Argument:
I decided to read Aria written by, Richard Rodriguez.
Richard Rodriguez is arguing in his story the struggle of bilingual children. In this article he is sharing his story as a young boy who speaks Spanish as his primary language, but trying to learn English. He states that "supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family's language." He refers to English as the public language and Spanish as the private language. I think that it is almost like he is being forced to learn the English language because in school that is what they spoke. Rodriguez says that as his family started to learn how to speak better English, they grew apart. He started to feel that he belonged in public, that he was finally an American citizen, even though that special bond and closeness his family once shared was gone. He often refers to it as the "silence".
"Fewer words passed between parent and child, but more profound was the silence that resulted from my inattention to sounds."
I pulled this picture because overall I think that Rodriguez is saying that by forcing students to learn the public language at home instead of their native language, takes a huge toll on the family and potentially ruins their bond.
"The bilingualists simplistically scorn the value and necessity of assimilation. They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."
In class I intend to speak about this overall story Rodriguez shares. I think that we are working towards this problem in the classrooms. In schools today other languages are offered at younger ages. There are also many TV shows that help younger children learn different languages. When I was younger I never remember watching shows that taught me spanish. I didn't even take a language class in High School, but now as my daughter grows up a lot of the TV shows she likes speak both English and Spanish.
Hey Alicia. I really like what you had to say about this piece. I agree that children are more exposed to other languages these days and I think that's a great thing! When I was young I only knew Spanish existed because of Dora the Explorer and I unfortunately assumed that English and Spanish were the only languages. I think it's really important to expose children to multiple languages at a young age and I hope your daughter grows up more aware of different languages.
ReplyDeleteHi Alicia! I really liked how you said that he is almost forced to learn English, which really doesn't seem fair because it comes at a cost, which diminished his Spanish origins and as you said, broke the bond. I also touched upon the "silence" and how learning English ultimately rendered his personal identity, silenced. See you Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteHi Alicia! I just wanted to take a second and let you know that I agree with your post. I think that is definitely important to teach students different languages at younger ages. I think that is important for students who dont speak English to learn English in school because that is the language that most of country speaks, however like you said I don't think that should come at the cost of loosing their native language. We should use multilingual classes to teach all students new languages without diminishing the value of the language(s) they already know.
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