Talking point 2

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

1 "As we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents."

This quote from the article really sums up what happens in a lot of families that speak other languages at home. Once the children learn English and use it out in public they tend to not know how to speak to their parents. The family that was once close and had their own family language, is now losing their connection. I feel that there has to be a sense of frustration between the family, that they don't know how to communicate to each other.

2 "For I was increasingly confident of my own public identity."

When a child in the public school systems in the US and they don't speak English, they tend to feel not a part of the society. Like the author states, once he became a English speaker, he felt he was a part of society and the public. The more fluent in English the more confident he became as a student in the public. I know that if the tables were turned, and I had to be the student who didn't know the public language, then I would not have any confidence until i knew the language either.

3 "Today i hear bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of 'individuality' by becoming assimilated into public society."

Having bilingual education is so important. The culture of power speaks English, therefore if one doesn't speak English they are at a disadvantage. Even though there are arguments on whether or not one will lose their individuality when they become English speakers, I disagree. If that's what defines individuality, does that mean us as English speakers aren't individual? This quote is important because this is a huge argument that is still going on today.

I really enjoyed reading this article. I really understand the importance of bilingual education. There were a lot of feelings that people who speak other languages have that i didn't know. I felt so upset for the father who was losing his family in a way. He lost the control of his house hold because he wasn't fluent in English. The wife became in charge of the household and the voice of the family. This made the father self-conscience. The family lost their connection and their new language made them feel fake at a time. Even the children became more advanced then their parents. Richardo didn't even know what to call his parents so he just didn't address them. On the other hand his family became confident in their languages and being a part of the culture of power. This was a very interesting article and I
really felt a connection while I was reading it. Richard Rodriguez is a great author and I like how he wrote real life stories.