Reflection of Jim Cooper "Down On The Island" : Chapter Eight "Helping"

February. 23. 2014

Chapter Eight "Helping": 

     

     In “Down on the Island” by Jim Cooper you will get a glimpse of what teaching the English language in Puerto Rico has been for the past fifty years.

     In Puerto Rico, a child arrives at school for kindergarten or first grade with an ample vocabulary in Spanish. He or she can communicate with his peers and teachers. However, when teaching English to these same students there is a gap when trying to establish the same vocabulary into English.This is how the teacher first teach a language, by association with what the student already know. According to Cooper, this seems to be a quite problem for the teachers, since the pronunciation is a great difficulty.

         On the other hand, in this chapter he touches accurately a huge conflict that college professors had to faced: cheating. The idea that he presented in this chapter is that Puerto Ricans called "cheating" as helping your classmates. By definition the word "help"means to do something by offering assistances. As Cooper says: "cheating goes in all schools everywhere, of course, but I hadn't seen it done as openly and outrageously as it was in Puerto Rico." (Cooper pg.79). After stating this, Jim Cooper continues telling us that cheating is wrong and that it should not be done. 

  

          After reading this chapter on “Helping, I noticed that he describe how Puerto Ricans utilized cheating more as helping and cooperating with each others, rather than as a immoral behavior. The polemic for Professor Cooper and others professors was that they didn’t know how to work out with students cheating, who supposed they did not committed something erroneous. However, the chapter reveal in some way that Puerto Ricans are educated since they are kids to collaborate with others, so that they do not perceive it as something wrong to look at their classmate’s test. For Mr. Cooper and of all the other American professors, this helping behavior was clearly cheating.They denounce that this incident as something wrong that it needed to be mended.Unlike to Puerto Rico, USA taught to their students since they are kids is to be competitive. For this reason, professors began to work with students to make them understand their point of view, but somehow the students never understood. Nevertheless, Cooper was one of the professors who got used to the conception and started seeing it as something typical about Puerto Ricans. The purpose for him to write about his ideal learning concepts is to illustrated to the reader the good side of a Puerto Rican. 

    In conclusion, it was at first hard for Professor Jim Cooper and the rest of the American English teacher to comprehend the main source of the cheating problem, until they find out that this behavior was taught since first grade.

     In my opinion, I believe Professor Cooper has explained the difficulties of teaching English to Spanish speakers. Puerto Ricans need trained teachers, with good pronunciation to accomplish this. However, I consider he has belittled the Puerto Rican people. Teachers cannot measure everyone on the island with the students they have in their class. 

1. http://www.uni.edu/becker/

2.http://www.facultymatters.com/autumn11/collaboration-cheating/

3. http://www.123rf.com/photo_16012627_student-cheating-at-exam-looking-at-a-friend-s-writing.html

Reflection on "Down on the Island" by Jim Cooper

February. 23. 2014

Chapter Seven: Teaching English : 

       
       The purpose of languages is communication, but languages also have a great power to serve as markers of group identity. The Spanish language, of course, has more than an emblematic importance in Puerto Rico. It also serves as a demonstrative point for Puerto Rican identity, direct opposition to the English-speaking United States of America.

        As I said, Puerto Rico has two official languages: Spanish and English. But Spanish is without a doubt the main language spoken in Puerto Rico, as most of the people in the Island are not adept in English. Language has been a crucial issue in Puerto Rican education and culture since United States Army invaded Puerto Rico. However, “ In 1948 Spanish was made the medium of instructions for non- language subjects at all levels of the public school system in Puerto Rico; English became a special subject to be taught in all grades” (Epstein pg. 133). Till 1948 the public school language program had been a center of argument. In addition, were those who felt adherence with the objective of having Puerto Rico become a permanent part of the Union, the way to make the people “American” was to make them learn the language. 

