The Nomen Global Language Center Is "Homophonic"

During the school year, as part of his job, Carlos teaches English to a group of Hispanic adults and children and one of the areas that can provide a bit of trouble is homophones; you know, words that sound the same but have different meanings and sometimes different spellings: be and bee, through and threw, which and witch, their and there.

I never knew, though, that the mere mention of the word ‘homophones’ could get a person fired but, apparently, in Utah, it can.

Tim Torkildson, the social-media specialist for Nomen Global Language Center, a private Provo-based English language learning center, realized that, for people to whom English is a second language, homophones can be very confusing, wrote a blog post to explain homophones.

He was fired because, well, homo.

No, silly, he’s not gay, but he was fired because he was creating the perception that the school promoted a gay agenda. His employer, and Nomen owner, Clarke Woodger, called Tim into his office and told him he was fired because he could not be trusted and that the blog about :::gasp::: homophones was the last straw.

"Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality." — Clarke Woodger

Torkildson says he knew that the ‘homo’ part of the word might be kind of a lightning rod, so he was very careful in his post about homophones, knowing that an explanation of them might be useful to people learning English.

For his part, Clarke Woodger says his reaction to Torkildson’s blog has nothing to do with homosexuality but that Torkildson would "go off on tangents" in his blogs that would be confusing and sometimes could be considered offensive … homophone. Nomen is Utah’s largest private English as a Second Language [ESL] school and caters mostly to foreign students seeking admission to U.S. colleges and universities. Woodger says his school has taught 6,500 students from 58 countries during the past 15 years and, in his words, most of them are at basic levels of English and are not ready for complicated concepts like homophones.

You know, because they don’t speak English so they cannot understand anything, I guess.

"People at this level of English … may see the ‘homo’ side and think it has something to do with gay sex." — Clarke Woodger

Um, no, Clarke, I think it’s just you, and maybe a few Neanderthals. I tend to think that a person who wishes to learn English might just want to learn English and not find homophones a bad thing.

But I’d be careful about synonyms, lest people think bad thoughts about them.

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Speak-o English-o Only-o

Y'all know I'm no fan of the NEW Arizona, where you can get stopped for looking Hispanic, acting Hispanic, sounding Hispanic, or wearing Hispanic clothes. Now, Arizona has taken the crazy a step further.

They don't want anyone with a strong accent teaching their kids. Now, mind you, I don't think it's any strong accent other than an Hispanic strong accent, but, for now, they're just saying accent.

The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English. Read: Hispanic.

Karla Campillo-Soto, a native of Mexico, who teaches kindergarten to students limited English skills, took a course to try to reduce her accent in English, but two other kindergarten teachers at the same school were deemed not fluent enough for such students. Buh-Bye Spanish speakers.

State education officials say the move is intended to ensure that students with limited English have teachers who speak the language flawlessly. But some school principals and administrators say the department is imposing arbitrary fluency standards that could undermine students by thinning the ranks of experienced educators.

And, how do you determine flawlessly? People say Nev-a-da, others say Nev-ah-da. There's Or-e-gun, and Or-e-gone. Which version is flawless.

Don't get me started. I'm thinking of all these people in South Carolina. One night in a restaurant, I heard a woman at another table ask for more bray-ed. More bread could get her fired from her teaching job in Arizona.

This hit home when Carlos and I first moved to South Carolina. He worked for a woman we like to call She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned at an animal hospital. Now, Carlos has lived in the states for twenty-plus years, but the accent--and it's a sexy one, I don't mind saying--is still there. Well, his former "boss" once chastised him because she thought he was saying what sounded like the letter 'B' instead of the letter 'V'. He wasn't fired for it, but she didn't bother to take a moment to ask.

Just like Arizona.

Another Case Of This Is Not America

Show of hands please of anyone who is a Native Born American and not the offspring or descendant of immigrants?

Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

So, most of us, unless we're Native Americans, can trace our roots back to being immigrants to America. That's kind of cool; all of our ancestors coming here, hoping for a new life, and a better life, and making America what it is today. Home to all kinds of people of differing ethnicity's and cultures and religions and sizes and shapes and colors.

Why then, is discrimination against immigrants so high?

Case in point: Up in Charlotte, North Carolina, a former school secretary is suing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, because she was fired from Devonshire Elementary under a new rule imposed by a new principal that banned her from speaking Spanish to parents who can't speak English.

Ana Ligia Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for the school in 2006, but in 2008, when Suzanne Gimenez [not Hispanic but married to an Hispanic man] took over as principal, she announced that she would no longer allow Spanish to be spoken to parents by any of the faculty or staff.

This, in a school where 42 percent of the 500 students are Hispanic. This, in a district that has a large international population; this, in a district where almost 16 percent of students are Latino. This, in a school, whose own website says the school theme is "Academy of Cultural and Academic Diversity."

Hmmmm, not so much.

Ana Ligia Mateo has filed a lawsuit. She says the "no speaking Spanish" order came early in the 2008 school year, and that Gimenez and other staff reminded her to speak English only on several occasions.

In September 2008, a Spanish-speaking parent came to the school crying and stating in Spanish that someone at the school had placed a stick in her seven-year-old son's buttocks. Mateo asked Ms. Gimenez if she could translate for the parent, but Gimenez refused, telling the parent that her seven-year-old son--the victim of the alleged abuse--could translate. The parent continued to cry and eventually left without having her issue resolved because she could not understand Gimenez's responses.

Now, there is no denying that Mateo broke the rules by continuing to use Spanish with parents who couldn't understand English; there is no denying that she was warned to stop the practice. And, in September 2008 she was forced out of her job. Mateo complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which ruled last June that there is "reasonable cause" to believe her civil rights were violated.

Neither Charlotte-Mecklenberg School [CMS] officials nor Gimenez will comment on the pending lawsuit, spokeswoman LaTarzja Henry said; and she wouldn't say whether any other schools ban employees from speaking Spanish or translating for parents.

What is this country coming to? I lived in Miami for years and felt like I was the outsider because I wasn't proficient in Spanish, so I know it'd be easier if everyone spoke English. But what do we do with those people that come here legally, or illegally, who can't understand the language? Do we make rules that we cannot speak to them in their native tongue? Do we punish people for trying to help.

Think of where we'd be, as a country, today, if our ancestors had chosen to treat anyone who didn't speak a certain language as "less than." What kind of country would this be, and how many of us, of Hispanic, or Middle Eastern, or German, or French, or Native American, descent, would go unheard.

Show of hands, please, of anyone who'd like to live in a country where differences aren't celebrated but punished?