Jim Cooper: On Teaching a Language

           

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus seal
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          Jim Cooper in his memoir, Down on the Island, remembers when, during his time as an English professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus,  a co-worker of his said expressed how “(…) the only way to learn a language was to learn to love its literature”. Although it may not seem that way, that is a complex statement to make. When I first read it, I could not understand the tone of disbelief with which Jim Cooper portrayed his memory. After pausing for a few seconds and re-reading the statement a few times, I finally understood the statements complexity.

Down on the Island by Jim Cooper
(Book cover)

            The memoir published in 1994 recounts the 1951-1954 period of the author’s life where he taught English in a place where said language was not the official one and, most of the time, barely understood by its people. Puerto Rico, as I discussed in one of my previous posts, is, presently, a Commonwealth of the United States of America (USA) and, because of it, most people here know English as a second language. However, this wasn’t always this way. Since the acquisition of Puerto Rico by the United States back in 1898, English had tried to be enforced as a primary language on the island, but the idea never really clicked with islanders. Therefore, in 1952, when the political relationship between the USA and Puerto Rico became what it is now, English was still not a language most people were fluent in, but rather one that only the most privileged people knew how to speak. With this in mind, the complexity of the mentioned statement becomes a bit clearer.

            I’ve lived in Puerto Rico and known these facts my whole life, but I’ve also grown up in a different time and, therefore, a different Puerto Rico than the one described in the book. Presently, English in Puerto Rico is practically a second first language. Although many people are still not fluent in the language, much more citizens are. Additionally, I’ve also grown up surrounded in equal proportions with both languages making both English and Spanish first languages for me. This is why, at first, the author’s disbelief puzzled me. When we are so immersed by a language, our perspective of things is influenced by that, and, to see the bigger picture, you have to step out of your land, and see a birds-eye-view of the world.

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Books are teachers.
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            “(…) the only way to learn a language was to learn to love its literature”. This is certainly true. We learn something because we love and/ or appreciate it. Therefore, how can you appreciate a language’s beauty to then want to learn it if you do not know the fruits of that language? Literature is the expression of language, and language is the tool by which we express our humanity. The beauty of language is in its utility: expression and communication. Therefore, without comprehending language’s utility, loving it would be impossible because we would find it useless, and humans need usefulness to love.

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            “(…) the only way to learn a language was to learn to love its literature”. How can you appreciate the literature if you do not know the language? Touché. Someone may argue that it’s possible to find a translation of a work of literature and still be able to appreciate the language through literature. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t represent the original language in any way since it isn't being read in said language. If anything, a translated work only represents the author that wrote it. The tool was changed from a hammer to a screw-driver—from English to Spanish. You can’t appreciate a hammer through the use of a screw-driver. You can’t learn to love a language’s literature to then learn the language itself because reading the literature would result impossible.

***

            There is no categorical explanation to what is actually the thing that will motivate students to learn English. Consequently, there will not be a categorical way of teaching language. Some may want to learn a language because they’ve fallen in love with stories read in a different language that have peaked their interest. Others may learn a language without falling in love with its literature first.  In the end, teaching will be subject to each individual’s reason towards learning the language as well as their personality.

            What came first: the chicken or the egg? It depends.

Jim Cooper is "O Captain, my Captain": Making a Difference

              “O Captain, my Captain!”. Originally from a Walt Whitman poem, the phrase is also one of the most famous quotes in film history. Robin Williams’ character, John Keating, in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society assumes the role of a professor with unconventional thoughts and teaching methods that tries to inspire his student love poetry and to live vicariously. Jim Cooper’s reading, Downon the Island, supports the ideas presented in this film and countless others (e.g. Freedom Writers); educators have, without a doubt, an enormous impact on their student’s journeys.

Down on the Island by Jim Cooper
(Book cover)

            Down on the Island, at first glance, is a memoir of Jim Cooper’s life during the period of 1951-1954 when he lived and taught English on the island. However, the more interesting subject, although briefly referred to in the reading, recounts how students, on the last day of class would give their professors presents. He specifically states: “The presents were not, of course given because you gave them passing grades, but to thank you for teaching them something”. As a current college student, I can tell you that having a professor that makes you see things in a different light, challenges you yet doesn’t beat you down, and has faith and encourages you is one of the best feelings in the world. Nowadays, we live in a world where the thirst for knowledge in the traditional sense (lectures; homework; test; papers) is slowly dying. Additionally, no matter in what period of time, there will be individuals who abhor studying in the traditional sense. Furthermore, knowledge is the key to a functioning, good society. This is why gifted educators are so important in the lives of their students. Professors have the power to open new doors of thought and opportunity for their students, consequently affecting the course of their internal and external journey.

