My Second Language

My experience learning English was different from what earlier Spanish speaking generations in the United States dealt with. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “being caught speaking Spanish at recess…was good for three licks on the knuckles with

It is common in the United States to see DLL preschoolers who attend English dominant ECE programs tend to quickly show a preference towards English and tend to use their home language less and less (Espinosa, 2015, p. 46). Young language learners often experience first language loss, which is when DLLs become more proficient in the English language while their exposure to their native language takes a back seat. It is imperative that attention must be given to both English language development along-side the native language in order to facilitate the cognitive, social, and linguistic benefits of early bilingualism, while encouraging learning readiness goals (p. 46). Learning a second language during early childhood within the United States should not disable the development of the native

Born in the state of California to two Mexican parents my primary language was Spanish. My parent believed that learning English would be second nature because of the environment around me. It was extremely important to them as their first born to know the language that was inherent to me by the blood that runs in my veins. Therefore, when the time came to get enrolled into school my mother opted out for English only thought classes. It wasn’t until Mrs. Ledezma my third grade teacher suggested to my mother that it would be a benefit to transition into in all English class. She specifically said “A Spanish class such as mine is for children that are just arriving from other countries and do not know the English language, your daughter was privilege to be born here. Don’t take away an opportunity to

Learning a new language seems to have only positive effects. However, for a Mexican American, accomplishing this goal brought him drawbacks in the interaction with his family. In his essay, ‘’Public and Private language,’’ Richard Rodriguez describes the difficulty in learning a new language and the sacrifice he makes to accomplish his goal. Richard Rodriguez shares the difficulty for older people, as they learn a new language; however, for younger generations is easier to learn a new language. Also, the new language creates a lack of communication for Richard Rodriguez.

Growing up from a different culture, Richard Rodriguez looks back on his experience on how he faced the situation as the child of Mexican immigrants. According to his 1982 memoir, “Hunger of Memory”, Rodriguez uses his own observation “to argue that if the children of immigrants are to succeed in the United States, they must separate themselves from their home culture and immerse themselves in the English oriented atmosphere of the American school” (980). In “Aria”, Rodriguez has created an autobiographic essay of his childhood. In his essay, the author is against bilingual educators, who believe that children in their first years of school should be educated in their native language. According to Rodriguez this education method is wrong, it won’t be helpful, therefore children should be knowledgeable in the same language as the public one. The author’s main point is to strongly motivate children of immigrant parents to adopt English as their primary language in order to comprehend public society and have a better future.

My experience learning English was different from what earlier Spanish speaking generations in the United States dealt with. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “being caught speaking Spanish at recess… that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp

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.

Approximately 37 million people speak both English and Spanish in the United States and have experienced a feeling of discrimination or rejection. Richard Rodriguez’s memoir called “Aria: A Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood” demonstrates this with a personal experience. This memoir was taken from the book “Hunger Of Memory” which was originally published in “1982”. The events in this memoir occur specifically in the 1900s, when the author was a young boy, entering an American school for the first time. One of the main issues displayed in his memoir is when Rodriguez recalls being labeled as a “problem student” being a Hispanic-American student in an all-white school. Another issue displayed in this memoir is the difficulties he had had to learn English meantime he felt more comfortable with Spanish. Being discriminated and not being able to adapt to two different languages is a struggle more than half of the world deals with. This is truly a serious issue because this could potentially be the origin of socially feeling uncomfortable. The purpose of this memoir was to tell the reader that individuality can come from both one's private and public communities, but that does not mean that one loses himself. The audience attracted to this memoir are foreigners in America. This memoir is directed to immigrants and other foreign people who have experienced the same difficulty of learning a new public language in America.

According to his work, “English is the fastest-spreading language in human history and is used by an estimated 1.27 billion people globally” (Neeley, 2012). The English language is already the most popular language in the world, accompanied by each person’s native language. Also, compared to other languages English is relatively easy to learn (McWhorter, 2015). This does not mean that the meshing of new versions of English are always pristine. Ana Lucia Gonzalez, reporter for BBC, wrote the article, “Life in Spanglish for California’s Young Latinos” to address this issue of blending language.

In a country like America where people all over the world come to obtain a better future for themselves and their children, there is a large diversity in culture and languages. Most immigrant families come to America speaking a different language and have to adapt to the American language, English. However, several people do not learn English or have difficulty learning it. Usually older people struggle to learn English because they do not have time. Though, children may not have a hard time learning the English language because they are often sent to school. Currently children are now expected to learn a new foreign language, but most of the children’s families would like them to continue speaking their native language as well.

On the playground, I fluent English speaker while the other Hispanic children often supplanted their English with Spanish vocabulary I failed to understand. Consequently, this led to a de facto rift between those I could and could not be friends with because I did not know Spanish. Despite the fact I shared the commonalities of skin tone and having grandparents who lived in the “Lanes”, I was not “one of them”. My privileged upbringing, thanks to my parents, allowed me to succeed in school and experience little difficulty writing essays or reading a book for class. This was made obvious as my teachers often selected my school work to show other students and called on me to answer questions during class. As I aged my Spanish did improve, somewhat, but not as much as my friends’ English. Therefore, I was regulated to the Spanglish found in border towns that “fake” Mexican’s used and common phrases I felt comfortable with, since I did not speak fluent

Language is defined as a system for the expression of thoughts and feelings by the use of spoken words (dictionary.com). We hear our first language before we are born. We enter the world with the ability to be comforted by the sounds we came to understand before we came out of our mother’s womb. As we grow, we use our words to express who we are becoming as an individual. We may use the same words as others, but the style of speaking we use is one that we develop over time, and is specific to us. Our language is a part of who we are and can separate us as individuals. It is a part of our personal identity. Knowing who we are also means knowing where we come from and having a connection to our heritage. In the first chapter of Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory, he begins to tell the story of his decision to give up his native tongue of Spanish and begin to assimilate to American culture, with the belief he can be more successful speaking English. He argues that it is best for the student in the long run to be fully immersed with the English language, and does not believe that bilingual education, in which non-English speaking students are taught English language courses together with other subjects in their native language, is beneficial.

I grew up in a Spanish language household. Spanish was my first language, so it meant that later throughout elementary school, I had to pass my ESL exams every couple of years. I always hated taking the exams since I learned english around the same time I learned spanish. Whenever I spoke in spanish in school, I would sometimes face criticism because it wasn’t “American.” At the time, I didn’t care what people thought. I grew around immigration so I understood about being sensitive when talking about the subject.

You Language and I Language grabbed my attention. What fascinates me is that YOU is reactive, and I is responsible.  I am guilty of having fallen prey to both.

English, is my second language, is a big challenge for me because I didn’t know how to say any English when I came to U.S. The only sentence I knew which is how are you doing. People usually are very powerful when they understand English because a lot of professional documents are written by English. In this quarter, I have learned how to write an essay in efficiently and professionally, and I have become more advanced than previous. By moving to next level this is ESL 5, I will keep my English learning attitude and patient to develop and practicing my writing skill. In ESL 273 class, I learned about write a powerful conclusion paragraphs and a smooth organizing skill, and I also noticed I need to continue improving to make a strong topic sentences, and then explain the topic clearly. For those reasons, I should keep to the next level of education on my second language, and the level is ESL 5.