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Anita's remark that she wished everyone spoke the same language
was similar to observations made by a Spanish-speaking administrator.
If you listen to these children, you will hear
them talk about the importance of equality.
But listen more closely. To some of them
equality means "all alike--everyone just the
same." If we all thought alike, we'd have no
disagreements. If everyone were the same, the
world would be a more peaceful place. This
meaning for "egual" [equal] is not the same
for them as it is for us. It is something
they learned in Cuba.
Not everyone was shy about speaking English. When tickets for
the basketball game were being sold in the cafeteria, Valentina came
up to me and said, "Como se dice, 'Quiero comprar?" ["How do you say,
'I want to buy?'"] After practicing "I want to buy a ticket. I want to
buy a ticket," she smiled and said in Spanish, "I try to say something
new every day. That's what I must do to learn English, isn't it?" She
walked over to the ticket seller repeating "I want to buy a ticket. I
want to buy a ticket." She bought her own ticket instead of trying to
get someone else to make the purchase for her as some of the other
students did.
Group Differences
The ESL teacher was asked to select from the list of participating
Cubans, three students in seventh grade and three in eighth grade who
were representative of the students making substantial progress in
English. Three students from both seventh and eighth grades who were
representative of those making less progress were also selected. A
total of six high- and six low-achieving students were selected from
the two grades. Emphasis for the selection was on oral expression.