Thursday, March 19, 2020

Haitians in Miami essays

Haitians in Miami essays Alex Stepick III examines the underlying causes and consequences of the Haitian presence in Miami and finds: (1) A consistent U.S. federal policy designed to repress the flow of Haitian refugees to Miami that was impeded by its own illegality, by political support from Black Americans and national church, civil, and human rights organizations, and by the coincidental arrival and initial welcome of Mariel Cuban refugees. (2) A contrast between negative stereotypes of the Haitians and the reality of a diverse Haitian population, with some having comfortable middle-class life-styles and others being among the countrys most suffering immigrants. (3) Their difficulties, afflicting even those relatively well-off Haitians. He asserts that these difficulties do not occur because of Haitians attitudes, behaviors, or skills. Rather, the majority of the Miamians have discriminated against Haitians. 1970s: A wave of hysteria swept the people of south Florida. There was an unfounded fear that tuberculosis was endemic among Haitians. Many Haitians lost their jobs, and negative stereotypes and fears of Haitians became firmly embedded in the general south Florida population. There was this stereotype that Haitians were disease-ridden, uneducated and unskilled. This was misleading and unfounded. Often Haitian refugees were semiskilled, had some education. A typical refugee had completed only an average of four to six years of formal education. Fewer than 5 percent had graduated from high school. Members of south Floridas political elite-including Democratic party members, elected officials, and some Cubans-believed that the boat people were a disruptive force, destroying the community and draining public resources. The INS expends a far greater effort in controlling the flow of Haitians than before. 1980s: Centers for Disease Control announced that ...

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Minimal Pairs Pronunciation Lesson

Minimal Pairs Pronunciation Lesson Minimal pairs are pairs of words that have one phonemic change between them. For example: let and lit. Using these pairs to help students recognize the minor differences between English muted vowel sounds can greatly help not only pronunciation skills, but also comprehension. Aim Improve pronunciation and recognition skills Activity The use of minimal pairs to help students distinguish minor differences between English vowel sounds Level Pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate depending on students capabilities Outline Introduce the idea of minimal pairs by writing a list on the board of a number of minimal pairs. For example: but - boot, sit - set, caught - cut, sing - song, etc.Practice comprehension skills by using the provided lists of minimal pairs. Each list contains one minimal pair with a number of examples.Once students are comfortable with the sounds, read sentence examples (for example: The call took a long time to go through - for the first pair) using one word of the pair provided. Ask students to identify which word of each pair was used.Continue using the list of pairs by asking students to practice the lists.Ask students to identify two vowel sounds which they want to focus on, for example: eh and uh, and have them create their own list of minimal pairs.Have pairs exchange lists and practice reading the others lists aloud.If appropriate, continue lesson by a more extended look into the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet, see IPA Lesson) Back to lessons resource page