My Personal Philosophy Of Working With Latino Students

My personal philosophy of working with Latino Students
My personal philosophy of working with Latino students whose primary language in the home is Spanish, is that of understanding, encouragement, and guidance. I personally have first-hand knowledge and understanding of what it means to grow up in a home where the primary language was Spanish. I grew up in a home where both my parents spoke nothing but Spanish and understood very little English. Based on my experiences, I found that the understanding of my teachers was helpful and relieved some of the fears of being in a classroom where I could not understand what was being said. I also thank my teachers for the encouragement they gave me while I made the transition from being a Spanish speaker
The purpose of this is to present a basis from which I derive my current philosophy which I use for students who are in the same positon now when I was their age. For example, I remember that everything was great with the world until I was thrown into the United States educational system. My parents, being immigrants from Mexico, were obviously Spanish speakers and provided us things, such as entertainment and music that was in Spanish. Every event that we attended, such as church and family gatherings, everyone spoke Spanish. All that I knew was in Spanish and that was ok. Everything was great until I went to school for the very first time. I remember feeling scared and out of place. Everyone around me spoke a language that I did not understand. It was not until a few days of going to school that a teacher finally spoke to me in Spanish and explained that everyone was speaking English. I knew the language as “lengua de el gringo,” which translates to “tongue of the gringo”. I realized then, that I had a lot of work to do. I remember feeling overwhelmed with the idea of having to learn a new language. I was placed in a classroom along with other students who were in the same situation I was in, and we were taught the alphabet in English. If I remember correctly, it took me almost two years to completely learn English. But
I remember my teachers praising me for saying a word correctly in English. The feeling of being lauded for saying a word correctly only gave me more encouragement to continue learning and practicing the English language correctly. It is without a doubt that the encouragement I received from my teachers prompted me to do better and accomplish more. For example, with the encouragement of my teachers, I tried out to compete in University Interscholastic League (UIL) storytelling school events and ranked in first and second place in most of the competitions I participated in. I remember that on one particular event, one of the judges commented on my accent. It was at that time that I learned what having an accent meant. Again, I was encouraged to be keep working on getting better and not give up. The encouragement I received I received as instrumental in the sense that it provided me the clue I needed to realize that I could achieve anything I wanted. All it took was a little push and the reinforcement, or encouragement from my teachers. I have accomplished a lot of great things in my life. I credit my primary teachers for the encouragement they gave me and the confidence I gained from it. It is because of my experiences that I abide my philosophy of encouragement when dealing with Latino students that are in the