            I don’t seek to be an educator; it’s not my calling, but I do wish to be able to leave my mark in this world. I want my life to mean something. I’m ambitious, and I want to be great, but I want to be great by helping and leaving something positive behind. When I die, I want to leave behind a memory that says that I fought, I conquered, and made a difference somewhere in the world —left a mark on someone.

Bárbara Aponte (left); Mrs. Cynthia Pujals (right)
High School Graduation (2 years ago).

            We have all been students at one point in our lives, and almost everyone has that one professor that’s really made an impact in their lives. Those professors are the ones that are represented in the countless inspirational films; one of those professors is Jim Cooper. They are the ones that influence society greatly and go down in quiet history. I admire educators because of these very reasons, but the importance of their job often goes unnoticed. Therefore, readers, if any of you has the gift of being or preparing to be an educator, I congratulate and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I send a special shout-out to the professor that has influenced my journey the most, my tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Cynthia Pujals. Thank you for always listening.

The Fingerprint of Identity

  

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  Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most revered authors in the Spanish language, once wrote:  “He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves”. Human beings are always evolving; that’s the very purpose of life. When we are born, we are not born whole—we aren’t born being who we are, we become whole by the experiences, people, and moments we come across throughout the course of our lives. Therefore, our identity—who we are—is intrinsically tied and influenced by our notion of home, language, history, and behavior.

The notion of home is, in itself, an extremely open concept. It—or rather what determines home—is not the same for everyone. Peter Roberts attributes this to the fact that “home embodies a psychological factor of attachment”. Home is, indeed, a psychological and emotional factor. Our place of birth or place of residence doesn’t categorically decide our notion of home or identity. However, since home is a feeling, they can have some influence over them, but not categorically decide them. Home is feeling good, secure, happy, and like you belong. Countless things that are entirely up to the person in question at a given period of time can determine these feelings. Additionally, “the human being does not necessarily remain in one place throughout a lifetime” (Roberts). By “remaining in one place”, Roberts refers to remaining as an emotional being. We are constantly changing and evolving; we are not static beings in any sense (physically and mentally). Since home is determined by our feelings and emotions and these, in turn, are two continuously changing things, the notion of home is also ever-changing.

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            Language as well as the notion of home is tied to the concept of place. A language is subject to a specific place—or places. This, in turn, also establishes the sense of the “other”[1]. Roberts describes this factor by stating: “language therefore establishes bonds between all communities of human beings but at the same time sets up barriers between communities”. However, when it pertains to identity, language, like the notion of home and although in lesser degree, can also be subject to psychological factors. Our language is generally the one of our place of birth or residence. Nonetheless, our language can also be determined based on a psychological attachment to a language that has developed from certain emotional reasons. For example, you may have been born and resided all your life in the United States where English is the spoken language, but your family is of Puerto Rican origin—a place where Spanish is spoken, and you feel more attached to Spanish than to English. You have developed a psychological attachment to Spanish and assume it as your own even if you have grown up in an English speaking country. Therefore, Spanish is the language that will come to identify you. Nevertheless, this phenomenon happens in lesser degree since acquiring languages is trickier than simply developing a notion of what “home” means to you.

            History also has direct impact over people’s identities. Our place of birth and residency’s history affects the identity of its people. A country’s history shapes the countries culture as well as the minds of its population. Every country comes with its own beliefs that directly influence that country’s historical background. For example, Antigua is an island in the Caribbean that was colonized by the English during the Colonial Era. Jamaica Kincaid, a renowned author from Antigua, directs the following words towards the English:

Do you know why people like me are shy about being capitalists? Well, it's because we, for as long as we have known you, were capital, like bales of cotton and sacks of sugar, and you were the commanding, cruel capitalists, and the memory of this is so strong, the experience so recent, that we can't quite bring ourselves to embrace this idea that you think so much of. As for what we were like before we met you, I no longer care.

Through Kincaid’s words, we are able to notice how the historical relationship between England and Antigua influenced her identity. She doesn’t consider herself a capitalist because of her experience with capitalist people. Being a capitalist is not something that’s part of her identity because the history of her birthplace influenced her to perceive capitalism as something bad and, therefore, affected her political identity. Furthermore, Kincaid also states: “Have I given you the impression that the Antigua I grew up in revolved almost completely around England? Well, that was so. I met the world through England, and if the world wanted to meet me it would have to do so through England”. Kincaid openly states the degree of influence England’s presence in Antigua had over her persona. She acknowledges that her country was completely altered by England, and, because of that, her identity was dependent of that relationship.

