At Enesse Reviews LLC, we believe that multilingual kids will improve the world. With how everything has been happening over these last few years, it has taken a number on this young generation's social skills. They primarily function via the involvement of some screen(e.g., tablets, televisions, laptops, etc.). Enesse Reviews works to increase the number of people actively engaged in live social activities (i.e., a conversation with people present in the same room even if they do not speak the same language).
According to Gallaudet University, the largest liberal arts college for the Deaf (sign language users), almost half a million people in the US are documented as active American Sign Language (ASL) users. One misconception is ASL is used only by Deaf individuals. According to The public health website, there are approximately 10 million Deaf Americans. Sign Language is important because it gives visual access to the individual and gives them the ability to live an independent life. Why is this important? Because everyone who can have autonomy over their lives, should. It is better for the economy when more people can have jobs. There are government programs that help Deaf individuals get jobs that do not require them to communicate with other people. If you know people in the Deaf Community like I do, you know they are very social people. This is because most of them grew up feeling isolated from their hearing family members or bullied at school for being different. I. King Jordan said it best, "Deaf people can do everything except hear." Most hearing people believe that Deaf People are just using English on their hands, when in fact, ASL is it's own language with rules that are more like French than English. Instead of me continuing down this rabbit hole about the history of ASL, take a few minutes to Google "Gallaudet and the creation of ASL". It will even give you insight about how President Abraham Lincoln got involved!
Speaking of French, it is one of the Romance languages. The Romance languages consist of: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. The last one does not follow the patterns of the other four. Our public school systems often teach some of these languages. In the Georgia public school system, Spanish and French are often the two options a student can choose from. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study them both. I wrote my book, "Da Audacious Mentality Needed: To Get My Sh*t Together" (Available on Amazon), explaining how becoming multilingual changed my life. In short, I felt very alone in my large family and this led to depression and addiction, though when I began learning Spanish, I could make more friends. I refer to myself as "The Black Sheep of my Black Family" because it's true. I was bullied due to my differences, but when I make Spanish-speaking friends, I am treated like a person who has an opinion, hopes, and dreams. Speaking Spanish and French and knowing ASL has helped me to make a multicultural friend Roladex.
While I was studying to become a trilingual interpreter for the Deaf, one of my professors said, "There will never be enough [qualified, professional] interpreters to match the amount of people who need the services." This statement along with the news channels talking about the fake interpreters (in Africa and in Florida) inspired me to begin teaching hearing kids ASL from Spanish. So I teach a lesson from English to Spanish and in the following session I teach the lesson from Spanish to ASL (of course there is English involved, but very little). One thing I learned on my multilingual journey is learning a new language isn't about the vocabulary it's about learning the tools needed to express the concepts you wish to share.
I never changed my major to become a teacher for the school system because I accidentally fell in love with teaching at the end of my degree. With my double major in Spanish and ASL interpreting and a certification program of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, I was already required to take several teaching courses. Therefore, I determined it would not be necessary for me to stress out over getting a master's in teaching. I had more than a decade of experience in learning languages. I've had amazing instructors and ones who made me miss the other instructors. (That's a joke). One thing I hate is being bored. This is how I fell in love with teaching kids (newborns to age 13) because they hate being bored also. So sitting down and saying "this is how you say ____ in Spanish". On the other hand, ASL should be taught in silence by a Deaf instructor.
Unfortunately, for a Deaf instructor to keep hearing kids engaged, they would have to make a lot of noise. Also, the kids are learning a lot of information at the same time so it could become overwhelming and ineffective. This is why I use age-appropriate games to teach my lessons and test for content retention. Instead of me matching a sign's conceptual meaning, I pair the concept in English to Spanish vocabulary and explain the sign using Spanglish. I use Spanglish because when I began my Spanish learning journey, it was stressfully overwhelming to not understand what my teacher was saying. This actually deterred some students from practicing their Spanish outside of the classroom. Practicing outside of the classroom was fun and built my confidence in my ability to make meaningful friendships. Being multilingual has made me marketable enough never to be jobless when I wanted to have one. My first job was at Six Flags Over Georgia, where I still hold the record of receiving the most guest compliments. I have this record and won two Service Superstar (the highest honor for an employee of SFOG) because people were happy I could connect with them in their native languages. All of this happened because my experience learning the languages was positive. The only things I would have changed is beginning my language learning process at an earlier age and my family members learning also so that I could practice with them instead of being the designated, unpaid, interpreter in interactions with Spanish speakers or Deaf signers.
