What Does C. E Vans Mean When We Speak Spanish

Growing up Chicana I was told that it is very important to know my cultural background and the importance of the word Chicano/a itself, but as a kid it was hard to understand something that even adults today still struggle with. When people heared the words latino or chicano they often would think of someone who spoke spanish or was born in a spanish speaking country, but for someone like me who does not speak spanish nor was born in a spanish speaking country, I became very disconnected from my chicana background and it wasn’t until the beginning of last year where I began to finally understand what it really meant to be a chicano.

Growing up in a Latino household is hard. My parents only spoke Spanish therefore my first language was Spanish. For the first few years of my life this was not really a problem, I enjoyed life as any normal little girl would. I got to talk to all of my cousins and all of the neighbor’s children. It wasn’t until I got to school that it became real that I was going to learn English. Don’t get me wrong I always knew I had to learn English my parents always talked to me about school and helped me as much as they could. It was also around this same time where I started to understand that it was not only hard for me it was hard for them as well. My parents had to live in this country not knowing the main language spoken.

My entire family was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. After three and a half years of living there my family decided to seek a better future in The United States. My father would go to the United States back and forth to work and earn money to send to us in Mexico. Eventually my mother was able to get a visa and my brother along with my little sister had an alternate way into the United States. We lived in Dallas Texas and Atlanta Georgia before settling in Howard county Maryland in a very small apartment. Luckily we were doing pretty well with my dad being the only one knowing English at the time. My father was working two jobs and I was getting ready to start kindergarten. I was very excited because the education we would have received in Mexico was nothing compared to the education in Howard County. I was excited for what was to come, but there were disadvantages of knowing only Spanish. Being bullied because of my poor English had an impact on me. I was in completely separate classes learning things that were simple compared to the regular course. I was excluded from certain activities, field trips and assemblies. I was clueless at first though as I slowly learned the language I understood things a lot more.

My Hispanic identity and heritage is an important part of my identity because it has shaped my journey as student and guided me in discovering my passion in life. I strongly believe being the daughter of immigrant parents has pushed me to work harder as a student and has motivated me to search for ways to help my Hispanic community. Since my parents and the majority of my family are immigrants from Mexico, this unique position has exposed me to the reality of thousands of people who come to the country looking for the American Dream, but also the difficult obstacles they face in their daily lives. As a child, I witnessed how my Hispanic community lived in the shadows and were afraid to speak up when injustices occurred because of the inability to speak English and the lack of knowledge

Being Hispanic also means being able to overcome daily struggles that others would not have to face. I grew with parents that didn’t speak English and couldn’t help me with assignments that I didn’t understand. I remember asking friends how they were able to do a problem that I really struggled with and often times them saying it was their parents that helped them. I have the distinct memory of my two best friends having a tutor for AP Statistics and when I asked my mom if I could have a tutor also, she said that we couldn’t afford it. While my friends were getting help with their homework from professions, I had to sit in my room and figure out how to solve something on my own. I also saw the struggle we faced as

I remember it like it was yesterday. People thought just because, I was from Mexico, I wouldn't be able to succeed in life. People laughed at me just because of the way I spoke English.

Another cultural conflict he faced was between his Spanish-speaking self and his English-speaking schoolmates. Throughout his life, he had followed the Spanish culture of his family, who mainly spoke Spanish in their home. His first day of school, he noticed that his English-speaking schoolmates were less accepting of his culture when he spoke Spanish in front of the class and unpacked his lunch filled with Hispanic food, which differed from the sandwiches his schoolmates brought for lunch. I shared the same prejudice as Antonio when I initially came to Los Angeles from the Philippines. My first day as a third grader, I was humiliated by my schoolmates because I spoke little English with a

The different political, social, and cultural influences that have surrounded me throughout my life have constructed the integral individual I am today. Growing up in Colombia, I spent a great portion of my time playing outside in the dirt, hiking through the forests and creeks, and exploring my surroundings; which enabled me to develop a quest for knowledge and a fascination for the biological sciences. What constitutes my character are the core qualities that formed as a response to my exposure to the different experiences during my early development. The experiences of witnessing poverty and abandonment of people in many different areas of my native country are experiences that marked my life and enabled me to gain the essential quality of altruism. My parents have greatly contributed to my perception of and importance of my identity; they have exemplified that part of being Hispanic is having the drive and desire to surpass beyond the limitations. Through the difficult transition of moving to the United States, I learned to persevere, to work hard, and to fight for the future I envisioned. My goals and aspirations have been cultivated by all these factors that portray my personal ownership of being Hispanic. I see an abstract concept behind the word Hispanic; I associate it with family and the given capacity of carrying the willingness, love, effort, strength, and motivation to

