Chart depicting Philadelphia Public School District 4th grade national proficiency rating in reading, math, and science compared to other urban districts, and the national average. As you can see, every time, Philadelphia comes up short. Chart can be found here.

​ Many, many, schools and school districts have been labeled as “failing.” Because of this, districts have been privatizing schools, meaning that they place schools under the care or private corporations in the hopes that they will do a “better” job of producing higher test scores than the government can. The concept is extremely controversial because the companies that run the schools are for-profit, and not out to give students and excellent education, but to make money. When I first this, I was confused because prior to this information, I would have thought that the schools would act as a kind of black hole that sucks money and resources, not something that makes money. In actuality though, the corporations get money from the government for running the schools, and are allowed to do with it what they like.

            In Philadelphia, some schools have already been privatized and turned over to Edison Schools Inc (a private for-profit company) and we are at risk of the entire district becoming privatized. There are several factors that are contributing to this, lack of money (The Philadelphia School District has a funding gap of about $269 million according to the local paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer), low test scores, and poor management. The schools that have already become privatized though, have not shown any improvement. 

            Study author Vaughan Bymes says, “By 2006, the achievement gap between the privatized group and the rest of the district was greater than it was before the intervention.” 

  So far, I have collected information about the topic, but I am left with a feeling of wanting more, and confusion. It’s a extremely complex issue, and I have a few questions. These questions include what people are doing about this, and why ar these kind of things happening. 

I'm wondering how anyone could let this happen.

I’m wondering how things could’ve gotten out of control and gotten in such a despairing situation. 

Less than 2,000 have died for us, and we still haven’t done much to repay them and show our appreciation. More will continue to die unless we do something. I’m talking about our U.S. Troops in Afghanistan. In spring of 2010, about 46% of people in a poll supported the war, while 8% strongly supported it. Now after so many deaths of our Troops 60% of people oppose the war, while 40% strongly opposed the war. After our Troops killed the Al Queda leader Osama Bin Laden, many Americans feel this will bring more chance of a terrorist attack against America. Many people have spoken that our Troops being in Afghanistan is harming the countries democracy more than it is helping.

Goal of the Conversation: Reviewing Daily Routines

Las Preguntas:

¿Que es tu rutina diaria? Describes por favor.

¿ Que te gusta hacer en las fin de semanas?

¿Que pasatiempos tu tienes?

¿Quién pasas con en base diario?

¿Cual es to rutina diario differente en el verano?

Transcript:

Yo-Hola chica…como estas? estas bien?

Ella-Hola.Si yo estoy bueno. y tu?

Yo-Tambien. Yo quiero aprender más sobre tu.Esta bien?

Ella-Si si.

Yo-Primero, qu es tu rutina diaria? Describes por favor.

Ella-Mi rutina diaria es me despierto, ir al baño, lavarme los dientes y lavarme la cara. Que voy a mi habitación y poner en la habitación. Yo bailo por espacio de 10 minutos tratando de despertarme. Que me puse mi ropa, que mis perros e ir en mi camino a la escuela.

Yo-Despues de escuela,que hace?

Ella-Después de la escuela me voy a casa. Lo que sí depende de mi mod. A veces voy a tomar un aperitivo y ponerse al día en mis espectáculos. Otras veces escucho música, y estaba en mi cama. Después de 20 minutos de hacer lo que sea, que me cambio de ropa y comenzar en mi tarea.

Yo-Yo ve,esta bien.¿ Que te gusta hacer en las fin de semanas?

Ella-Los fines de semana, paso más tiempo en la tarea. A veces mi familia y yo íbamos a ir de compras e ir al cine. Una vez al mes salir a comer en Red Lobster. Me encantan sus galletas. Los domingos voy a la iglesia con mi abuela y su hermana y, a veces después de ir a desayunar. Por lo general, es sólo un fin de semana relajado y divertido.

Yo-Muy bien! Te gusta gastar tiempo con la familia y tu trabajo fuerte.

Ella-si si

Yo-Pero tu tienes más pasatiempos más de hacer la tarea!¿Que pasatiempos tu tienes?

Ella-Me gusta bailar, cantar, escribir poesía y dar largos paseos por el parque. Para aliviar el estrés que a veces cocinar y terminar comiendo toda la comida.

Yo-¿Quién pasas con en base diario?

Ella-En mi rutina diaria, mis amigos y familiares están involucrados. Por ejemplo cuando se está preparando para la escuela me levanto a mi hermana y tomamos el desayuno juntos. O cuando estoy haciendo la tarea les pido a mis amigos para solicitar ayuda cuando lo necesite.

Yo-si si.¿que son los nombres de tu amigos?

Ella-Symone, Jessica, Dre, Imani, Morgan y los estudiantes en mi "stream".

Yo-jaja si si.Yo sé una chica se llama symone.esta bien.¿Cual es to rutina diario differente en el verano?

Ella-No era diferente.

Yo-Fue a la escuela en el verano??!?! jaja...bien para tu....te gusta estudiar mucho

Ella-jaja si yo estudia en la verano.

Yo-yo no puedo estudia en la verano...estudia es mal.

Ella-jaja yo sé.

Yo-¿tienes un trabajo en el verano?

Ellas-no

Yo-Solamente escuela.esta bien.gracias chica.

Ella-de nada.

Reflection:

For this conversation I continued talking to Brianna Perrin. I like talking to her because I know her intentions as a friend is to help me with my spanish. This conversation was kind of review of the stuff we learned last year about daily routines. In this conversation I learned what a day being Brianna is like. Reviewing the things I have learned previously is essential in progressing towards becoming fluent. I noticed that I'm using the dictionary less and ranking my brain for words that I already know that will get the point across. I'm still improving on smooth transitions between questions. 

·       Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?
Talked to Nayeli, and I chose her, because she is a cool girl, and likes chess (I found that one out later.

·       What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

It seems that she loves to play chess, and have been learning English for some time on her own, and a bit in special classes. She is actually quite an interesting person.

·       How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

Since my personal goal is to find out more about how people learn different languages, I believe learning about her way of “learning” is quite interesting and helpful!

·       What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

I actually hadn’t used translator all that much, and like I said, I have learned about her way of learning English.

·       What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)

My grammar unquestionably.

People all over the world enjoy listening to music. In Spanish-speaking countries, this is no different. For this blog post, I decided to investigate the music culture of Spanish-speaking countries.

I spoke with a boy named Daniel from Spain. Daniel is a high school student who enjoys listening to music. I asked him what bands he enjoys listening to most, to which he responded with two native Spanish bands: La Oreja de Van Gogh, and Edurne. These bands sound similar to many American electro-pop bands. While he and his friends aren’t the musical type, and don’t talk about music much, he enjoys going to concerts every once in a while. I found it very interesting that Daniel listens to a few American bands. America has the largest and most profitable music industry in the world, and it’s notable that some of our records have spread to other countries that don’t speak English. Many Americans don’t listen to any music without English lyrics.

• Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?
  I spoke with Emilio from Spain again. He seemed fun to speak with the first time, we have a lot similar/common interests.

• What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

  He doesn't listen to music a lot, but he does have a variety of likes and dislikes. He likes, rap, soundtracks from movies, heavy metal, rock and etc. But he doesn't like reggaeton at all, one of his big dislikes.  

• How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

  He taught me some some tense changes in spanish. It was very helpful, and being able to speak to him casually boosts self esteem. 

• What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

  Assisting or helping me out with changes in tense forms, and expanding in my vocabulary.

• What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)

  I still need to work on conjugations and how they would fit correctly in the form of a sentence.