Cultural Event #2
TCH_LRN 333.02
11/14/19
Kai Gomez-Whitehead
Cultural Event #2
The cultural event that I chose to go to was the “Debunking the Latino Threat
Narrative: The Consequences of Lack of Representations and Systems of Oppression.”
During the event we talked about the novel The Latino Threat:The Consequences of
Lack of Representations and Systems of Oppression. The speaker talked about how the
novel helps us understand that the negative connotations that a lot of people make up
about the Latino community is not true. I found this event very interesting and
informative. Everyone who participated was very friendly. I talked to other people who
were part of the culture as well. We talked about the negative connotations that they
have heard before and how it impacted them. One of the girls that I talked to told me
about an experience that she had when she was in high school. She told me that one
time she was at the mall with her friends and a man approached them and started
saying very rude and racist things. She said that it made her feel horrible about herself
and that she wished she wasn't even a part of the Latino community. I learned that
negative connotations have a big impact on people and the way that they feel about
themselves and that's why more people need to be educated on the real facts about
different cultures. I really enjoyed this event and learned a lot more about my own
culture than I knew before. I would love to attend more events to learn more about the
Latino culture and get to know more students who are within the Latino community.
The information that I learned during this event can help me immensely in the
future when I teach my own classes. The information can help me because I now
understand a little bit more about my own culture. I learned that negative connotations
about different cultures can impact them a lot. When other people who are not part of
that culture hear about negative things about a certain culture they tend to believe it
even if it may not be true. I learned that it is very important to teach people properly
about different cultures so that they are aware of the facts vs the negative opinions of
other people. For example in the book, Foundations for Teaching English Language
Learners by Wayne E. Wright, he states “ELL’s are disadvantaged when schools do not
recognize, value, and incorporate these differences” (Wright, 19). It is important to
incorporate different cultures into the teaching environment so that all students feel
included. Not only do the students feel included when discussing different cultures, it
also teaches the other students the facts about different cultures. It is important to teach
them about different cultures so that they know the facts about their peer’s cultures.
When students are not taught about other cultures they may be confused or scared
because they do not understand. This event taught me a lot about the Latine culture as
well as gave me more insight into my own culture. This event helped me understand
that we need to be careful about what we say about other cultures because it can
impact them greatly if it is the wrong information. It is important to know the facts about
different cultures so that you are not teaching the wrong things to your students.
Before I went to the event I thought I knew a lot about the lation community.
During the event I had a lot of self reflection on my own life. I thought about all the times
that I heard kids make racist jokes growing up and just brushing it off because I did not
think it was a big deal, but I learned that those negative things that people say do
matter. During that time it may not have affected me but I learned that it does affect a lot
of other people within the community. During the event I learned that those negative
connotations that people say about different cultures have a very big impact on the
cultures in a negative way because it makes them feel bad as well as angry because
they know that is not right. I really enjoyed the event. I learned a lot more about my own
culture and am very glad that I went. If I were to do this event again I would love to talk
to Dr. Maria Chávez personally and ask her about her experiences and how she feels
about it. I would definitely do this event or an event like it again.
Citation:
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research,
theory, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon.
