Laotian Daughters & Monkey Dance Film by Deanna S. Stilwell

“It’s not fair. I mean, what’s wrong with people from another country not being able to speak English. I think we should give them opportunities, ‘cause this is the land of opportunities. But that’s like kinda, that’s kinda unconstitutional for them to do that stuff.” I can relate to this article personally because my mom is from Thailand and she came to the United States after marrying my father. She came not knowing any English. She did try though, she went to adult school for a while so she can speak and understand English. Growing up I learned 3 languages at once. I learned 2 dialects of Thai and English. I went to Thailand every summer for the first 5 years of my life so my Thai was great. However, when I started kindergarten my English wasn’t at the level it should have been which resulted in me taking an extra class to become more proficient in the language. Ever since then I have not had a problem with English. English is one of my best subjects. I think having two languages in a class would be helpful for students who are trying to learn English. While I did get back to the level I was supposed to for school in the U.S. I forgot how to speak one of the Thai dialects. I can also relate to the students who were constantly stereotyped because of their ethnicity even though they were fully capable in wanting to learn they were turned away simply because they were a minority. At my community college, I had an English instructor ask me directly if English was my second language because I had earned a C on one of my papers. Naturally I was offended because I’m an American citizen my father is Caucasian (possibly British). I grew up in California my whole life and I’ve been told I don’t even look Asian so I was really offended because I know English and just because I’m Asian to his knowledge he thought it was safe to assume English was my second language. I think all people should be given the same rights even if they aren't aware of what their rights are. They're all entitled to safety, The most common reason immigrants come to the U.S. is for a better life, but that doesn't mean they don't struggle along the way leading them to not know what they're entitled to and what could benefit them. 


Monkey Dance
I really liked the film it brought to my attention common forms of everyday resistance that I wasn't fully aware of. For instance, getting a job as a teenager to support yourself but not your family. I was assuming one of the teens who was working was working to help out his family, but it was actually for himself. He was so determined to do it all despite what his family has gone through just to come to America, He goes to school, works part time and still does things for fun. I can personally relate to the girl in the film who does Cambodian dancing to please her parents because that's one of the only connections they have left to their homeland. She's in a situation where she's trying to please her parents except her parents still have the mind set of being in Cambodia so they're not fully adapting to american culture. It's more natural for Asian daughters to stay home and do chores, tend to the house and siblings instead of going out and having a social life. Part of her everyday resistance was doing sports and hanging out with friends and having a typical american teenage life without disobeying her parents. The other boy in the film was a gymnast and he definitely feels the pressure of succeeding for his family. All Asian families put pressure on succeeding to make them proud and to make their life better. It's not like typical american families where you just have to worry about yourself. Asian children are pressured more to succeed so they can help their family once they're finished.