Afraid of how it was going to turn out because I didn't know any English and all I knew was Spanish. They enrolled me in first-grade at Mount Washington Elementary School, which my older cousin attended. I wasn't alone, my cousin helped me get into school and to my classes. But I still had that fear in me, because I thought I wasn't going to have any friends. It was hard for me to communicate with my teacher, all I knew was how to say her name “Mrs. Johnson.” Lucky for me there were other Hispanics in my classroom, so I used them to communicate with her. But there was a girl named Vanessa, she was very kind to help me communicate with others and help me learn the basics of English through the way. Eventually, we became best friends. She wasn't the only help I had, there were teachers too who would pull me out to help

I grew up in a Mexican household, even though I was born in the US. My first language was Spanish. My parents use to work in the tobacco fields from 4:00 am all the way to 6:00pm in a good day. While in school I was teased for not being able to speak English; or for dressing funny, and always smelling like a farm, eating weird foods. I felt depressed at moments, but thankfully my mother would always keep my mind busy. She would say “The only people that are rich in life are not the ones with money in their pockets, it's the ones that doesn’t think twice to lend a hand to someone in need.”

Like any other child, I grew up playing with dinosaurs, digging in the sand box, and exploring the world with the graceful eyes of innocence. It wasn't the basic desires and behavior that set me apart from other children, but rather the customs that I had acquired through my parents. I did not know many other children who could interchange Spanish slang with British idioms. Tea times and partaking in Latino cultural dances were both a part of my childhood. At school, I interacted with predominantly Anglo-American children. In contrast, my friends outside school could fall into one of two categories. They were either of Cuban or Mexican descent. During the week I spoke English, and on Saturday and Sunday, Spanish was my tongue. Oblivious to the unique nature that I had developed, my life seemed normal to me.

Participant 2 attended school from 1950-1968. No legal policies had been implemented regarding bilingual education when participant 2 was going through school. Though she did not experience a segregated school setting, participant 2 shared the following memories during her interview: “the first day of school I was very disappointed because I went home… my name is Margarita. Me cambiaron el nombre, they called me Margret.” On her very first day of school, her identity was challenged which clearly saddened her because one’s name plays a very important role in who we are. Participant 2 also recalled her primary school teacher saying “sit over there you retard!” As a young girl, participant 2 would ask herself, “what did she call me?” but “Now I understand what she was telling me.” Participant 2 admitted to being punished for

In my own little world everything was halcyon. Waking up, going to school, spending time with my family, everybody speaking the same language, and doing the same things. Even though, I was loquacious and always wanting to know everything my mother would always make things obfuscate for some reason and I did not understand why. My family was patrician and we lived with less concern than some people in Mexico. Every Saturday, consisted of my family getting together and spending time with each other. Each of my family members cooked something. They made: tamales, posole, menudo, tacos, enchiladas, and I loved it. We all related with the vernacular language. I absolutely loved my culture. Being able to read, talk, and write Spanish made me feel delighted.

When I was seven years old  I came to the U.S. from El Salvador. El Salvador is in Central America,  it’s a country with poverty and no justice. It’s not a safe place to be at, kidnapping, robberies etc happens frequently it’s rare when something gets done about it. When I first got here to the U.S. I was clueless, everything was different the language,  the food and the culture. Don't get me wrong, I was pleased with the differences of the Hispanic and White culture. It was the start of  something new. When I started first grade and it was difficult, the language was a barrier to start with. On the bright side, I made a couple of friends, one of them was Josh, he helped me learn a few words. Time went by, nevertheless it was still a little hard to communicate. I have to admit something foolish did happen in the third grade due to the lack of communication I had with my teacher. I remember getting F’s for my homework which was writing a vocabulary word five times, back then I did not speak much English, so I had no clue that’s what we were supposed to be doing and I wondered why I got that, now I know.

I was born in California, but at the age of five, my family and I moved to Mexico. I remember mom telling me that we were just going to Mexico for vacation, but I can say that was the longest vacation ever, in fact, we spent 10 years “vacationing”. However, when I turned ten, my mom explained to me why we moved; she told me that my dad had been really sick, and he didn’t want to be far away from his family. Since I lived in Mexico for more than ten years, I learned Spanish as my native language. I went to school over there from 1st grade all the way to 10th grade.