Look for the Helpers: a response to John Kelly

[muriel_volestrangler]

From Twitter, via the Balloon Juice blog, where it's nicely formatted:

Link to tweet

"As a formerly non-English speaking immigrant, here is a story I cherish.

It's 1997. I just moved from Korea to Los Angeles area. I took regular English courses in Korea, and that was good enough to get me out of ESL classes and into the regular 10th grade classes.
...

It was my second day at the biology class. There was a quiz. My bio teacher, Ms. Gallagher, told me I didn’t have to worry about the quiz since I just got to the class, but gave me the quiz sheet anyway.

This is more than 20 years ago, but I still very clearly remember every detail of that quiz sheet. The quiz was about photosynthesis. It had a diagram of a leaf, and I was supposed to write what kind of gas comes to the leaf, what is expelled, etc.

I remember staring at it for about five minutes, slowly getting angry with frustration. I was mad because the quiz was easy. I learned about photosynthesis in Korea as a 7th grade. I knew all the answers. Just not in English.
...
So. Every time a fuckshit like John Kelly talks about non-English speaking immigrants not assimilating to America, I think back to Ms. Gallagher. I remind myself that America has way more Ms. Gallaghers than John Kellys.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/05/13/sunday-evening-open-thread-look-for-the-helpers/

[Stargleamer]

1. Mr. Rogers said it too. . .

[NurseJackie]

4. Me first thought as well. ❤️

[pwb]

2. How many languages does asshole Kelly speak.

.??? One ??? So who is better. .? Kelly speaks Putins divide us English, and is too stupid to realize he is a traitor.

[Honeycombe8]

3. I don't get it. This guy DID speak English.

So he's not an example of "non-English speaking immigrant." ???

Kelly was still full of it. The country has had non-English speaking immigrants in large numbers before. Chinese, Italians, maybe Germans.

I suppose Kelly was speaking of the immigrants from Mexico. They tend to live in neighborhoods together (as most immigrants from the same area historically have), and speak their native language. The Italians did that. The Chinese did that. It is their children, who go to American schools, who learn the English language and assimilate better, historically, I think. But it's hard for the parents to assimilate like their kids. But that's the way it is, and it hasn't been a big problem, has it?

[Lonestarblue]

5. I think he was referring to Mexicans and Central Americans.

Many of those coming from El Salvador do not speak English and some of them have little or no education because their country is a mess. The teaching of English is mandatory in Grades 7-9 in Mexican schools, but many schools in poor areas cannot afford English teachers. Mexican kids who go to private schools are taught English, beginning as early as pre-school. I live in Texas, and it is common to hear Spanish here, but most people speak both English and Spanish and can switch back and forth easily. I wish I could do the same!

[Honeycombe8]

8. I think he was, too.

Interesting background info. Thanks.

[Sophia4]

12. Some of my ancestors did not speak English when they came.

Their children learned English but liked to speak their parents' native language among themselves.

I live in Los Angeles. Lots of older people speak mostly Spanish. The children and young people learn and speak English. He is just oblivious to the history of our country.

I understand a lot of Spanish, and I speak several other languages. Learning a language is not all that difficult especially if, as with Spanish, it is based on Latin. That is to say if it is a Romance Language or a language related to German such as Dutch or Norwegian. You just listen carefully for words that sound like English and build from there.

[Sophia4]

6. The Dutch and the Germans also lived in their own communities and

gradually became assimilated to the US.

Same for the Jewish people from Central and Eastern Europe, Scandanavians in the northern Middle Western states like Wisconsin and Michigan.

And then Buffalo, N.Y. welcomed German-speaking immigrants after WWII. The list goes on and on.

Unless we are Native American, we were all immigrants at one point or another. And many of our ancestors did not speak English.

John Kelly should be ashamed of himself.

I've lived in countries in which I had to learn the language. Humans are engineered to learn languages. It's fun.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Exactly.

If I came from an area where a lot of other immigrants came from, and we all spoke a different language, I'd want to live around them, too. It would make the trauma of culture shock more tolerable, more comforting. We'd understand the traditions, the language. We don't look down on each other...we're all immigrants!

[Sophia4]

13. It's more than language.

It's food, entertainment, what you find funny, sports, religion, lots of cultural things.

We are a melting pot. We always have been.

[Blue_true]

11. There are some enclaves in big cities that still are very ethnic.

Some orthodox Jewish enclaves.

I was on a business trip once in New England and got lost. I ended up in a place where not one person spoke English. I don't know if you have ever seen a movie where a guy walks around asking everyone he sees a question, only to have them look at him like he was from Mars? Well that was me, literally 20-30 people around and not one spoke English, but they were trading and speaking with each other in their native tongue. I gave up and was leaving when a guy touched me on the shoulder and said something in his native tongue, flustered, I gave a courteous knod and was about to move on when a girl of about 14 called out in perfect English. She gave me perfect instructions using words for things that I would have used. Her parents spoke no English, but she seemed to have been very steeped in the culture of America.

[Blue_true]

7. You think. You are right.

The second generation assimilates close to 100%, after that it is all 100%. First generations tend to stay in enclaves because that is easier for them, they also tend to take jobs that no one else want and often hold down two jobs.

[Honeycombe8]

10. Yes. I understand why they do that. I'd want to do that, too. nt