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| Richard Rodriguez |
In the "Aria", the author, Richard Rodriguez discusses his experiences with having Spanish as his first language but attending a school where classes were taught in English. He states that many people think that students miss a lot in school when they are not taught in their primary language, but, he seems to disagree with those people. He said that he had a right and obligation to speak in English. It seemed like he thought it was a privilege when he said, "I couldn't believe that the English language was mine to use." He also talked about the way he felt when the nuns at his school would make him speak in English. He said he would have felt more comfortable if teachers would have addressed him in Spanish when he walked into the classroom and how he always felt afraid and different when being forced to speak in English. He also realized the differences in the way language was used at home and the way it was used in school. This reminded me of a discussion we had in class about differences in the way language is used within different cultures and how it is a very white, middle class way of speaking when teachers say things like "is it time to be playing with your puzzle" instead of "put your puzzle away".
Although I can not relate to Rodriguez's feelings in this article because English is my first language, I can understand how he must have felt. I can't imagine having to speak a foreign Augean all the time at school, school is hard enough for many people so I can't imagine how hard it must be trying to learn in a different language. Even though it is necessary for people in America to know English, this article still makes me feel bad for people trying to go to school and learn in a language they don't know. This article really made me realize how important it is for schools to have English as a second language programs.
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