Pacific University
CommonKnowledge
Starting a Conversation: Children's Books on Race
College of Arts and Sciences
2016
A Nation of All Languages
Benjamin Becerra
Pacific University
Kayleigh DeBruyne
Pacific University
Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.pacificu.edu/crt
Recommended Citation
Becerra, Benjamin and DeBruyne, Kayleigh, "A Nation of All Languages" (2016). Starting a Conversation: Children's Books on Race.
Book 4.
http://commons.pacificu.edu/crt/4
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at CommonKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in
Starting a Conversation: Children's Books on Race by an authorized administrator of CommonKnowledge. For more information, please contact
[email protected].
A Nation of All Languages
Publisher
Pacific University Libraries
ISBN
978-1-945398-99-5
This book is available at CommonKnowledge: http://commons.pacificu.edu/crt/4
A
N
O
O
I
T
F ALL
A
N
LANGUAGES
A Nation of All
Languages
A Nation of All Languages
Published by Pacific University Libraries 2016
© 2016 Benjamin Becerra and Kayleigh DeBruyne
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-945398-99-5
Pacific University Libraries
2043 College Way
Forest Grove, Oregon 97116
www.pacificu.edu/libraries
“Are you ready for show and tell today, Alex?”
“Yeah! I can’t wait! But I am nervous I will mess up.”
“You’ve been singing this song your whole life. I know you’ll do great.”
“…había una vez un circo que alegraba siempre el corazón”
“Thanks for sharing your favorite song with us, Alex!”
As Alex walked by, Jimmy sneered, “If you don’t look like you belong
here, you should at least talk like an American. We speak English here.”
Alex thought about the words Jimmy said all day.
At recess…
In class…
On the bus…
Alex was confused, because they were born here. This has always been
their home. They didn’t understand why someone would think that
they didn’t belong just because of how they look.
Later that night, Alex’s mom made chili rellenos for dinner. But Alex
didn’t seem hungry.
“Why aren’t you eating los chili rellenos?” asked Alex’s mom. “It’s your
favorite food. Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine,” huffed Alex. “But we live in America, why can’t we eat normal
food like the rest of the kids?” and then stormed off to their room.
The next day at school, Miss Summers asked the class, “Does anyone
know what the national language of the United States is?”
Jimmy shouted, “English!”
“That’s what most people think,” Miss Summers responded, “but there
actually is no official national language in America. That’s pretty unique.
It’s because America is made up of a lot of different people that come from
many different places. There is no one way someone in the US looks or
speaks.”
“How many languages do you think are spoken in the US?” she asked.
“Seven!”
“Twenty!”
“No way, that’s so many!”
“Actually, there are over 300! Isn’t that amazing? We are going to learn a few
words in different languages today.”
Apple - Mansanas
(Tagalog)
Sun - Shams
(Arabic)
Dog - Perro
(Spanish)
Tree - Shú
(Mandarin Chinese)
“All of these languages are part of what makes us diverse. However, just
because we’re a diverse place doesn’t mean everyone is treated equally.
Sometimes people judge others based on their skin color because of untrue
ideas about race that they’ve learned –
from friends,
from television,
from all around them.
This means that people of color aren’t always treated fairly, even though
the judgments made about them aren’t true.”
“I had no idea so many different languages were spoken here. That’s so
cool!” said one of the students.
“I’m glad you’re all excited to learn more about how diverse we are!”
continued Miss Summers. “We should celebrate that. But also remember
that it’s important to take the time to understand people for who they are
and not make assumptions based on the color of their skin. It’s our job to
respect everyone.”
After the lesson, Alex was feeling better. They now better understood
why they were treated differently and that speaking Spanish and having
a different skin color doesn’t make them any better or worse than other
people. It’s a part of who they are but not all of who they are!
At the end of the day, Jimmy raised his hand and said, “Miss Summers, I have
something I have to say.”
“Go ahead.” Miss Summers replied.
“I just wanted to say that I am sorry to Alex. I judged you yesterday and said
some mean things that I now know are not true. I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad you learned that.” Alex said.
“I think it’s pretty neat that people are different because otherwise
the world would be a boring place!”
A
N
O
O
I
T
F ALL
A
N
LANGUAGES