Case Study: An Interview With Andre Alejo

In the classes I teach to non-native Spanish speakers, students whose Spanish skills are unequal to their English ones oftentimes decline to participate in class, inhibited by insecurity. Although Jacob had privately confessed to me that he struggled with such insecurities as well, they never stopped him from regularly discussing with his classmates topics as linguistically demanding as poetry analysis, U.S. foreign policy, and gender theory. Nor did they prevent me and the class from getting to know Jacob's intellectual sophistication, sense of humor, tact, and likeability, which are personality traits very dependent on nuance and which more often than not withdraw when the possessor must communicate extemporaneously in a second language.

Moving from Jordan to the United States was challenging for my family. I was the only child at the time and my parents primarily spoke Arabic in the house. The elementary teachers I had described me as a timid student, because I could barely speak English. I had difficulty with simple reading and writing, while other students went through class with ease. Needing extra tutoring classes and years of being in ESL was exhausting. However, learning how to read, write, and speak English fluently was only the beginning of my journey.

There are both positive and negative aspects of learning a language, but people are likely to equalize two sides and try not to lose the relationships with their family and the society. Amy Tan, in “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez in “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” explain how they viewed their private and public languages through their experiences and how they managed these two languages and established themselves in the society. Tan initially felt ashamed of her private language and favored the public language; however, in the end she showed that she could manage the balance between the languages and finally utilized both in public. On the other hand, Rodriguez preferred his private language which made him feel comfortable;

Arriving in a new country was exciting and discomforting. America is a wonderful place to live, which is full of adventure and challenges. I was attracted by the Western culture. Meanwhile, different languages also troubled me. Although I began to learn English in elementary school from ABC, my listening and oral abilities tend not to be adequate. I have to study hard to improve my English, so that I can understand what the people said.

In his essay, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez, goes into detail about the struggles he is faced with growing up as a Bilingual Hispanic in America. He was an immigrant living amongst upper class American’s with his family. Strictly speaking Spanish gave him a sense of safety and comfort. In school, he would not feel comfortable speaking and was not sure where he belonged. When he first started school, he was a part of the bilingual program up until his parents were informed if would be better for him and his family to learn English. Rodriguez struggled at first with the battle of losing the closeness he had with his family. Feeling like he had lost his cultural background and let his father down. Explaining the struggles, he overcame to become who he is today.

The challenges he faced during his transition from the Spanish Language to English. The challenges you will face with starting a new routine or “Life change” to fit into today’s society. Even though he had his family to share his language with, He was almost trapped in the American society with not being able to communicate. Getting the awareness out about his views on Bilingual Education and share his story on how it affected him in the beginning. That even by teaching children in their home language sounds like a great idea, you are just taking away from their ability to learn. He had something special by being able to understand Spanish after losing the ability to speak it. But that just gave him something over his classmates. I do believe he achieves his point. Education is a huge part of our lives. Yes, believing a child will do better in school using

Being a Mexican-American, who was raised in the small town of Encarnación de Díaz – located at Los Altos de Jalisco, MX, – and then moved at the age of seventeen to Corpus Christi, TX, was not a smooth transition. The most difficult things I have encountered in my life must have been speaking a new language and adapting to a new type of living. I was fortunate enough to have amazing teachers who taught me to read, write and speak in English back in Mexico, but I was still not confident enough to speak the language when I arrived here. Although, many have told me that my English doesn’t sound as if I just moved here five years ago, I still believe I have so much more to learn.

Initially, I was an Ecuadorian girl that had a Christian family, I grew up surrounded by my family and loved ones. My cognitive development was in progress, and I had created fundamental bonds in Ecuador. Provided that my dad is an American citizen and due to his work in America, he could not spend too much time with us in Ecuador, so, my mom, my little brother, and I immigrated to America. After three years of my life, our family reunited, and I became an Ecuadorian-American. Since I was very young, assimilating the changes came to be unnoticed, if it weren’t for the fact that during the next years I spoke Spanish at home and English at school. As a result, my translations of these languages affected my communication, creating slow comprehensive

Risa Campos is a family nurse practitioner student from Gonzaga University. She will be working with us until the end of November to further her experience and education.

People of all ages constantly learn how to speak multiple languages. Children are taught to become bilingual, which increases their knowledge. A young boy named Richard Rodriguez grew up in San Francisco, California with a household of Spanish speaking family members. Rodriguez barely knew English when he entered his early years of Elementary school. Through the course of his education Rodriguez took note of how different he was from his family, and slowly began to lose his heritage. Rodriguez’s family embarrassed him since he was categorized as a Scholarship boy, which means a good student yet also a troubled son whose moderately endowed (Rodriguez 19).

Like mentioned in lecture, “children learn English and some American ways, but retain parents’ language and cultural norms,” in Jose’s case, his own native language. Jose recalls how when he began elementary in the United States, he would complain that the “light was hurting my eyes because my school in Mexico did not have electricity.” Jose mentions the lack of resources in his home country but doesn’t seem to see it as negative, instead is appalled by this strange thing he wasn’t used to, light. He has learned to appreciate the English language and the American culture but prefers to stick to his native country and speaking Spanish. He said Spanish is easier. He often goes back and forth between both languages, “Now I often catch myself thinking in both languages but mostly in Spanish.” Even if he does choose Spanish over English, it is not a sign of downward assimilation, at least not in his case. Jose is 34 years old and has a Master of Arts in Education with a specialization in English Language Learners. The emphasis he decided to go for shows how much he values the language and wants to provide other students with the knowledge he has gained through his studies and personal

As time has evolved, social norms have changed alongside generations. My objective was to prove the significant changes in family life, roles, and family structure that have occurred throughout generations due to the development of the family and open beliefs. Using the inquiry method, I interviewed an individual using a specific amount of questions to be able to identify the most prominent differences between today’s generation and theirs. For my research, I decided to interview a baby boomer. In the years following WW11, there was an extreme increase in birth rate. All those born at this time are called baby boomers. His name is Horacio Campos and he was born in 1951 in a small town in Chile. Horacio has recently turned 65. He grew up in

From the article “A Musician of Many Culture”, the author Yo-Yo Ma points out that people do not have to choose one culture to belong to, instead, they can learn from multiple culture. Yo-Yo Ma is a musician who grew up in three different culture. He was a Chinese who grew up in France, and learn about American culture. According to the article, Yo-Yo Ma was once fallen into the confusion of deciding which culture shall he choose to belong, but after the confusion he has learnt that each culture has its own valuable essences; there is not necessary for him to choose only one culture among three of them. After that, the author understand the benefits of learning from multiple cultures. At the end of the essay, he points out that as a musician,

Prior to the nineteenth century, western musicians and other artists generally strove to express universal ideas through their work in order to reach as many people as possible. That all changed in the early 1800’s, when composers began incorporating styles and melodies, and using traditional instruments, to represent a specific country’s landscape, traditions, and overall feeling of said country. Evidently, the people native to the country would find a sense of comfort and pride in the music, but outside audiences would also find it interesting to listen to because it was like catching a glimpse into an exotic culture.

Before I met my teacher in America, it all started when I was an elementary student in South Korea apparently learning English for the first time. In the beginning, I was convinced from many adults’ who advises me that to be successful in my future career, English must be mastered, for it is a global, valuable and useful language. However, with dear honesty, English for me was a foreign