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In the articles Public and Private Life by Richard Rodriguez (LS pg.282) and The Misery of Silence by Maxine Hong Kingston (LS pg. 269) I see two basic spheres of Influence that affected these children's advancement in their struggle to understand English. The schooling influence is enormous, and for both of these children, the majority of their schooling was unsatisfactory. The family influence is also a big part of these children's development, and the strategies and effects of the two different families vary a great deal. With these influences introduced, I shall discuss the similarities and differences of these spheres and how they affected the children's development in the two different stories. The effects of poor schooling are very apparent in these two children's lives. Rodriguez attended a school of religious sorts that was taught by nuns without the least bit of knowledge on how to teach English as a second language. What they understood was that I needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions. Each time I'd hear them, I'd look up to see a nun's face frowning at me. I'd mumble, not really meaning to answer.
The nuns badgered Rodriguez with questions in English that he felt were too difficult for him to decipher, think about, and come to a decisive conclusion. These teachers did not understand that his apprehensiveness towards the questions was a result of failure to connect with Rodriguez. If there was a level of comfortability between the nuns and Rodriguez, he may have felt comfortable with attempting to make complete answers, therefore, progressing his English skills greatly. Rodriguez explains this situation: "Without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid. I would have trusted them and responded with ease." (LS pg. 282) If the teachers had made a small effort to connect, Richard's apprehensiveness to learn would have dwindled. Kingston also experienced the the lack of connection to her teachers that would have allowed more learning. She didn't completely understand English! These teachers made the same mistake that Rodriguez's teachers had, they failed to connect, or gain comfortability that would have allowed the children to talk openly, correctly or not. This would have allowed for constructive criticism, not punishment. The strategies of these teachers obviously did not help the youngsters in their separate searches for understanding. This lack of comfort ability destroys a huge avenue to knowledge, just because the teachers didn't want to take
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Approximate Word count = 985
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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