...In the essay, “Aria:Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,” Richard Rodriguez exposes the readers to the nature of being bilingual and living in America. Richard Rodriguez not only emphasizes the sound of language but also the context behind it. Through his paragraphs, he goes into depth about the education system, the public, private, and intimacy language, and how much coming home has changed over the years for him. In his essay, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, Rodriguez uses anecdotes, strong arguments, and his own voice to successfully argue that bilingual education is impractical, and a child using their native language as well as English in school and public life is not needed. In the first chapter, Rodriguez talks about the struggles of growing up in a Mexican home but when he leaves his house, he enters a whole new world. Using anecdotes Rodriguez states, “I was a bilingual child, a certain kind - socially disadvantaged - the son of working-class parents, both Mexican immigrants” (Rodriguez 322). Rodriguez uses many anecdotes like this throughout the essay to persuade his readers that being bilingual isn’t an advantage. As a child it can be very difficult going to a school where English is the primary language, and so Rodriguez felt that his native language was one that was private. His language was not socially acceptable by others and so he felt that he was obligated to learn the public language which was English. And until he learned English he didn’t feel welcomed...
Words: 1400 - Pages: 6
...The issue of bilingual education in the United States has come up quite frequently throughout history, and whether it would benefit the students whose mother tongue is a language other than English. In Aria by Richard Rodriguez, he goes into the past and present of his life growing up with Spanish being his first language in school in the U.S. He later goes on to say, how he in fact, was and is against having a bilingual education in the school system, for it took away an individual's private language and turned it into a public language. However, such a statement seems to contradict to how he ended up to be with language, which is the fact that Spanish ultimately faded away from his life, no longer making it the private language he strongly...
Words: 495 - Pages: 2
...Jose Santos Professor McGuire English 111 26 July 2014 Bilingual, Bilingualism, and a Forgotten Language In the essays “Aria: a Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” written by Richard Rodriguez and “Loss of Family Languages: Should Educators Be Concerned” written by Lily Wong Fillmore, the authors are concerned about immigrants forgetting their native languages as they get Americanized. Both authors are targeting a mature audience of immigrants, which have come to America to become citizens. Both authors use concerned tone with hopes that their audience will want to contribute to change. Furthermore, Fillmore draws her evidence from stories of other writers’ essays. Rodriguez, on the other hand illustrates his evidence from personal experiences and memories of his life while growing up. This essay exemplifies the differences and similarity of the evidence used, tones, styles, and the intended audiences. Fillmore’s and Rodriguez’s evidence are similar and different, in their support of the idea of bilingual education in schools. Fillmore’s evidence differs from Rodriguez’s as she uses statics, research, and other writer’s quotes as her support. She uses this Supreme Court’s ruling to show that the court believes immigrants require assistance staying bilingual, “… Lau v. Nichols held that these children must be provided instructional help to overcome the linguistic barrier…” (Fillmore 260). She also cites the story of a Chinese immigrant family that falls apart as the kids...
Words: 825 - Pages: 4
...The direct purpose of this essay is to explore, research, and discuss bilingual language education throughout the United States and other countries. It is estimated that throughout the world approximately 6,000 different languages are spoken and that fewer than 25percent of our world’s approximate 200 countries recognize two or more official languages (Grimes, 1992 ). Grimes (1992) also goes on to surprise us with this unbelievable statistic, being that only a mere handful of these 200 countries recognizing more than two. Despite the above conservative figures, data has shown that there are many more bilingual or multilingual individuals around the world than there are monolingual (Tucker, 1999). It is estimated, that there are many more children...
Words: 1555 - Pages: 7
...What is a Bilingual? A Bilingual person is someone who can speak or write in more than one language. A person who can speak/write in more than two languages is considered to be a multilingual. Bilingualism and multilingualism isn’t unusual. In fact, it’s the norm for most of the world’s societies. It is possible for a person to know more than one or two languages, most especially when the country is not in the western part of the globe, usually, people can speak two languages—that is, their L1 and L2, which, in this context, L2 is usually the English language. People become bilingual when they learn two languages at the same time, or, they learn the second language sometime after they acquired their L1. But then, it is more possible for a person to learn a second language sometime after he has acquired his L1. The problem is, the older you get, the harder it is to learn to speak a new language as well as a native speaker. Many linguists believe that there is a so-called “critical period” wherein the child can easily acquire any language that he or she is regularly exposed to. Under this belief, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, then after that, it becomes harder to learn a new language. In some countries, nearly everyone is bilingual or multilingual. Except for United States of America, of course. Since their L1 is already English, they are rarely encouraged anymore to learn an L2. A Bilingual can either...