This passion is what inspired me, Ntoh Shalom, to start my business Enesse Reviews, LLC. Enesse is pronounced like my initials (NS). I am not a native Spanish-speaker nor am I a native signer, but I know what works in teaching kids because I have been working with kids since I was a one as a youth ambassador at church and volunteering with several childcare facilities. Our motto is "Connecting Comunidades Culturales Con Comunicación" which means basically our goal is to break communication barriers. I am a Multilingual Intergenerational Global Community Liaison. I wanted to become a Diplomat when I was younger, but I didn't know I'd be the kind of Ambassador I consider myself to be now. By now, you understand what I mean by Multilingual. Intergenerational is the second focus of my job title I would like to explain.
Yes, I teach in non-traditional educational settings (think: preschools/daycares, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc.), but I also work with young women as a personal improvement and motivational partner. This is like a life coach, but I work as an accountability partner because I believe when we all achieve a balanced lifestyle and pursue our passions, it allows us to desire to contribute positively in our local communities. I'm tired of hearing about school shootings. I want more people to be kind and I believe when we each are happier and kinder it rubs off. Call me naïve for believing so, but I won't give up on trying to make the world safer and more inclusive for the generations to come. I am working with these young women because there was so much I had to learn the hard way and I would rather not have to see the cycle of dysfunction and pain continue. We have access to so much information, yet there are many people making decisions based on tradition.
I heard Pastor Mike Jr. say, "Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people." So continuing with the meaning of my job title, Multilingual ✓ Intergenerational ✓ Global Community is next. In our Global Community, literally every race, sexual orientation, and age is represented along with social statuses. Enesse Reviews offers a service for business owners who are typically marginalized (Deaf, Black, Blind, Spanish-speaking, LGBTQ, etc.) to advertise for their companies with a multicultural audience. I perform evaluations and trilingual reviews to achieve this. I know what you're thinking, "how does she do all of that and still have time to be a wife and mother?" Check out my book because it gives more details on how I manage my time.
Multilingual ✓ Intergenerational ✓ Global Community ✓ Liaison is next. I am a liaison between different cultures because I am a black woman in America who speaks Spanish, French, and knows ASL. This affords me the desire to connect the people I know in different cultural backgrounds so that we can work together to help the planet survive at least a few more generations. I want our grandkids to study this time period in history as the pivot point from what was not working to being able to have a diverse group of friends who help take care of the planet. I don't want racism to be a traditional value for Americans anymore. The only thing that actually makes America great is you can pursue the life of your dreams along side other people from different heritages, languages, and belief systems. I believe that investing in our kids via exposure to a variety of languages and cultures is necessary if we are going to see any positive progress.
I established the Lucita's program for kids who are in the foster care program to learn ASL and Spanish because they move around more often than other kids. Being multilingual will give them the ability to make friends when they do have to move. I want to make these languages a requirement for foster parents, so that it will help them connect with the children who come into their homes/lives. Afterall, effective communication skills can prevent family arguments and even wars.
My vision for this business this year is to serve 400 families with my lessons via online (pre-recorded and live) affordable lessons. If the kids are learning Spanish or ASL at school, I'd like for the lessons to be provided for the parents so they can continue to help their kids become their best selves.
In conclusion, multilingual kids cannot save the world because it's too late for us to attempt to undo centuries of repairs. However, multilingual kids CAN improve the world. This is why one of our services is teaching the value of effective communication to hearing kids using American Sign Language and Spanish for support to raise Deaf Culture Awareness and promote Cultural Diversity Acceptance. The history of this country has segregated large groups of people, preventing us from becoming the greatest country in the world. By instilling values of an open-minded perspective from an unbiased curriculum, we can raise a generation of world changers who work together to improve the quality of the world our descendants inherit. Being awarded grant monies will allow me to positively impact my community by being able to teach at early childhood educational establishments who generally wouldn't be able to afford my services. While at the same time making our local communties more accessible for Deaf individuals to work more meaningful and diverse jobs, paying taxes and contributing to our national and global communities.
header.all-comments