Texting

Overheard in my English class today, a student brought up that texting was the topic of her research paper. It got me thinking. There is a lot on the subject of texting, how it came to be and the drawbacks that currently come with it. Today, there is a lot of heated issues regarding texting. Obviously, texting and driving laws are being put into action currently in society today. The amount of accidents that occur with this large population including teenagers while driving have sky rocketed. I feel as though the language in which we use for texting is changing drastically as well. We abbreviate the littlest things such as "U" for "you". This has started to bug me in a sense. It has really made me appreciate that I have been brought up in a school setting where curriculum was rigorous and English was a big necessity. This has also extended on to my previous journal entries about children being uneducated more in grammar now that texting has become available for them. Looking around, I can guarantee you that there are numerous children from ages 12 and up that include "U" and "4" in their grammatical ]writing in the classroom. This has lead me to believe that it is from the phenomenon of texting. It is almost supposed to be "cool" for the students to write that way and therefore it carries over to the classroom. Babysitting and being around the atmosphere of young children has really lead me to believe that a serious problem is being dealt with when it comes to grammar in the classroom. I do not know what needs to happen to maybe help the children get away from their technology way of writing but I feel like it definitely has become more of a growing problem as the years progress.

Reading English is More Difficult Than Writing English

Coming across a debate that took place over the weekend was that when it comes to the English language reading it is more difficult than actually writing. I can say myself that I highly agree with this statement. I think I can take a firm stance on this because luckily I was gifted with the ability to be a good speller. In Elementary School I can say that I was a pretty good speller. I loved spelling, rarely needed to work on my spelling list for homework. It was just a natural ability that I believe my family gene has. Reading English today, especially with younger kids can be more of a challenge than writing because of all the rules that come along with it. Being as I will most likely become a teacher some day, I am ready to be aware of understanding that there will be a challenge when it comes to children picking up reading as opposed to writing. I feel like with the writing system, they are introduced that first and with that comes letters which sounds, the alphabet. When writing to someone or making a picture for someone, kids are most likely going to put their name or someone else's name on it and they will have no trouble asking how to spell it and are able to write, it is the reading problem that many kids struggle with. In today's society, we look at a lot of different grammar rules when it comes to learning how to read and write. The silent E for example, the "f" sound for "ph" and many more rules. With all of these rules, many students struggle with reading and that being said, making it harder to comprehend. Eventually getting this, students will then master both. Many can say this is a debatable topic, saying writing is more difficult. With an important stance taken, reading is definitely more difficult, especially for young children to master above writing.

English as The Official Language

Reading an article online, I came across one that stated that English is the official language of the United States. Only according to the year 2009 when the senate voted for it to be the official language here. I bet you reading this are like me, going "Isn't English the official language anyway?".. Yes. I definitely was confused as well. To me, this made little to no sense. How is it, that the United States was not declared the official English language anyway? It is kind of crazy to me that this just happened recently. With the immigration levels at a soaring high level, I realized that this is just beyond crazy. It is almost as if I am now the minority in my own country. I have noticed that everywhere I go now that I feel like I am in a different country where numbers of people are increasing that are not from America. There is definitely nothing wrong with that I guess I was just in utter shock to come to find out that English was just recently passed as the official language. It is America, and when many people think of it already, they already are aware of it being the country's main language. In any event, It made me think about other countries like Italy, for example, or Germany. You automatically know that the languages spoken there are Italian and German. It is nice to know now that our official language is English, I just hate that it took so long.

Problems With the English Language

Today, I came across this issue while noticing that a lot of things since I have grown up have changed drastically. Today, I look around in the world and see many children getting a hold of the newest technology available for them. I think that what we really need to reconsider today is that the English language among our youth is currently being destroyed. Reading in chapter thirteen almost made me think of this in more depth. The author was talking about reading a job application from his son and the words/grammar were absolutely dreadful. Using terms like "stuff" or "latr", has changed the way that children are now acquiring English. The computer being a relative tool for kids is also causing a drastic change for the worse with children. I think about growing up, I did not really mess with a computer until about middle school/high school. Today, kids know more about computers than I think we college kids do now. It almost scares me in a sense. Thinking that when I become a teacher in 4 years, will kids be talking to each other different? Their writing be poor, etc. It really makes me think. The generation of today is soaring with technology. The technology can be good but also carries a lot of negatives along with it. I believe that parents can be to blame for this issue at times. Don't buy your kids a cell phone in 2nd Grade. They should be outside, socializing, interacting with one another. Not adding friends on facebook or tweeting on twitter. It will be interesting in times to come but I think that there needs to be a foot to set down because today I definitely see some leniency.

English Spelling

After reading chapter thirteen I have become extremely thankful for the spelling system that we have today. I had absolutely no idea the history that English carries. Especially when it comes to Old English, Middle and Modern. These past two weeks with the histories of each period of English have been really fascinating. Overall, making me appreciate this more. Starting with the Old English period, I found that with the scripts from the Roman Empire, and the Romans invading the Celtics which became the British was something I had no idea about. The Romans were the ones who introduced Latin writing and the Latin alphabet. After the Romans had disappeared, the Germanics then arrived. Being largely illiterate, when the Germanics did speak, it was clear that it was from the Latin alphabet. Time had passed and the Middle English spelling came into play and the impact of the French came in and certain letters were added. Fast forwarding to Modern English, many things changed and the Great Vowel Shift greatly affected this system. I feel as though without knowing about the importance of our spelling history, it is almost as if you are missing something. There are many questions in today's life that I sit there and ponder and this was one of them. Our spelling system has a deep rooted history that many are unaware of. Without the help of certain people like Johanes Gutenburg or Melville Dewey, our spelling system would not be possible. It has changed drastically with the help of our French friends, but while reading chapter 13 it really made me gain a sense appreciation to our spelling system. 

Why Be Bilingual?

Today while coming across the New York Times, a story crossed my eyes. After doing my research paper on Bilingualism, the article discussed how being bilingual can be beneficial. Looking around in today's world we can see that there are many different ethnicity's  that shape it. We have many coming to America where their dominant language is Spanish. This definitely has been the controversial subject across the continent but I feel as though we may benefit from learning a second language. Today, we see many people in school, especially children, being required to take a language, and Spanish is the first choice of many. I believe that by taking Spanish, it allows you to gain a little more independence that you are not just familiar with your main language but also another one. It gives your freedom. Just like the Immigrants being taught English over here in America, we also must take initiative and develop a second language so that we can gain knowledge about where they came from and have a conversation in another language. This would be extremely beneficial for many. My younger cousins in Elementary school are starting a language in 1st grade! Times have really changed. I think it is awesome. I know many are struggling and fighting to not win this battle but I believe that as a soon-to-be teacher, we must enforce our kids of the future to pick up another language. Heck, why not minor in it. It may look better on a resume if you have a second language of Spanish under your belt because of the fact that the Spanish population comes in second in America, especially in schools!

Shooter Upset About Teasing

In a recent article I read I became horrified. Because of an Asian man unable to speak English very well, he got teased. This teasing had caused him to shoot leaving six students dead and and three wounded. I think a lot of what went on is more common than we think. Not the shooting but people getting made fun because of their English skills or lack there of. This just shows how absurd this is. People get made fun of every single day rather it be because of their speaking or not. I think the fact that people died because of this has really caused a lot of grief and sadness among the community. I believe that times are so different now that back then if someone were to get made fun of because of English skills lacking, a shooting were to not of been the case. This Korean man must of been that angry about his English skills. To me, this is rather frightening. I think this goes to show that everyone needs to watch what they say and be careful of this because before we know it someone can take it very offensive.