"Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great
deal by not being taught in their family's language. What they seem not to
recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I considered Spanish to be a
private language."
deal by not being taught in their family's language. What they seem not to
recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I considered Spanish to be a
private language."
These sentences are the beginning of Richard Rodriguez's article "Aria". I believe this was a great way to start off this article because it quickly explains the way bilingual schools are teaching and how this one Spanish speaking boy, Richard, feels his language is perceived. First off, I believe these bilingual schools are very tough to learn in and don't always work correctly. Even though their goal is to have Spanish speaking children learn English, the way they go about doing that is very difficult and one sided. Also when Richard says Spanish is considered a private language I think of all the times I'm standing near people who are bilingual and right when they see me near them they immediately start talking in Spanish. It totally makes me feel uncomfortable because I wonder if these people are talking about me.
"One Saturday morning I entered the kitchen where my parents were talking in Spanish. I did not realize that they were talking in Spanish however until, at the moment they saw me, I heard their voices change to speak English"
I can totally understand why it would be so hard for a Spanish speaking student to try and learn the English language at school, and yet when he goes home all he hears is Spanish. In this quote, Richards parents try and help their son by speaking English whenever he's around. The only problem is that they have to force themselves to speak it and that frustrates Richard. He just wants to speak Spanish, his language, but now everyone else around him is forcing him to speak English. He is so accustomed to Spanish that when he hears his own parents not speaking in the language he was brought up in, it freaks him out.
"But my father was not shy, I realized, when I'd watch him speaking Spanish with relatives. Using Spanish, he was quickly effusive. Especially when talking with other men, his voice would spark, flicker, flare alive with sounds. In Spanish, he expressed ideas and feelings he rarely revealed in English. With firm Spanish sounds, he conveyed confidence and authority English would never allow him."
This quote is very sad because it shows how the English language can hinder how people who normally speak Spanish act. Richards father is very happy and intelligent when he talks in Spanish, but when he switches to English he doesn't have that flare and glamor that he used to. I can totally see this is a lot of people. For example, I did landscaping this summer and I worked with a couple of Spanish guys. You could totally tell the difference in ways they talked from when they talked with each other in Spanish to when they talked to me in English. They did not seem confident of sure of what they were saying to me at all and I always felt kind of bad. This quote completely shows why a lot of people who speak Spanish don't like to speak in English because they loose their own speaking personality.
Points to Share: For class I would want to discuss how people like ourselves could somehow make Spanish speaking people feel more comfortable with speaking to us in English. I'm not sure how we could do this but there must be a way. Also, in these bilingual schools, how could teachers make these kids feel more comfortable with themselves and how could they get the students to love to learn how to speak the English language?
