Transcript Slide 1

Retaining First-Generation Minority
Students at the University Level
San Juan College
By Larry Torres
Do minority students think
differently from mainstream
students?
Stretch
Your
Perspectiv
e!
Impediments
Two conflicting signals
Sometimes it’s a matter of reading
between the lines…
Slight Variations:
Rocks That Pray
From Amphibian…
To Mammal
Slight Variations: The Frog
Misperceptions of subject matter are
often a product of
cultural differences
in interpretation.
To illustrate this point your will now
be shown series of words.
As fast as you can, say the
color
of the word
instead of the word itself…
Read THE COLOR as fast as you can
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YELLOW BLUE
ORANGE
BLACK
RED
GREEN
PURPLE YELLOW RED
ORANGE GREEN BLACK
BLUE
RED
PURPLE
GREEN
BLUE ORANGE
Reasons for the difficulty:
The right side of your brain tries
to say the COLOR
but
The left side of your brain
insists on saying the WORD
itself
Students
whose
first
language
is NOT
English are
often
caught in
this same
situation.
What defines the “Chicano?”
• 1.) Chico/chiquito=little ones or minority?
• 2.) Méjico-Americanos=Mexican
Americans?
• 3.) Chinese + Mexicans = Chicanos?
• 4.) from the word “Chicanery” means
swindlers and thieves?
Actually…
• It comes from the word “Meshica=Aztecs.
• Meshicano by extension=sons of the
Meshica/Aztecs
Can You Hear
What I’m Seeing?
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Ran Dumb Max Suck Highness
Lease Hummer Reap Wrest Lee
Thud How Less Cow Poise
Bills Spare Reed Oh Boy!
Law Sand Jealous
Can You STILL Hear
What I Am Seeing?
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Haste Rubber Reap Eye
Pose Dulls Her Fizz
Knead Tomb Oath Hug Harass
Ale Of Huff Air
We Knit Train Zip Oars
Ape Arrow Uncle As His
You CAN Hear
what I am Seeing!
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Chew Rule Solemn
Some Arrow Limp Hicks
Koala Deep Rod Ducks
Kit Tread He Fort Hey Cough
Dawn Dude Rugs
Ape Hack Awful Eyes
Heaven is a place with…
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An American house,
Chinese food,
British police,
German car,
French art
Hell is a place with…
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A Japanese house,
Chinese police,
British food,
German art,
French car.
Etic
Emic
Another
element
that can color
perception
includes
religious
upbringing.
The Etic
tends to see
the
immediate.
The Emic
tends
to read
the deeper
significance.
Is this
Guadalupe
or
Juan Diego
dropping
roses?
Historical Trauma:
• A communal or tribal consciousness of its
past
• An on-going awareness of “cultural
difference”
• A sense of unworthiness or of inequality
• A personal sense of not belonging
• A perceived memory of better times and
places
The Native
Experience
The Black Experience
The Jewish Experience
The Irish Experience
The Hispano Experience
The Anglo American Experience
Institutional
Knowledge
Tribal Knowledge
Textbook culture
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Government approved
Government sponsored
Organized by levels
Outlined on syllabi
Usually instructor centered or led
Encourages students to be passive
Home Culture
• A wider agenda far beyond the
classroom walls
• Active participation
• The student sees himself as teacher
• Based on experience and tribal
memory
Institutional Attitude: We don’t
know who discovered water but
we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.
Institutional Attitude:
Shakespeare
can’t teach
a course on
Shakespeare
because he
doesn’t have
a degree in
Shakespeare.
Small Agenda, Large Agenda
What is “The Southwest?”
The term “Southwest” is an ethnocentric one;
what is south and west to the
Anglo-American was for a long time,
the north of the Hispano-American
and center to the natives.
On the south now, the international boundary severs
some of the Indians and Hispanos from their
cultural kin and older connection farther south.
-D.W. Meinig
The Multicultural Southwest
English written in
Spanish pronunciation
• Uans apan a taim der uas a litl boi ju laikt
to si pipl panic.
• Juenever ji cud, he ud crai: “Jelp! Jelp!
Ulf! Ulf!
• Da pipl ud cam raning tu juer da boi uas
and ji ud fal on da flor and laf jimself sili.
• Uan dei jauever, a ril ulf did cam over tu
juer da boi was…
Institutional VS Tribal Knowledge
has been parodied in the media
Look
for
Commonalities
Ownership
• By giving ownership you also endow the
recipient with responsibility, conscious
awareness and participation.
• This can only be achieved through regular
class attendance or field study.
• There is now a classroom full of teachers led
by one facilitator.
Palindromes: words or sentences that can be
read the same forwards or backwards.
