Mother, What Does Nigger Mean?

Bilingual Education

​​The authors Gloria Naylor’s who wrote the article “Mother, What Does Nigger Mean?”, Hong Kingston who wrote “Tongue Tied”, and Richard Rodriguez who wrote “Aria” are stories that share the similar information about bilingual education. Americans needs to encourage society by means of education through developing English language as one of their academic while retaining heritage language and providing an individual the freedom of choice to use both languages appropriately. The articles that were mentioned above has to do with bilingual languages that are used out of word context, public speaking can make a bilingual person feel uncomfortable ,embarrassed, humiliated or no confidence to speak in front of a crowd, and an individual can lose their ways of connecting with their family for the expense of the societies culture.

The context of the word is the aggressor, it can leave the person feeling disrespected due to the way the word is being used. The word nigger is a great example .This controversial term used in many countries but if used out of context it can be very offensive. In the story “Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?” by Gloria Naylor it states, I remember the first time I heard the word nigger. He snatched his test from me and spit out that word. (Page 234) Then she had realized that it was a bad word and the word was out of context. When at home the word is being, utilize as boyfriend or husband. Naylor felt confused and that is when she had to ask her mother what nigger means.

Language barrier can be frustrating when an individual communicates with another individual. Just like in the Hong Kingston story “Tongue Tied”, it states It was when I found out I had to talk that school has become a misery, that the silence became misery, I did not speak and felt bad each time that I did not speak.(page 239). There are people who have come to the United States to navigate everyday life with a foreign language. By Offering English Classes to ESL (English as a second language), speakers can help them build their confidence and use their translation