A Whole New Country Essay

Salais change from avoiding her native language to valuing her bilingualism. As a child, Salais grew up in a poor neighborhood “El Paso, Texas” which made her to be ashamed of her native culture, because

As a result, she lacked confidence in her education. She stated, “My early education did not partake of the abundant opportunities which the present day affords and which even our common schools now afford. I was never sent to any school; I was always sick.” Even though she did not attend a formal school it did not put her out of reach of a proper education (Peterson, 9).

In his book A Chance in the World Steve Pemberton tells us about growing up in the Massachusetts foster care system. Steve was removed from his mother 's care as a toddler and went from the life of an abused and neglected foster child with no self identity, to a successful, professional man with a family of his own. Steve breaks his story into three parts.

Richard Rodriguez had faced a lot of problems that most students in America do not have to deal with. Richard had to deal with parents that couldn’t help him in school and wanting to be successful academically. He had become embarrassed of his background and where he came from and did not want to embrace his culture.

on the atmosphere in which she was living. The scholarship being taken away from her,

This physical transition can have an emotional impact on a child as they may be moving away from family and established friendships to an unknown place. They may be worried that they won’t ‘fit in’ and make new friends. They may grieve for their old

Racism had tainted her life from the very beginning. During her childhood she attended a one-room school for blacks only. She was only allowed to attend school for a short time due to the ailing health of

maria sanchez was only six people tried to hit her with sticks hateful words at her were thrown hate to all with her skin tone she went to school on her own the kids all left she was alone she wants to learn everything in life but she goes to school with strife maria was brave and learned at school with one teacher who was cool her teacher smiles but maria sees her fear and uncertainty maria does her best to stand tall and not let her fear make her fall ignoring hate coming from the crowd maria makes her country

She was responsible, stood up to Trujillo, and followed her dreams to go to college and obtain a

Moving far away from family and friends can be tough on a child at a young age. It has its pros and cons. One learns how to deal with moving away from the people they love and also learn how to deal with adjusting to new ways of life. Everything seems so different and at a young age one feels like they have just left the whole world behind them. That was an experience that changed my life as a person. It taught me how to deal with change and how to adjust. It developed me from a young boy into a mature young man.

In the “The Achievement of Desire” and “Para Teresa” Richard Rodriguez and Inez Avila describe the troubles of balancing life at home and at school. Rodriguez conveys the difficulties he had to face separating from his own culture to achieve academic success. His article portrays the cultural world and the educational world as separate institutions that cannot coexist in America. Throughout his text Rodriguez provides detailed experiences in order to explain his thought process. Inez Avila however presents her article as a letter dedicated to a school bully. In contrast to Rodriguez perspective Avila wrote her poem in English and Spanish to appeal to Mexican -American culture. She walks the reader through an argument between her and a fellow classmate as she was cornered in a bathroom. Her poem depicts how children who share the same culture discriminate within their own community. Both these articles are told from a Latino-American point of view yet they radically differ from each other.

It was a wonderful eye-opening experience to interview Carmen Anton, a Spanish immigrant for this project. I learned so many things about how she arrived in American as a small child with only her sister by her side and her strive to become American. The emotional struggles of Carmen and her sister, Elena, were real and I didn’t realize it was that emotionally draining to come to a new country. Her experience showed me how hard it is to fit into a new society knowing absolutely nothing about the world she was dropped into. The fact that she flew here with her younger sister and then live for three months without her parents to guide her in this unfamiliar setting, shows me how strong and brave Carmen was at the young age of eight. When she first came, she assumed it would be like

With her mind racing ahead of her she grabbed her backpack and ran out of class. Esperanza feeling hopeless began to drown in her tears. Her mind swirled in confusion she felt like an American but she also felt branded as an immigrant. Esperanza had heard the word immigrant cringe before through the mouth of her History teacher he identified them as people who were dangerous and un-educated that did not deserve to be in this country. Esperanza did not feel like she was a threat she wanted nothing more than to get an equal education so she could one day contribute to the land of promise. Esperanza pushed the doors to the girls restroom a part of her wanted to scream “This is not my fault I was only two when my parents crossed the border how was I to warn them that the promises were limited on the other

Perla was born in Juarez, Mexico, then moved to Roswell N.M at the age of three. She’s the oldest one out of her two siblings and the only one born in Mexico. Her parents only spoke Spanish making it difficult for them to adjust living in the U.S. School was frustrating for Perla, so her parents began searching for someone who could teach her English. With the struggle of not knowing the language and coming from another country, she realized that she wanted to help people who were in a similar situation. She decided to take-up a career in becoming an immigrant lawyer, when she grew up. Now Perla is continuing to make good grades and tries to keep her 3.5 GPA, so she can graduate in white and receive scholarship offers. She participates in

The idea of moving to a different state or country can be terrifying for most people. I know for me it was. I was born and raised in New Jersey and had a decent job. Life was going great for me; at least that is what I thought. I had a lot of friends and family that had been around me my whole life. Moving away from all of this was not an option for me, until I got married and had children. By the time my daughter hit five years old, I was rushed to make a decision that would change my life forever. I had to decide whether I wanted her to go to school in New Jersey or Key West. This meant leaving my friends and family behind, and somehow depriving my children from growing up around their family.