Words: 2923 - Pages: 12
...I was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas and went to bilingual schools. I only spoke Spanish at home since my grandmother made it a house rule and English at school. My grandmother was from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and all our family members spoke Spanish. When we would go to Matamoros, Tamaulipas a city in Mexico my grandmother made sure we only spoke Spanish because speaking English was disrespectful. So growing up, my siblings and I had to learn fluent Spanish. When I started preschool at three, I began to learn English. It was my first time learning English so I was enrolled in a bilingual program. I eventually learned to speak fluent English but I still have trouble writing essays and sometimes I forget how to say some words in...
Words: 405 - Pages: 2
...Running Head: Overcoming Language Barriers in NC Pre-K Classrooms How to Overcome Language Barriers in NC Pre-K Classrooms FCS 711- Research and Inquiry in Family and Consumer Science Dr. Rosa Purcell Meisha Conrad April 28, 2014 Introduction Being a teacher at a Head Start/ Early Head Start program I have experienced the language barriers between teachers and students from different ethnic groups. I can say it is not easy when you and your students cannot communicate. Dealing with the situation makes you question yourself and how you can fix the language barriers in your own classroom and also the school. What can teachers do to overcome the language barrier in our classrooms with our Latino children? What are some activities, lessons, games, and etc., that we can do to make a connection and also help them learn? There are many ways I think we can put a stop to the language barriers in school. We may not be able to completely fix the problem but there are ways and things we can do to make our Latino children and parents feel welcome and comfortable when they walk into the schools. Communication is an important part of teaching because the children have to be able to understand the message that the teacher is trying to convey. Children also have to be able to communicate with each other. There are a number of factors in the classroom and many...
Words: 2910 - Pages: 12
...Professor Wilkinson English 100 05 May 2015 Bilingualism One in seven or 31.8 million people speak a language other than English in their home, according to the United States Census. (United States Census, 2009). People use this term in different ways. For some, bilingualism means an equal ability to communicate in two languages. For others, bilingualism means the ability to communicate in two languages but with the possibility of greater skills in one language. There is a lot of criteria that goes along with bilingualism. For this research paper, the criteria I focused on were: The history of bilingualism laws in the United States, pros/cons of bilingual education in America’s school system, who benefits the most from bilingual education programs; youths in elementary or the youths in high school, bilingualism in the labor market, and bilingualism in the media. In the society that we live in today, Bilingualism has become just as it is important to learn as to learn the language from the country of a person’s ethnical background. Bilingualism has come a far way in the last 20 years to where it is today. Whether we notice it or not bilingualism plays a part in every person’s day to day life. Bilingualism is highly researchable subject is given a lot of political, as well as ethical attention. Twenty years ago in the school system bilingual education programs were almost never heard of much in elementary schools for English speaking students to have to learn another language...
Words: 2979 - Pages: 12
...learn from our upbringing from parents and contiguous pressure of adults implicated in the children’s life. Morality is the values urbanized from that assessment classification and how one ought to conduct themselves in any given circumstances. Ethics on the other hand is how someone essentially conducts themselves in the circumstances that may analysis ones principles and ethics. Values fluctuate from individuals. People use there values and ethical conduct to assist in making every day alternatives. Some people values increase over a better superiority civilization. Values support ethics in our professional and home life. An organizer will make moral alternatives during the business day as wells as personal life. How each organizer perceives a moral predicament determines what alternative is made to establish a business guidelines as well as personal home life? What an individual values is hard to recognize but an inclination of conduct can be used to devise a judgment. Some of the values that I hold profoundly today are sympathy, honor, sincerity, and ingenuousness. Sympathy is more of a good quality than a value, but the two are associated in that morals hold qualities such as empathy, reliability, and admiration. Sympathy is what I decided to show as much as feasible to others even in the deficiency of reverence. Honor is a preference for me not a compulsion. I have experienced the rewards of honor all the way through my life. Honor provided me power when I...
Words: 1896 - Pages: 8
...Hispanic American Diversity The United States has always been a country that has many diverse racial and ethnic groups. The United States has the highest and fastest growing minority group, the Hispanics. The population of Hispanics continues to grow every year and they have become a big part of the United States. I believe Hispanics play a major role in the United States and they have a lot to offer. The Hispanic population helps to support the economy and the work force. Hispanic groups have always played an important part in the growth of the United States. The first Hispanic group that I will be talking about is the Puerto Rican group. The Jones Act of 1917 made Puerto Ricans living in the island of Puerto Rico and the mainland American citizens. Puerto Ricans are a Spanish speaking group that maintains a close relationship with their ethnicity. Puerto Ricans consider themselves to be Americans, but they are still proud of their culture and where they come from. Puerto Ricans are very nice people and they always make one feel at home. Puerto Ricans usually greet people with a hug and kiss on the cheeks (Schaefer, 2006). Family life and the amount of time they spend with their family are very important to the Puerto Rican society as well as other Hispanic groups. Puerto Ricans usually call themselves Boricuas. Puerto Ricans usually live close to family members and attend activities such as going to church, which is a very important part of...