   
        Still, every school in Puerto Rico teach students both languages Spanish and English, but they focus more on Spanish and teach them English as the second language. On the other hand, in 1991 the Puerto Rican legislature, succeeding the lead of the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party and the governor, Rafael Hernández Colón, legalized a bill that made Spanish the island’s official and primary language. However, in 1993 the pro- statehood governor, Pedro Rossello, certified legislation reestablish equal status to Spanish and English. 

    

       

      During the 1950‘s a professor from the Minneapolis called Jim Cooper traveled from US to teach English at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus . At the UPR-Mayagüez he taught English for various years. In his book “Down on the Island” he talked about his experience during his years teaching on the Island. He confronted various dilemma with students. Most of the students he taught could barely speak or write English. 

      According to Cooper, I think that it is a fact that public schools in Puerto Rico have mismanaged related to English teaching. In Puerto Rico is taking classes throughout the student life, being poor and inefficient for many. I consider that Puerto Rico should develop a system for teaching the English language much more vigorous and efficient, compared to the present. It would be extremely competent for the development as a country.

1. http://muniz-arguelles.com/resources/The+status+of+languages+in+Puerto+Rico.pdf

2. http://internationalliving.com/fund-your-life/teaching-english/

3. https://www.pinterest.com/explore/german-quotes/

"Small Place": Jamaica Kincaid

Monday. February 17. 2014

“A Small Place”: Jamaica Kincaid

        “Antigua is a small island that was settled by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Not too long after, it was settled by human rubbish from Europe, who used enslaved but noble and exalted human beings from Africa” (A Small Place 80-81). Antigua became self-governing in 1967, but did not achieve the status of an independent nation within the Commonwealth until 1981. Born on the island of Antigua, Jamaica Kincaid has become one of the most influential and important authors of post colonial writing today. In " A Small Place", Kincaid attempted in this work reflect or articulate the own identity, the identity of a native of the island of Antigua, demanding an authentic past to replace the unavoidable oppression imposed and suffered from the arrival of the English settlers. Kincaid begins the story by describing what the reader might see and think as a visitor to Antigua. Kincaid in the story criticizes the way that people are acting in Antigua. Her attitude towards the visiting Princess Margaret is reminiscent of the child in the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. As an adult, the same criteria which Kincaid saw through the pomp of the royal visit is turned on the island at large. In describing the violence of colonial conquest, Kincaid emphasizes a fundamental loss of security and belonging, using the word “orphan” to describe the colonial situation. She speaks bitterly of the corruption of the government and the passivity of the people, but the main force of her anger is directed toward the English who colonized Antigua. She describes herself as so angry about England’s crimes that she cannot support to hear England praised. Also her anger toward tourists is slightly less intense and is focused on the ignorance required of people to enjoy themselves in a desperately poor place. She is astonished that more Antiguans don’t share her outrage and is frustrated by their apparent acceptance of their status. As the resentment of the adult, Kincaid reveals that she remains deeply attached to her home and to her people. However, where I, as a reader, slipped easily into the role of tourist at the beginning of the story. I quickly felt uncomfortable, guilty, even for something that I had neither prior knowledge. 

Throughout "A Small Place", especially in the final section, Kincaid makes an illustration of Antigua’s natural beauty. She describes the intense colors of the nature, the sunlight, and the sea. The idea of unreality, that she mentions, is part of what she sees as the effect of the island’s beauty on those who live or travel there. Kincaid ‘s work, A Small Place, evidence the search of Caribbean identity, amid the need to overcome past traumas, resisting the imposition of a culture, language and customs by settlers, seeking its individuality through language, and also promoting reconciliation of each other’s existence on equal terms. Through “A Small Place”, Kincaid writes a history of truth and understanding. She wishes to break all cultural boundaries of racism and colonialism, in order to make of Antigua an autonomous place. 

References: 
- http://www.neiu.edu/~circill/lopez/mcs225/weekxismall.pdf

-http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/kincaid/bongiorni2.html
- books.google.com.pr/books?isbn=1592134130

- books.google.com.pr/books?isbn=0520230213
- http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/smallplace/summary.html