2 comments:

• Christina Welch posted at 10:06 am on Mon, Mar 19, 2012.

  Posts: 85

  Actually, it is not surprising to me that Mrs. Strand's grandparents had not learned English. They immigrated at a time when EL instruction was not commonplace as it is today, and they immigrated as adults, so they would not have been able to be taught English in school. Back then, they didn't have the resources and programs that are available to help immigrants learn English like we do today. Today we not only have EL programs in schools for immigrant children, but we also offer various programs for their parents as well.

  The comparison seems like apples and oranges to me, and seems like a sad attempt to turn a lovely personal-interest story into yet another political statement.

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• Joanne Bobin posted at 8:04 am on Mon, Mar 19, 2012.

  Posts: 3256

  How wonderful that Mrs. Strand was able to travel to her grandparents' village in the Ukraine. Since the story did not give any further details, I wonder if she and her husband were able to trace her mother's family roots back any further than just her grandparents. Were they able to do any research on great-grandparents, great-great, etc.?

  And what a sad ending to this story to find that a language barrier prevented Mrs. Strand from communicating with her grandparents. What about her mother? I am presuming that Mrs. Strand's mother must have spoken German as her first language - why could she not have been a bridge between her parents and her children and/or been able to record some oral history?

  Interesting though that after 63 years in the United States, Mrs. Strand's grandparents had not learned English. Kind of puts a monkey wrench in the claim that all other immigrants learned English immediately upon arriving here, but Spanish speakers are somehow deficient or unable or unwilling to achieve that goal.

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