Teaching English

      In chapter seven titled “Teaching English”, Jim Copper, talks about his experience as an English professor during the 1950’s at The University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez; also known as el Colegio. During his time there he was named chairman of the Committee to Discuss the English Syllabus. After noticing that the students were struggling with learning English, he along with the help of some colleagues changed the syllabus and created a new outline for the English language program. They did this as a way to help the students in their learning process. Up next I’ll discuss some quotes from the reading.

 “He was one of many continentals who didn’t believe Puerto Ricans were capable of learning anything anyway” (Cooper, 69).

     It is terrible to know that this is what many continentals thought of Puerto Ricans. They saw us as inferior people who were not capable of learning anything. As a matter of fact, I find that to be extremely insulting and unfair, because they were most likely basing their opinions on the fact that most Puerto Ricans had a difficult time learning English. But, how would they not have a hard time learning it when the models and methods that were being utilized on the island were originally made for other countries with dissimilar ways of teaching? It was definitely an unjust situation.

“Despite the failings of the syllabus, we did have one very important thing working in our favor in the classroom. The students wanted to learn English and wanted to communicate in it” (Cooper, 69).

     This quote immediately makes me think of that proverb that says “were there’s a will there’s a way”. Even though the first syllabus was not tailored to the specific needs of the students, they were not going to let that stop them. They wanted to learn English and were willing to work hard in order to do so. It was the student’s sheer determination that made Cooper, and a few others, work hard to develop a new syllabus better suited for the students.

“I cannot pretend that our program was any model of its kind , but it was tailored to the specific needs of our students, recognizing that while many of them were reasonably fluent  in spoken English and able to carry on a social conversation on an elementary level, they could not read or write the language at all well”(Cooper, 71).

     Here we can see that Cooper fabricated a program that was not perfect, but contained what was necessary to specifically help the Puerto Rican students. It is important to keep in mind that a single program or model will not function the way it is intended to for every student out there; due to the fact that ways of teaching may vary from place to place. That is why programs or models should be individually tailored to the specific needs of the students.