taking only one class to decide if she wants to come back to school. Only myself and one other girl are legitimate Gallaudet students, and we have found ourselves lumped into the same category as the other 7 girls.

I don't like this for a multitude of reasons. First of all, my teacher has a habit of singling out hearing students whenever they react to what someone says. We were discussing calling some "ASLish" or "Ameslan-ian" instead of "deaf." When a deaf student suggested the term "Ameslan-ian," I giggled at the new term he had created. I appeared to be the only hearing student who actually understood what he said, and my teacher turned to me and asked why I was laughing. I responded with, "I don't know, it just sounds funny." What I wish I'd said was, "Hey, it's a new word for me, and that's pretty cool."

My teacher interpreted my comment to mean that I was making fun of the student, or that I was suggesting that the pronunciation of the word was awkward or humorous. The situation was further compounded when one of the visiting students said it would sound funny, though it turned out that she misunderstood what we had said. I caught the deaf girl telling the original commenter that I simply "didn't understand" because it was new to me. She quickly looked away when she caught me watching her conversation.

It surprises me how quick my professor and my classmates have been to lump me in the same category as the 7 other students. The teacher rarely makes eye contact with any of the hearing students, and I have to struggle to get within her line of vision. There is an obvious divide in the class between the hearing and deaf students, and the teacher doesn't help the situation by pretty much always facing the "deaf side." I'm finding myself, for the first time in six months, being blatantly disregarded simply because I can hear.

We discussed CODAs today in class, and the teacher commented on how hard of a time they have going between the deaf and hearing world, since one is the world in which they grew up, though they are still technically part of the hearing world because they can hear. While I recognize that it isn't quite the same situation, it is comparable to hearing students at Gallaudet. I don't consider myself a "hearing student" here, but simply a "Gallaudet student." This is my university, and I'll be damned if I let myself be treated like crap because of something out of my control.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 06:53:06 GMT

I just watched a video on CNN about a deaf high schooler who was prohibited from bringing his trained hearing dog to school with him. While I obviously don't think that should have been done, I wonder why he really needs it in school with him, or at all, for that matter. I understand a hearing dog for someone who lives on his/her own, but he's a 14 year old who lives with his parents.

But, beyond that, I wonder what would happen in a situation where, say, the teacher was allergic to dogs. Perhaps he attends a small school with only one teacher per grade, and that teacher has a severe dog allergy. Who gets the special treatment here. Since he is in school, I'd say the dog isn't a necessity and the teacher would have the right to request that he didn't bring the dog.

Thoughts?

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:57:00 GMT

Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope you were able to be with your loved ones and you got what you wanted.

I'm back in Illinois for winter break. I've been staying in Bloomington-Normal (Central Illinois) for most of the break with friends, where I'm working at Panera (my old job). It's nice to be earning a regular paycheck again, and it's even been nice to work my butt off. I'm currently up near Chicago at my parents' place, where we had Christmas with the family (minus Ev and Megs).

I'm looking forward to getting back to Gallaudet, actually. I'll be flying from Chicago to Tampa on January 11th. Amp and I are going to stay down there for a day or two, then drive up to North Carolina to stay with his dad for a night or two. I've never been to Tampa or North Carolina, and I've never seen the ocean, so I'm pretty excited about this.

BoT

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 06:05:51 GMT

Board of Trustees to meet Saturday

The board will meet in a special executive session this Saturday, November 11, at the Kellogg Conference Hotel. The purpose of the meeting is twofold:

* To discuss the appointment of an interim president for the University

* To discuss matters related to internal board governance

The first part of the meeting will involve discussions between the board and representatives from faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Following these discussions the board will meet in closed executive session.