This article is the story of a man who spoke Spanish as his native language. His family was from Mexico and they were living in California. It was very difficult for him to communicate with people because he only spoke a few words here and there in English so he had a very difficult time forming sentences and complete thoughts so when he did try and speak to people they just looked at him word because they did not understand him. I can not even imagine how this feels because obviously I have never been in this experience. Especially at such a young age. At age 5 you still are learning to form sentences adequatley in your dominant language never mind learning a new language and trying to make sense of it.
He was very happy at home but in public where people were speaking English all around him, it scared him. When his parents spoke in English it scared him too. He did not feel comfortable unless he was at home with his family speaking Spanish. It must have been extremely difficult living under those conditions. I now have more empathy for those people that. The people who do not speak the same language as all the people around them.All that must be going through their head is.... are they talking about me? am I doing everything alright? Constantly questioning themselves. I would not want to live like that.
"Is it possible for you and your husband to encourage your children to practice English at home?"
I dont know why but this part of the reading stuck out in my head. The author kept saying that the only place that he felt safe was at home with his parents speaking Spanish. And now they were to practice English at home....where is he to feel safe? This is what I thought at first but, then I thought about it. There is nowhere else better for him to practice something that made him feel uncomfortable than the place he felt the most safe and with the people he felt the most comfortable with.
"At last at seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true sine my birth: I was an American citizen."
Even though he was born an American citizen he did not feel as though he was one until he fluently spoke the language. He did not feel like he was a citizen because people did not treat him like one because he did not speak the same language as them, have the same appearance as them, the same lifestyle etc. It took him the first seven years of his life to actually feel like he belonged. This is crazy to me.
"My mother, my father... after English became my primary language I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents."
He tried so hard to fit in and feel welcome in America by becoming fluent in their language that he had a hard time remembering his own language. He was forgetting his native language to fit in and feel welcome in America. This is very interesting because you never think about things like this.
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