--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>
> My father came here after WW I and spoke badly broken English until
he died
> at age 90, nearly 70 years later. He and many of his generation of
> immigrants preferred to live in Italian enclaves and speak Italian
among themselves;
> yet he worked hard to put me through college where I chose to become
an
> English teacher. And so Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's words last
night hit home:
My father was born here, but being one of the eldest first generation
siblings, his first language was italian. he and his older siblings
went to school not speaking english. they in turn taught their parents
and younger siblings to speak english.
The same thing is happening today. My daugther is a public school
teacher (1st) with mainly immigrant students. They are learning
english. they are teaching their parents.
It would have been nice at the beginning of the 20th century if
governments had made some accommodation to the new immigrants in terms
of language. But they were a cheap labor commodity. Much like the
immigrants of today.
This discussion has moved off of its original focus. If AP has a
hispanic affairs liason and some officers speak spanish, then we are
doing the right thing.
But what it moved onto quickly was xenophobia.
Foreign languages should be mandatory begining in 1st grade. That's
when you learn.
I have not heard Italian spoken in my family in 20+ years. I miss it
so much that I just began taking lessons in Manhattan one night a
week. It's much tougher when you are older.
America is what it is because of immigrants and their
semi-assimilation. That never changed.
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