Jane Wheeler, 13 (Boxford, MA) Girl with Daisies Jane Wheeler, 13 We have all used different styles of face masks throughout covid to keep ourselves and others safe. This art represents the way we can find beauty even when covering up part of ourselves. Girl with Roses This girl is covering her face as covid has urged us all to do. The roses represent the beauty we can find even when things aren’t going quite how we want.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Why California Schools Should Introduce a World Language Program, by Olivia Shekou, 13
“With all the emphasis on 21st-century skills, with the globalization of the economy and the world becoming smaller because of technology, we have so many opportunities out there, and I think we’re behind — really, we’re behind most nations — in teaching second languages.” This statement by Desa Dawson, president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, proves how crucial it is for schools to introduce comprehensive world language programs. In the United States, less than 25% of students study a world language in school, contrary to 92% of Europe’s students who begin their world language learning as early as the age of six. Learning a different language gives students insight into different cultures around the world as well as a toolkit for communicating with people of different nationalities. Our students are the future of our country and it is crucial that they have these skills in life. California schools should provide comprehensive world language programs because it would expand students’ cultural worldview, help bridge the gap between diverse races, and ensure that students don’t fall behind in world language education. Introducing a comprehensive world language program is essential if we are to expand students’ cultural understanding of our world. The language of a nationality or country is closely intertwined with its culture and traditions. It cannot be taken out of this context. For example, every language has its own set of idioms. If we were to translate them verbatim into the English language, disregarding any cultural context, the idioms wouldn’t make sense. In the same way, if students learn the Chinese language without learning about Chinese culture, their understanding would be limited to what they’ve learned on paper. They would lose any understanding of the intangibles such as the culture, traditions and unspoken social customs. Guest teacher programs are an effective way of bringing a cultural context to language learning. The Chinese guest teacher program began in 2007 and it is now implemented within 30 states—Utah, North Carolina and Ohio being the largest of them. Schools in Bradenton, Florida are already preparing their second language students for a more complete cultural worldview. Xu Dou, a Chinese guest teacher in a Bradenton middle school, centers his lessons on Chinese traditions, including the writing of Chinese characters. Says Xu Dou, “If you want to learn real Chinese, you have to learn how to write Chinese characters… an indispensable part of Chinese tradition.” Similarly, the College Board, a non-profit organization that runs SAT and AP exams for the US, understood the benefits of providing a holistic view on language when it created an AP program in Chinese language and culture, which is similar to the second year program taught in colleges throughout China. If the College Board recognizes the importance of introducing a “cultural world language” program, it is time that the state of California catches on. Spanish teacher Caitlin Santin of Ross School, California, describes learning a second language as an experience that “opened up [her] world to different cultures and how different people live.” Second language programs would not be complete without an understanding of the culture and society from which languages come. California schools would benefit its students by providing language learning within a cultural context. Learning a world language also helps bridge the gap between people of different nationalities and can promote and repair relationships. Learning a language is not only necessary to communicate with its native speakers, but is also a way of breaking down barriers and differences between people as it brings commonality and connection to any interaction. This concept has been accepted worldwide. Language exchange programs such as France’s Parler en Paix initiative are centered on repairing relations between the French Jewish and Muslim communities affected by French laïcité (secularism). The organization’s students learn both Arabic and Hebrew in an effort to achieve the public’s end goal of a unified country. Ultimately, “efforts like Parler en Paix emphasize a desire within the French public for tolerance and unification,” (newsela) thereby making a profound impact on eliminating xenophobia and anti-semitism throughout France. By embracing the language, religion and culture of other races, we have the potential to unite diverse groups, even those with a history of religious and political conflict. And, with global warming trends, pandemics, and dwindling natural resources, our world is in a precarious position. It is up to our generation of students to unite as one global community to solve our world’s problems. Much like France, the state of California has a diverse racial and religious group of citizens. Second language teaching should be more integrated into our state’s education requirements in order to prepare for the future. California lags in world language education, which in turn limits the opportunities available to its students and affects their competitive standing. European countries have been the forerunner in recognizing the importance of introducing comprehensive world language programs. Even US government officials recognize that world language learning is “essential for US economic and strategic interests” (Washington, newsela). Without world language education, how can we expect our students to take on global interests? Moreover, learning a world language reaps many intellectual benefits that are necessary for success. “By acquiring a foreign language, you will double the number of available jobs… and climb the career ladder much faster” (Jiidee, University of the Potomac). If California’s students are to intellectually “stay in the running” against other countries, language learning is a must. And, due to the fact that language requirements are determined at the district or state level, each state must be accountable for its own students’ education. Some may argue that learning a second language isn’t necessary for California students, most of whom stay within California or take jobs where a second language isn’t useful or required. The chances are that the majority of California’s students will pursue jobs that don’t require international travel or global relations. Arguably, if second language proficiency is required on the job, diplomats or global professionals may be hired
