In Arizona, Complaints That an Accent Can Hinder a Teacher’s Career
By MARC LACEY
Published: September 24, 2011
PHOENIX — When Guadalupe V. Aguayo puts her hand to her heart, faces the American flag in the corner of her classroom and leads her second-graders in the Pledge of Allegiance, she says some of the words — like allegiance, republic and indivisible — with a noticeable accent.
Joshua Lott for The New York Times
Guadalupe V. Aguayo, a teacher in Phoenix, filed a complaint after being told that her accent would not allow her to teach students learning English.
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Times Topic: Arizona
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When she tells her mostly Latino students to finish their breakfasts, quiet down, pull out their homework or capitalize the first letter in a sentence, the same accent can be heard.
Ms. Aguayo is a veteran teacher in the Creighton