Blog 9- A Case on Language

I can see the reason why Mr.Clark decided to stop Maria, her mother, Ms.Montes, and her little sister, Marcella, on their walk home from school. He tried reaching her mother before to talk about Maria's behavior, but his attempts had failed. This was partly due to the language barrier. However, I do not think that it was appropriate for Mr. Clark to ask Marcella to be the interpreter for the conversation. Him asking her to translate the conversation meant that he did not trust Maria to do so and this is most likely why Maria and Ms. Montes appeared uncomfortable. Also, this is a conversation that should have been held in private. One thing Mr. Clark did not do was ask Ms. Montes if it was okay for Marcella to translate. Truly what he should have done was ask for Marcella or Maria to set up a conference with the mother rather than actually having the conference at that moment. Praising Marcella was also a wrong choice because it most likely made Maria feel resentful since all he said about her was negative things. To conclude, I understand him stopping them at that time because he had not been able to contact the mother. Setting up a conference though would have been better than having a quick conference that the younger sister is the translator for.

Reference

Gorski, P. & Pothini, SC. (2014). Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education: "Case 9.4 Two Moms". New York: Taylor and Francis

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