Apparently, today was Controversy Day in my classroom

The novel the class is reading had a part in it about a rampaging ox. The kiddos weren't entirely sure what an ox was. I told them. They asked if it was the same as a toro and I said no, they were neutered. So of course they asked what neuter means. Then they asked what testicles were. Sometimes I'm really glad that the administration doesn't pop in randomly.

Later, one of the kids asked what racism is. The class consensus was that they all had some vague idea, but didn't really know for certain. Some of the kids thought that racism was using the n word. Of course, several of them (remember, bilingual class, first year in English) didn't know what the n word was-- and this is where I hesitated. But I answered. One of the girls raised her hand and said, as she was cringing back into her desk with embarrassment, "Ms. Güerita, I'm not trying to be rude, but what does nigger mean?" This whole discussion was making my skin crawl in a way that the testicle talk ever could. I told her that it was a word that has been used for many, many years as a weapon to hurt African Americans (the kids were using that phrase at this point, so I stayed with it), and that it was very hard to give it a specific meaning. THEN one of the kids asked why it was okay for African Americans to call each other the n word, but it was bad for someone else to. One of my boys said he felt like he understood that, but he couldn't put it in words. I let them talk amongst themselves about it, then I told them that that question was very controversial, and that people from every race disagreed about it, including blacks. Then I asked them how they'd feel if a white person came up to them and said, "What's up, raza?" (Yes, J, this one is dedicated to you!) That got several pairs of eyes narrowing, then lighting up. Then we had to get back to prefixes and suffixes.

They did ask me if we could find some reading materials with a racism theme, so if you can think of anything appropriate for late elementary students (non-fiction, novels, short stories, graphic novels, anything), then put it in the comments.

Pet Peeve

I will write a real post about my first week with my new kiddos soon. As for now, I'm up way past my bedtime, so I'll just say what's on my mind.

I am so fucking sick of ignorant, racist, privileged shit-for-brains people criticizing bilingual education. They see brown children with vowels on the end of their names and all the sudden they start howling about how Learning English Must Be Mandatory Because THIS IS AMERICA!!11eleventyone! "Bi" means "two." Two languages. In this district, English and Spanish. If a bilingual program is properly instructed, students exit the program fluent in BOTH languages. My current students are almost all fluent in both. Those who are less fluent are at least conversational enough to hold their own with a native speaker. Every single child wants to learn English, and every single child IS learning English.

If you can't discuss at least three variations on the bilingual model of education, then don't fucking comment on the subject at all. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.