Grab your Code Switchers folks! We're going to make a Culture Pie!

People move for opportunity.  America was once, and still is for some, the land of opportunity.  But what happens when the opportunities presented don't align themselves with the goals, beliefs, roles, and attitudes of a person's first culture?  A person might do their best to assimilate.  A person might do their best to cling to pieces of the 'old world'.  A person might find him/herself stuck in the 'old world' while their future generations belong to the 'new world', creating a rift and lack of understanding between cultures.

Caroline: I hate that, that they want to know my baby's sex.
Victoria: Who does?
C: My mom, and Aaron's parents.
V: A lot of people do.
C: But what for?  So they can buy me pink or blue clothes and barbies and cars?  I don't want my baby to be gender stereotyped.
V: I feel you.  Plus people should be buying you white onesies to start... you can wash them on hot with a little bleach after all the vomit and poop!
Silvestre: Yeah, like my aunt and uncle, when my niece was born, they bought her a play set with a broom and vacuum.  Then when she started to play sweep the floor, my uncle commented that her instincts were kicking in!
C: I really hate that!

What we say can really describe a lot about what we believe.  Reading between the lines of Young Ju's father in An Na's A Step From Heaven is that he firmly believed in the roles one was to play in the house.  Korean should be spoken in the house, a man should not cry, a woman should take care of the children and not question her husband's choices.  Young Ju, like my roommate Caroline, believes in the equality that is taught in the U.S. school systems currently.  Also like Young Ju, she speaks another language in the home from that of the language of school and business.  Like codeswitching with language, both she and the characters of this book must use certain aspects of their cultures in certain situations, drawing on different terms and attitudes from two or more different cultures to create and display their sense of self in relation to those around them.

The force behind this striking narrative of a girl, feet on two sides of an ocean, really touched me.  She holds so many roles: daughter, big sister, babysitter, punching bag, student... and although she has come to the land of opportunity, she struggles more than ever for her life and happiness.  She is a dreamer that must uphold the male-led societal honor of her grandparents' country and culture.  She is powerless against the anger of her father who is powerless against the bureaucratic practices of the residency system.

The parallels between Kang's article and An Na's novel touch on a similar topic:  that of language as a carrier of culture.  However, supporting a language through use in the home and enforcing a language through use in the home create very different relationships for the children born into such multilingual worlds.

Acceptance and appreciation of the child for the language in the home means that it will either be cherished and passed down, or neglected and hated, and lost to all future generations.

Today we will have an opportunity to speak with Dr. Kang.  Two questions I would like to discuss with her in relation to this week's readings:

1)  In your experience with codeswitching in the home, do you find that imbedding an English word into a Korean sentence leads to less English in a response from a child than does ending a sentence or providing a correction in English?  (aka, the last word heard prompts a response in that language?)

2) How do you feel emotion comes into play with reception and willingness of children to accept bilingualism?  Do you feel that the family dynamic and positive treatment of bilingualism and multiculturalism are an important factor in a child's advancement in a home language?

2.1) And reading/writing for children over the age of 6... how do you see this as a factor?  Does encouraging bilingual literacy in the home help or hurt children as students of two languages?