Moreover, behavior is the thing that influences a person’s identity the most. Roberts defines the concept to encompass “a wide array including supernatural practices, entertainment, sports and games, and educational practices”. He judges it as merely a “category in judgments of identity” (Roberts). However, behavior is the one thing that encompasses it all. It can even be stated that behavior can very well be a synonym of identity. Behavior is defined by our sense of home, our language, our beliefs, and all the countless things that determine our identity because it is our identity. More specifically, behavior is the expression of identity. Identity is the abstract and fleeting concept of the thing itself: who you are. Meanwhile, behavior is the thing by which the abstract (identity) turns into something concrete.

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            Identity is a wide, abstract, and fleeting concept that expresses itself through behavior. Many things determine our identity; our notion of home, language, historical influences, and behavior are only a few. The notion of home is not a constant concept that isn’t categorically determined by birthplace or residence because it’s based on feelings of security, belonging, and happiness. Therefore it is a concept that can change multiple times throughout a person’s life. A person’s language is tied, but not limited to the concept of place. Not only are languages determined based on the geographical area where they are spoken, but also by psychological attachments. Moreover, a countries history affects the identity of its people since it directly affects the country’s culture and beliefs. Behavior is, however, the most important component of a person’s identity because it is its expression. A person’s identity—an abstract concept—manifests itself into a concrete thing through behavior. Many of the things that determine our identity are psychological factors because identity is not determined by cold hard facts, but rather individually, by the person in question—a person that can and is subject to all kinds of bias. However, that is precisely the beauty of identity: like a fingerprint, there are no two alike.

Works Cited

Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. 1989.

Márquez, Gabriel García. Quotes About Identity. 2015. Goodreads, Inc. 2015 February 2015 <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/identity>.

            Roberts, Peter. The Roots of Caribbean Identity: Language, Race, and Ecology. New York: Cambridge U.P., 2008. 1-5.

                                                 

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[1] “Other”: Word that comes from the term “othering”; when it’s identified that there is a difference between two people and a barrier is created product of the lack of sameness.

Politics, history, culture, and language: Puerto Rican English

         Last Wednesday, February 4, 2015 the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus hosted a conference about lexicon varieties in the English language taking as a base the countries of Puerto Rico, the United States of America (USA), Malta, and Great Britain. Said conference was led by Dr. Manfred Krug of the University of Bamberg in Germany.

            One of the main points presented by Dr. Krug on the conference's subject dealt with the issue of how the culture—I would also add history and politics (especially political history)—influences the way English is spoken across the world. To exemplify this, he explained how the English spoken and written in each of the mentioned countries relates to each other. Maltese English, for example, has more similarities with British English. However, Puerto Rican English (the more pertinent case to my journey) has more similarities to American English.

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            If you’re familiar with Puerto Rico’s current political situation, this may not come as a surprise. To those of you out there who aren’t, don’t fret; remember that part of our journey is to learn new things every day. Puerto Rico has been, since 1952, politically categorized as a Commonwealth of the United States of America. This term establishes that the island is a territory of the United States and emulates the “Mother Country” (as some Puerto Rican’s lie to refer to the USA) in form of government and, subsequently, basically everything else. Nevertheless, it has more political autonomy than an actual state of the nation would have. In addition, long before that, since the nation’s invasion of the island in 1898, the USA--and its cultural influences--has been present in Puerto Rico. In light of these facts, it’s easy to see why American English is so similar to Puerto Rico’s English. Furthermore, as also established  by Dr. Krug in his conference, Puerto Rico’s English is further influenced by the Spanish language due to the fact that, before becoming a US territory, the island was a Spanish colony with its official spoken language being Spanish. After the United States acquired possession of the land, the nation tried to change the language to English, but didn’t succeed. To this day, the main language spoken in Puerto Rico is Spanish. However, English can basically be considered a second official language.

            These political and historical events are the reasons behind the kind of English spoken on the island. Said events have instilled specific cultures and, consequently, languages in Puerto Rico. Then, as would happen in any social process, the influences of both cultures and languages are mixed to create a specific version or variety of the main languages. Therefore, without the political and historical events and cultural influences, varieties in a mother language—in this case English—wouldn’t take place naturally. Just like two fingerprints are never alike, the same language is never alike in different countries; even if they’re part of the nation that brought them the language in the first place.