The End of the Road

          Each day that I visit Rock Island High School, there is a new story to tell. Each time we walk into the classroom, they remember us and instantly start asking for our help. The students lately have had homework mostly dealing with math. They have been learning about negative numbers. I have helped with homework regarding adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing negative numbers with positive numbers. I have also read a book with one of the female students about a refugee that came to America. The book is about his experiences being in a new country and trying to find his place. She read aloud to me and I read aloud to her some. While she was reading, she would ask me about how to pronounce words and what different words meant. Most of the students know English pretty well, but do not know all aspects of the language.

Language itself is not communication, or even the words we communicate. It is the set of symbols that must follow specific rules in order to be symbolic to us. This means that language is made up of the letters and numbers we use to form words, sentences, and thoughts. They then, in turn, allow us to communicate with one another. Language can sometimes be a barrier because of the different languages around the world. This is sometimes the case with the students at the high school. They know English well enough to participate in class and complete the homework, but they sometimes run into trouble with the language. Some of the humor and slang terms that are used in America are hard for them to comprehend right away, and must be explained. This is because language has semantic rules that attach a specific meaning to a word. The students understand the literal meaning of the words, but not always the figurative meanings. This can lead to miscommunication in the class room if a student does not understand something.

Once I fully began to understand that every single student has a different background, and came from a different culture, I can make sense of some of their values and social practices. A large part of the culture that they came from that I can see every visit is the language. Now that I know how important the meanings behind language are, I can try to explain the English language better to the students. Finding words that are common to everyone with be a main goal in explaining language better. When everyone sees that one language is not better than another, that they are both unique and different, both cultures can be reflected through the symbolism that language is.