Talking Point #2

Richard Rodriguez, Aria

1. "...I also needed my teachers to keep my attention from straying in class by calling out, Rich-heard- their English voices slowly prying loose my ties to my other name, its three notes, RI-car-do." (Rodriguez 35)

This quote reminded me a lot of a few discussions that we have had in class in regards to our service learning projects. I have always been really bad at learning names. When I started to teach dance classes a few years ago, I would often avoid using names because I was afraid that I would mess them up. The discussion that we had in class started to open my eyes to the importance of learning the names of students; not only what the names are but pronouncing them correctly as well. This author of this article also helped me to look at the importance of names differently. I have come to realize in the past that learning a person's name is an important form of respect and recognition. However, I now understand that the meaning of a person's name can be even deeper than respect to the individual; that taking the time to pronounce that person's name correctly can show respect to their culture as well. Rodriguez helped me to understand that loosing the culture behind a person's name is just one way that traditions are slowly lost throughout various groups and generations.

2. "I turned quickly and left the room. But I had no place to escape to with Spanish. (The Spell was broken.)" (Rodriguez 35-36)

This quote shows how difficult it was for Richard to transition from living in what seemed to be two completely separate lives to only one. Richard's home was a place for him to escape, and with that came speaking Spanish. Once his parents decided to speak English in the house in order to help Richard and his siblings learn English faster, he lost that escape. Not only did Richard loose half of this divided life, he lost the half that he was most comfortable with and drawn to. Everyone needs to have some kind of escape, especially during times of change, stress, and loss. I can not even imagine how hard it must have been to have to go through such a change while in the process of losing the one thing that helps along the way.

3. "...as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents." (Rodriguez 37)

This quote exemplifies the worst aspect to this article. As a result to Richard and his siblings learning English, his relationship with his parents suffered from the language barrier. This represents how important their language is to their culture as well as the closeness of their family. This also shows how much this family was forced to give up in order to assimilate to American culture. I think it is extremely sad that learning English caused the Rodriguez family to drift apart. Not only were these children faced with changes at school, they were forced to change their lives at home and give up relationships with their family in order to receive an American education.

This article was very easy to read. I really enjoyed that, like Kozol, Rodriguez wrote his article in the form of a story. It was very engaging and easy to relate to. I found this article very useful for future teachers to read in order to have a better understanding of how hard the transition is for ESL students. I think it is very important for teachers to be open and accepting of people from other cultures and help students to feel welcomed into learning English rather than afraid. Also, I feel as though it is equally important, if not more, for teachers to help students to feel as though they can learn things from the American culture, such as the English language, without having to give up the traditions of their own culture.

This article corresponds to many of the themes that have been discussed from prior articles. Delpit's idea of the "culture of power" relates very closely to this article. The overwhelming use and expectations surrounding the American culture made Richard's transition period very scary and difficult. If the culture of power was less prominent in school settings, it might have been much easier for Richard to open up to the changes. This article can also be related to McIntosh's article. Both articles show that change is not an easy process; that people tend to fight change and have a difficult process when it is actually gone through with.