Becoming Something Different

When I was young I began my educational life with speaking my own language until I began the third grade when my teachers introduced the English-speaking language to me and all its rudimentary aspects like grammar, vocabs, punctuation and most importantly vocalization. During that time I assumed that being taught on how to speak English was just another language class I would move on from once I moved up a grade, but I soon realized that it would stick with me forever and it was about to define my whole educational future. In the article, Becoming Something Different, it is mentioned that the linguistic and cultural capital of English Language Learners remains "unrecognized and without value". In other words, due to English language domination there was a failure to recognize linguistic diversity, and as a result other cultural languages were devalued unknowingly by the students whom originated from them. I can certainly say that I was a victim who was affected by the process of language domination.

When I moved to the U.S. the only place I spoke Spanish, besides having side conversations with my Hispanic friends, was at home. Like Esme what intimidated me in the beginning was the classroom practices and expectations, but not my interactions with friends. Moreover,  like Esme I used my linguistic resources to achieve greater academic success. Not only that, but my friends were also vital artifacts to my school achievements such as getting into the honors list. Also, My mom supported me through out the way but only from the "side lines". My mom spoke little English and did not fully understand the assignments handed to me. Therefore, I did them on my own while she verbally embraced me to get good grades. If I didn't make a drastic change from speaking Spanish to learning how to speak English properly, between elementary and middle school, I would have been misplaced in resource and remedial classes like Esme because of my English language development instead of my academic performance. This situation would relate to Lake's  An Indian Father's Plea letter. Lake wrote a letter to his son's teacher to not categorize his son as a "slow learner" because of his diverse learning methods that derived directly from his Indian culture. Attached is an article about understanding why kids are considered not ready for college level studies and how to fix college remediation issues. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/03/schools-and-colleges-still-struggle-to-reduce-the-need-for-remedial-education