Talking Points #2: “Aria” and “Teaching Multilingual Children”

“Aria” By Richard Rodriguez (Quotes)

This article was a very easy read for me. Rodriguez really reached me in the fact that I had sympathy for him for what he had to deal with during his time in school. School is supposed to be a fun place to learn and meet new people.  But for him it was a place were he felt uncomfortable and left out. 

Rodriguez came from a Spanish-speaking family. In this article, he talks about how when he was in elementary school, he was told he had no choice but to learn English like everyone else, and was told he must forget hat he knew about Spanish. I agreed with the fact that he needed to learn English so he would be able to communicate with the other English-speaking students, but to forget about Spanish completely was just a bit much. "The old Spanish words I had used earlier-mama and papa-I couldn't use anymore. They would have been too painful reminders of how much had changed in my life." This quote really stuck out to me. I really disliked the fact that he felt as though he couldn't use the words he was used to anymore. It hurt me even more that he was so young going through all of this and that jut makes it even worse. 

Something else Rodriguez said was "At last, seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true since my birth: I was an American Citizen." When I thought about this I wondered why this was present to him beforehand. I feel as though he should always know we is, was and always will be an American citizen. I feel like he thought this because he didn't do the same things at home as other students because he was Spanish. But part of being an American citizen is knowing that everyone is different but still part of one. 

Something that really bothered me was when he said, "Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that i needed to speak a public language." This didn't really make sense to me. He's making it sound like its a good thing that his teachers weren't completely aware of the situation he was really in. The thing is is that they should have been aware of this situation, and they should have done everything in their power to help him feel as equal as possible. If I was his teacher I know I would have. 

I took some time to look online about different situations such at Rodriguez' and I found a site that gives strategies about those kinds of situations.
Click here if you'd like to take a look. :)