Words: 1080 - Pages: 5
...The reasons why I have selected this chapter is because of the increase in the migration population in the United States. Every year, “The United States Department of Education (2015a) reports that 51% of the students enrolled in public schools are White, 24% Hispanic, 16% Black, 5% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 3% two or more races” (Vaughn, S. Pg. 110). This means that at least 50% of the student population in public schools are reported to speaking more than 2 languages at home. Coming into a new country where you do not know the common language can be difficult to adapt for a child. Children need stability when they are growing up. It is very difficult for a child to keep on adapting to a different environment...
Words: 1273 - Pages: 6
...Communication in Our World Hola. Como Estas. Spanish is heard everywhere across the United States because of the constant immigration of people into our country. If you can read and understand this, you are at a great advantage in today’s job market. By looking at the population at large in the United States, some of the typical jobs and studying abroad programs, you can see that being bilingual, especially with English and Spanish is a very marketable resource. By observing the population at large in the United States, one can see that Caucasian is not the only ethnic background being represented. In fact, the United States is the fourth largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. In the past twenty years there has been an increase in the number of Spanish speakers needed in the US. As the Hispanic population grows we need to do our part by learning the second language of the US. By taking a look at journals and newspapers, one can see that Spanish is slowly and surely working its way in as a part of the culture. Companies are trying to foster an interest in Spanish among the native English speakers and to communicate to those Spanish-speakers who can’t understand English. To get a true idea of the Hispanic population, one should take a look at an individual city to see just how many changes are taking place. The Latino population is high in many towns and cities throughout the United States; one such city is Miami. It...
Words: 946 - Pages: 4
...foundation is built. Children as they grow up can remember things from when they were young that can be life changing for good or bad. Sometimes you may ask your younger siblings or little cousins, “Why do you ask so many questions?” Or even “Why are you so curious?” The answer to that is “When you’re a child, everything around you is a learning experience”, as Sofia Gomez stated in Mother Goose in Monterrey. There are many things to be learned as child as simple as tying your shoe or even learning how to fasten your pants, but those are things you will use for the rest of your life and after reading my essay you will fully understand these concepts I am presenting to you. When Sofia was a little girl she grew up watching Disney movies that were in English because her family did not have cable. She watched these movies over and over until she could then remember just about every line word from word. These movies were thought of as just a pastime for her growing up but in actuality it was a learning tool without her even realizing. These movies helped her learn English. Sofia grew to understand that as a child your mind is so much more receptive to things you aren’t used to than when you’re an adult. The mind is such a terrible thing to waste especially when you’re young because there is so much to be learned. Sofia and I agrees that introducing a second language to children is a huge advantage. It’s not only opening their mind up to foreign things but it’s also broadening...
Words: 1280 - Pages: 6
...TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 CASE SUMMARY 3.0 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 3.1 Primary 3.2 Secondary 4.0 CASE ANALYSIS 4.1Target Market and Positioning 4.2 SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats 5.0 ALTERNATIVE METHOD 5.1 Reinforcement of marketing strategy by Squirt 5.2 Strategy planning recommended by Food, Cone & Belding (FCB) 5.3 Running bilingual media advertising and bottler promotion campaign for U.S Hispanic nationalities 5.4 Food, Cone & Belding estimation of Hispanic Squirt consumption on a Spanish-only program for selected markets 6.0 RECOMMENDATION 7.0 PLAN OF ACTION 7.1 Promotion 7.2 Product 7.3 Price 7.4 Place 8.0 CONTINGENCY 1.0 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, marketplace is fundamentally different as a result of major societal forces that have resulted in many new consumer and organization capabilities. These forces have created new opportunities and challenges and marketing management has changed significantly in recent years as organization seeks new ways to achieve marketing excellence. Furthermore, to maintain the product’s reputation in the market, organization focuses on branding the product internally and externally through market targeting and product positioning in order to increase organization sales volume and gaining trust from their respective consumers on their products 2.0 CASE SUMMARY ...
Words: 2840 - Pages: 12
...2015 English Language Learners Policy Roxana Rodriguez California State University, Dominguez Hills SPE 481 – Diverse Learners with Exceptionalities July 12, 2015 English Learner History and Sociopolitical Context Immigration has always been a part of American history. However, in 1910 a shift in the type of American immigrant occurred. Up to this point most immigrants were from northern European and were mostly Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. With the incoming of immigrants who looked and talked a lot different from the first American immigrants an Americanization movement commenced. The 1906 Nationality Act made speaking English a requirement for US citizenship, this shaped what it meant to be an American and consequently...
Words: 2043 - Pages: 9