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #28: Automatic Writing
An update from the twenty-eighth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday February 19th, plus some of the output published below “We are still living under the reign of logic… but dreaming is not inferior to reality as real human experience.” -André Breton For this week’s workshop, Conner had us “let go of our logical brains” and imitate surrealists of the 20th century by writing “automatically.” According to the rules of automatic writing, one should write for a period of time without a plan, purpose, or end point in mind, one should write as rapidly as possible without intervening consciously to guide the writing, and one should avoid conscious thought. In order to get in the proper frame of mind to write in this manner, we looked at various paintings by surrealist artists like Salvador Dalí and action artists like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning, and read the automatic writing of pioneers like André Breton, Benjamin Peret, and Phillipe Soupault, including some excerpts of Breton and Soupault’s Les Champs magnétiques. Before we began our prompt, we were also supplied with the following word bank, for optional use: Island Frog Milk Mountain Leftovers Grandfather Sweater Feather Rooster Crystal Holy Fork The Challenge: Write automatically for 20 minutes, then spend ten minutes arranging your piece. The Participants: Emma, Sophia, Nova, Amelia, Ananya, Alice, Josh, Zar, Samantha, Ellie, Chelsea, Quinn, Penelope To watch the rest of the readings from this workshop, like Emma’s below, click here. Emma Hoff, 9(Bronx, NY) I Tell Bad Jokes Emma Hoff, 9 Watermelon, cantaloupe, manatee, old shawl, disappearing objects, gone now. Jokes on the water at school, screen on fire, full fire, keep going and run or ride yourself forward make it bad but good and everything looks like the letter F. Everything’s crooked but perfect just kidding it’s all sad and makes people collapse but who cares anyway? Fruit in a bowl, toss the cookies out of the “cookie jar.” I don’t use a cookie jar, fruit in a jar. Everybody, come and join the feast! The table is wide and spread for you, but you do not come. I will eat your favorite watermelon by myself I guess, and the meat will rot, because all the company I have are ghosts that plucked their feathers out on Ebay. I guess I had too many stressed birds for pets. Daisies unfold but was I talking about tulips? Why looks like a letter, feels like something else new, can it be new? Nose, head, I can’t draw. Is this all good, am I bad, am I ranting? I take piano lessons and everything eventually breaks and I will eventually grow up and be scared and responsible and do things, and then I will eventually die, so what’s the point of learning? This moment? Okay, I’ll keep this moment but I know they won’t inscribe it on my grave because it’s too long to explain and too much beauty is too beautiful for eyes to see, my own eyes are on fire. My finger is in a pencil sharpener because I couldn’t find a pencil and I didn’t want to write with a marker. Maybe I should write with a crayon or mow lawns with a glue stick? I should plan a vacation so I can become tiny, because then the light switch will be easier to use and I’ll be able to climb everything and actually be a mountaineer and I’ll get squished and know what it feels like to be an accordion, but I can’t play an accordion, so my hypothesis is that it won’t be like in the cartoons and I won’t make music. Hypothesis is a long word and an accordion is also long but I like the word hypothesis and I like accordions, sort of, though I don’t play them. If you jump on an accordion I bet you would spring right back up because that’s what an accordion is like, and if you don’t clean out the basement right now, I will get super mad and possibly kill you, but the correct thing to say would be angry, because mad would mean you’re crazy, but I’m mad with anger at grammar, but I like grammar anyway, but I also like the word mad. Mad, mad, mad, say it louder! Turtles crawl slowly but the one my cousin made out of a paper plate is completely still. I think my cousin made it. Maybe I crafted it in my sleep? Ha ha, good one, good joke, why is no one else laughing? I don’t think I should go onstage and be a comedian because all my jokes suck and I’ll be the only one dying of laughter and everyone will storm out because they think I’m annoying. Pinwheels and flowers are similar, except one is plastic and one is paper, because I see a flower right now, and it’s paper. Why are you smiling? Why aren’t you smiling? Why is your mouth so tight and grim? It’s all wrong and so is the writing, so why do I keep painting? I draw people wearing crowns, but then I put Xs through the crowns and I laugh and I give them red hair because I like red hair. I like carrots, too, but the bunnies will eat all my carrots before I can and I don’t really like carrots. Are you sure you don’t want to eat with me? It’s nighttime, I should go to bed. I don’t want to sleep and I need to get this olive out of the jar and unstick my cat from the cannon and get the stain from the juice of the orange off the couch, the table, my clothes, and my chin. Okay, but really, there’s nothing to see, except orange and red! I see pink, blue, and so many different shades of green, too, but don’t tell. It all makes me roll my eyes and I see
