Final Post

              Lin et al. has one of the truest statements I’ve ever heard, “We are restrained and limited by the kinds of cultural stories available to us.”  In one sentence this sums up American History!  The textbooks are very much workings of Othering.  Many huge historical American events have different actual events than what I thought I knew.  I thought Columbus founded American and later on learned this was not the fact at all.  This is American’s teaching American History!  This narrow view of America is nothing compared to the narrow view of other countries I was taught about.  We are exactly limited to the stories available to us. McKay and Bokhorst-Heng state that because many English bilingual speakers use English on a daily basis with one or more other languages English is influenced by these other languages.   Providing children’s literature rich with cultural varieties is extremely important!  We can integrate children’s literature into all subject areas.  This addition to our classroom alone can make a huge impact on how our students view the world.  It is even more meaningful to our ELL students whom are looking to make connections with their L1. In Wendy Wang’s story she was able to relate the two languages she spoke to each other and that shaped the way she communicated.  We can create a classroom which embraces diversity if we can show the students how to find commonalities among many different cultures.

                One of the biggest things I will take out of the Aprropriating English, Expanding Identities, and Re-Visioning the Field is from Nobukhiko Akamatsu.  He talked about the connection he made with his English teacher.  His continued education and growth in English had nothing to do with content and everything to do with the connection he had with Mr. Okuhara, his teacher.  If this one teacher can make such an impact image what many teachers can do in a lifetime!  This is going to forever impact my classroom environment.  I often skip over some of the “fun” extension activities because of time.  These fun activities are what kids remember.  If I can have more meaningful conversations with my students, and create positive relationships it is going to carry a lot further than the one year I have with them.  Maybe I can be the motivation for one my students to be a teacher and further educate the future.  Lin et. al sums it up best, “it appears that issues of agency, ownership, and identity are closely related to the learner’s investment in English.”   This directly links to CLT teaching method as described by McKay and Bokhorst-Heng.  These series of activities give the students practice on skills they are going to need for the future.  In also gives them the activities in which they will remember in the future.  It gives them lots of opportunities to talk and use English.