A Bilingual Analysis

“Our culture, our traditions, our languages are the foundations upon which we build our identity.” - Unknown. The concept of bilingualism represents several different ideas, two writers share their personal stories about learning being immersed into the English culture and learning the language. They both share their views of what Bilingualism means to them personally and make arguments about the importance of the concept.

How I speak to my friends differs from the way I speak to my teachers. How I speak to my family differs from the way I speak in public. Does my ability to speak multiple dialects of English infer I am bilingual? Society commonly interprets bilingualism as the capability to speak multiple languages. In reality, someone’s cultural and emotional connection largely helps define bilingualism. I define bilingualism as someone’s ability to express their culture(s) while speaking a language(s). The writers Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez discuss their views of bilingualism within their essays. Espada teaches at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and conducts political poems. In his essay “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” he

thought I'd never leave. I spoke only Cantonese, both to my friends and to my parents.

First few weeks of school did not go well for me. I felt like I was a rare animal at the zoo. People would point at me, speaking the language that I do not understand, and giggle. A non-stop talking kid suddenly became mute. At the time,

Armed with new sneakers and a whole new vocabulary, I started my first day of school. It was a learning experience for both my parents and I, but when it was over I felt like I fit in. Kids do not care where you are from or if your English isn’t up to par. In fact they only cared about two things: how good you were at tag and what kinds of crayons you had. Lucky for me, I was doing great in both departments. I experienced my first year of elementary school alongside the friends I previously made.

This paper historically analyzes the implementation, changes and practices of bilingual education programs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I will begin by providing a short historical background on the initiation of bilingual education programs on a national level with the passing of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and its’ reauthorizations in 1974,1978, 1984, and 1988. This act was key to providing the framework to build a school system that would later adapt the inclusion of languages other than English. I will specifically focus on Milwaukee, as it is pegged to be one of the most segregated cities in the nation. By focusing on this city, we can examine how the flux of populations, social strain and social wants affected the implementation of

Even worse, I couldn't utter a single word in English and was forced to use hand gestures to communicate.To my horror, a speech therapist took me out of class everyday, as kids snickered behind me. Soon enough,I was drawing attention to myself everyday-and not in a good way. A group of boys always huddled around me during recess and would taunt me to say sentences in English, as I stood silently, praying it would be over soon. Over time, those comments began to pile up and eventually, something in me broke.I had to

I was born and raised in Chicago, but as a child my first language was Polish. My parents came here from Poland not knowing any English, so it was really hard for me to understand English because I had no real help at home. As parents made me learn Polish as my first language because it was the only language they knew, it was really hard for me to learn English as another language at a really young age. I was in the bilingual program in elementary school, which helped me with all the struggles I had. The bilingual program gave me all the help I needed that I couldn't get at home and was a great help for me. As I grew up, the years were getting easier and easier. As I was going into freshman year of high school, everything was getting easier

Hi! I’m Jessica Littley, and I was born on September 15th, 2001, in Melbourne, Australia. My family is made up of my mother, father, brother, and a sister, immigrated to Guangdong China, for my father’s job, when I was seven nearly years old. At first I wasn’t very comfortable with the thought of my family living in china and leaving everything behind, but after a while I got the hang of it and I enjoy living in china. When I was a kid I had already knew how to speak two languages which then I was bilingual. I knew how to speak french, but I had forgotten all of it and now I have gained the skill of speaking Mandarin quite well. While adapting to a new school, with new people, in a new country, I had made a few friends.

Currently, here at TCNJ, when I would walk down the stairs, grab lunch, or even go to class, I would see visually impaired people walking as if they were just like us. I remember a time when I was on line to grab dinner, and a young woman, who was visually impaired, stood in the middle of the cafeteria because she was lost. Due to the fact that I just arrived on campus, I did not have a clear sense of direction, therefore, I could not assist her. However, another young woman decided to help her. "I could do it!" was the phrase that I overheard the visually impaired young woman say. Not only was she made felt as if she was not capable of performing such task, but as if she did not fit

New fossils of our species were unearthed from Morocco that makes the evidence soar past about 100,000 years.

Going to school was a different adventure everyday. My first day of Kindergarten, I sat in the front of the classroom admiring the colorful posters on the wall, and the fresh smell of new books. I was intimidated by all of the new faces. Each word that came out of my classmate’s mouth made my head spin. I could feel my heart accelerating and my palms sweating. As my teacher began speaking, the kids began saying some words, which sounded only like noises to me. A few seconds later, a teacher began speaking to me in spanish, explaining to me that I needed to be integrated in a bilingual class instead; her words . Lacking the ability to speak english became a great obstacle during the first years of school, so I began obsessively studying day and night, reading books, watching videos. Although the process was irritating, eventually, I was able to have a fluent conversation with my classmates. As I spoke, I felt accomplished knowing how far I had

The petrifying feeling of being lost in a crowd of strangers, unable to communicate with anyone, is something I remember vividly. It was in the colorful kindergarten classroom of my first day at an American school that I realized I can’t live by only relying on the people closest to me. My parents didn’t prepare me for what should have been the easiest day of the school year. When the teacher assigned us a peer activity where each and every one of us needed to introduce ourselves, I immediately froze. I couldn’t speak an ounce of English during that time; even saying my name in English was too difficult for me. My classmates asked me simple questions like “Where are you from?” or “What’s your name?” However, I wasn’t able to answer them because I either couldn’t understand the questions or I didn’t know how to form a good response. After that experience, I knew that I have to improve myself and actively learn new things even without the help of my parents. Fortunately, by my second year of school, I had

Since Chinese was my first language, I was placed into English as a Second Language (ESL) in Kindergarten. As I wander to class, Mrs.Wilcox welcomes my peers and I with a bright smile on her face. I notice two massive metal cabinets dividing the room in half for a small friendly environment. I’m surrounding in colorful posters and an infinite amount of books. The blinds are up and I see the sun glisten upon the large pond overflowing with Koi fish. Moments later, a yellow duckling catches my eye as it splashes into the pond. My classmates and I all giggle as our teacher passes out cookies for everyone. From then on, I

With the many different cultures in the world comes many different languages. While languages are very interesting, they can make communication between two people of different backgrounds difficult. There have been multiple instances in my life where I could not effectively communicate due a language barrier.