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Snub Sununu’s Buns!
Snub Sununu’s Buns!
Slap nuts, stun pals!
Slap nuts, stun pals!
Eros? Sidney, my end is sore!
Eros? Si dne y,m y end is sore!
Do palindromes work in
Spanish?
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Yo hago yoga hoy.
Yo h ago y oga h oy.
Anita lava la tina.
Anit a l ava l a tina.
Échele leche.
Échel e leche.
Amad a la dama.
Amad a l a dama.
Metathesis:
The transposition of letters or numbers
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Spaghetti=pasghetti
Magazine=mazagine
Breakfast=breafkast
Ask=aks
Hamburger=hangerber
Pizza-Hut=Hutta-Piz
Nuclear=nucelar
CommonTranspositions
in Spanish
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Piedra=pierda
Catálogo=catágalo
Estómago=estógamo
Gabriel=Grabiel
Derritir=reditir
Pared=pader
Telaraña=taralaña
Ciudad=cuidad
There are experts everywhere but
people who can actually teach are
few and far between.
Ownership
• We must look into pairing theory with
practice,
• We must look into mentorship and
internship programs,
• We must involve the whole family of the
first-generation minority student,
• We must make it REAL and PRACTICAL
• We must pair English programs with votech classes
Encourage colleges and universities
to sponsor and support work-study
coop programs
Bridge Institutional with Tribal
learning styles; create a sense of
SYMBIOSIS
At School
Farm Animals
Fruits and Vegetables
American Sign
Language
Dictionary On-Line
ASL Browser
A-B-C Theatre
Practice Cultural Sensitivity
Appropriateness in Reading:
Two doctors opened an office in a small town
and put up a sign reading Dr. Smith and Dr.
Jones:
“Psychiatry and Proctology.”
The town council was not too happy with that
sign, so the doctors changed it to
“Hysterias and Posteriors.”
This was not acceptable either, so in an effort
to satisfy the council,
they changed the sign to
“Schzoids and Hemorrhoids.”
No go! Next they tried
“Catatonics and
High Colonics.”
Thumbs down again.
How about
Minds and Behinds?”
Unacceptable again.
So they tried:
“Analysis and Anal Cysts”,
“Nuts and Butts”,
“Freaks and Cheeks”,
and
“Loons and Moons.”
And finally they came up with
something acceptable to the
council:
“Odds and Ends.”
Teaching
the minority
student is
all about
relativity.
Even within the same Solar System,
not all planets look the same.
Some are bigger than others…
But even they are nothing
compared to the Sun
And the Sun is not even the biggest
of stars…
All relationships are
about relativity.
Concepts are easier to grasp if they
are personalized and made practical
to both the instructor and to the
student
If you yelled for
8 years,
7 months and
6 days
you would
have produced
enough
sound energy
to heat one
cup of coffee.
(Hardly seems worth it!)
If you farted
consistently for
6 years and
9 months,
enough gas is
produced to
create the energy
of an
atomic bomb.
(Now, that’s more like it!)
A pig’s
orgasm
last
30
minutes.
(In my
next life
I want to
be a pig!)
A cockroach will live nine days without
its head before it starves to death.
(Creepy!)
(I’m still not over that pig!)
Banging your
head against
the wall uses
150 calories
an hour.
(Don’t try this at home;
maybe at work!)
Some lions
mate over
50 times
a day.
(I still want to be
a pig in my next life…
quality over quantity.)
Butterflies
taste with
their feet.
(Something I always wanted to do.)
A cat’s urine glows under a
black light.
(I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)
An ostrich’s
eye is
bigger than
its brain.
(I know some people like that.)
Starfish have no brains.
(I know some people who are like that too.)
Polar bears are left-handed.
(I wonder, if they switched, would they live 9 years longer?)
Humans and dolphins are the only
species that have sex for pleasure.
(What about that pig?)
Mammals’ blood is red.
Insects’ blood is yellow.
Lobsters’ blood is blue.
(I must have lobster blood!)
The poisonous copperhead snake
smells like fresh-cut cucumbers.
(You don’t want to get close enough to find out.)
Camel milk does not curdle.
(Too bad you can’t say the same thing
about their breath!)
Near misses in speech,
whether written or oral, are called
MALAPROPS.
• My wife had our towels mamogrammed!
• Before we meet at WalWart, let’s circumcise
our watches!
• The view of the Grand Canyon is simply
perspiring!
• The priest sprinkled incest over everyone!
• It’s time to cut the imbecilical cord!
Beware of Boredom!!!
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Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
Listen for the stress on the word.
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Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
The Human Animal is far from
being a
done deal;
He is
NOT YET
a finished
product!
-Larry Torres