In her little book, Maria Teresa writes about her growing understanding of politics. She describes situations that she doesn’t yet understand, and how strange they seem to her. Maria Teresa also describes the fear she feels when she sees a police officer, or when she hears a siren. Maria Teresa is beginning to understand the fear that her whole country lives under on the daily level when a girl from her school goes missing and federal police look around her school for signs of the missing girl, Maria Teresa knows the girl is hiding in the school and Maria feels scared for her.…
As a writer, it is expected that Yolanda have quite an imagination. This talent, however, has gotten her into trouble a time or two. Yolanda Garcia loved to tell stories, but in this new country, not everyone knew what was true and what was fiction. Her mother expresses the problems they endured at the expense of Yo's stories. "'Her teacher says she loves stories. But some of the ones she tells, well- She lets out a sigh. She tosses her braid behind her back like she doesn't want it to hear this. Frankly, they are a little disturbing,'" (33).* In this novel, Yolanda's mother gets the chance to defend herself and to show that because of Yolanda's obscure stories, her lifestyle was in…
1 To better meet needs of individuals with dementia, caregivers should focus on receiving and interpreting verbal and nonverbal messages conveyed by the afflicted individuals.…
Mrs. Alvarez was raised in Dominican Republic, where the mother tongue is Spanish, but soon, she got enrolled in a (probably private) school, where she also learned English. Even though the learning of a new language is better at early ages, it certainly has consequences in us. Julia started mixing words in both languages (what we call Spanglish), but not only in her informal conversations with friends and family, but in school, what gave her problems with her professor. She also found herself talking in English with his grandfather, who apparently did not speak the language. Besides the linguistic problems, bilingualism might make us think twice what we say, specially when we are in an environment where two or more languages are spoken. In my opinion, this should not affect your identity, since we should know where we belong and what we are, but this is an answer that only Julia knows.…
Her father was a part of a massive underground plot that involved many powerful Dominicans and the U.S. (lines 8-9) .Her father’s involvement in the underground plot had repercussions that affected her entire family. It invoked the S.I.M. division of the DR’s to put them under surveillance. The so called “Secret” Police would wait outside in black Volkswagens blocking their driveway until morning, constantly leaving her sister and parents terrified of getting killed or being in danger (57-61). And the worst experience his involvement gave was when the plot unraveled. More and more of the conspirators were being arrested, and it was necessary for them to flee country so that they wouldn't get captured (54-55).…
Parallel to this, Dominican Republic shares the island with Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, which received a massive illegal migration, a result that could have been anticipated under almost all modern theories on trends in transnational flows of people. The Haitian presence in the Dominican Republic has constituted one of the most contentious social and political issues throughout Dominican history…
I grow up as an English Language Learner (ELL) and it was difficult to know what language to speak in certain environment. I was part of ELL for largest part of my education life and even though various peers were in it as well I felt out of place and struggled more in class. I needed extra support with reading and writing because it was a new language. It was hard to manage two contrasting language and I would not know what language to use, but when I started the third grade it was all English and I still was in the ELL program. All I was learning was English in class and at home my parents were speaking English a little bit more each day, so I was speaking more English by the end of third grade. I had to pass a test to get out of it but still…
The article “By Bilingual Acquisition”, Genesee (2006) explains how children learn and acquire languages. There are a lot of children who live in different environments from their mother languages such as Arabic. They are exposed to another language, and it may affect them. There are also careful parents and educated people who think negatively about childhood bilingualism. This phenomenon is common in some communities where some children grow up with their mother tongue, and the parents try to speak their own language. The author mentions that children can learn the second language in many different ways, like their parents who are exposing them to classmates, daycare workers, and neighbors. In addition, the children can use both languages…
Bortnik, Aida. “Celeste’s Heart.” Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Stories from the United States and Latin America. Ed. Robert Shapard, James Thomas, and Ray Gonzalez. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010. 64-66. Print.…
English has become a very universal language and well known in other foreign countries, however here in the United States more and more students are being deprived of being bilingual. Monolingual English speakers at a huge disadvantage because not only does learning a second language help ones communication skills but it also allows one to get connected with a foreign culture and understand situations through their perspective.…
Many students are developing their need for their native language; this keeps them from learning and getting use to the English language. Many teachers are having their lesson in their native language but it slows them or taking long for them to learn and be able to understand English. “Some critics argue that bilingual education slows the learning process of English and the assimilation into out American Society.” (http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-3/bilingual.html)…
Learning a second language is not an easy job, and it is more difficult to speak it fluently. Learning a new language takes time and dedication. Once you do, being fluent in a foreign language may offer you numerous benefits and opportunities.…
Learning a new language it’s difficult and frustrating as well as communicating with one another and understanding what other people are trying to say. In the story The Circuit, by Francisco Jimenez we saw how the protagonist, Panchito struggles on his first day of school. He is not able to talk and interact with other students because he didn’t know how to speak their language. As an immigrant, when I just came to this country one of the obstacles that I had to face was learning how to speak a new language. It was difficult for me because it made me feel out of place not being able to speak the language. Eventually it took me a lot of time and effort from my part to learn how to speak, but I overcame that barrier. Therefore learning a new language can be difficult at first but it is not impossible.…
From my own personal experience, I was taught English at a very young age. Since Spanish is my first language, I remember when I began kindergarten; I was put in to different classes with other kids. These classes were called ESL or English as a second Language. I really didn’t understand what was going on, because I did not speak English. But I knew that they were taking step by step approaches to teach us English because, I was really clueless when I would hear many of the other students speaking English. But within the first 2 years I was speaking English quite well. As my elementary school years went by I realized I had learned English. When people ask me, “how did you learn English?” I cannot really give them a simple answer because, by the time I was in 3rd grade I had already graduated from my ESL classes and I was already put back in to the regular classes. Now when I talk to my other friends that were in ESL with me, they all say that we didn’t really struggle learning English at a young age,…
However, it is just this kind of tendency that could lead to the development of an excessive dependency on the students’ mother tongue (Harbord, 1992) by both teachers and students. Consequently, students lose confidence in their ability to communicate in English: They may feel that the only way they would understand anything the teacher says is when it has been translated, or they use their mother tongue even when they are perfectly capable of expressing the same idea in English. This can significantly reduce students’ opportunities to practice English, and students fail to realise that using English in classroom activities is essential to improve their language skills.…