Aria-Richard Rodriquez

• "Without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid. I would have trusted them and responded with ease. But I would have delayed--for how long postponed?--having to learn the language of public society. I would have evaded--and for how long could I have afforded to delay?--learning the greatest lesson of school, that I had a public identity."

Being a Spanish-speaking student in the American school system, it must have been difficult and nerve-racking to try to learn in an Americanized setting. But what Rodriguez recognizes is that while he might have liked and felt more comfortable with Spanish speaking teachers, it would not have benefited him as much in the long run. He needed to learn the Engish language fast and efficiently if the goal was for him to be able to survive in an English -speaking country, which I assume the goal ultimately was since his parents moved them to America. In this way, Rodriguez and his siblings were thrust into the world of English.

• "But I couldn't believe that the English language was mine to use. (In part, I did not want to believe it.)"

Rodriguez did not feel a proper connection between his Spanish heritage and the American world in which his parents had brought them to live. He knows and feels ownership over his Spanish identity. It is a comfort zone that he and his family share with each other. So he expects to embrace his Spanish culture and to live within the parameters that encompass it. However, he does not feel so comfortable with an English identity and he does not understand how he can come to own a part of an English identity when it seems not to belong to him. He may feel like an outsider to the English world. But most of all I think he is just afraid to embrace something new, especially if it may mean turning away from his beloved Spanish heritage.

• "Again and again in the days following, increasingly angry, I was obliged to hear my mother and father: 'Speak to us en ingles' (Speak.) Only then did I determine to learn the classroom English."

Rodriguez did not like hearing his parents request for them to speak in English. He may have been trying to retain the familiarity that they had between each other using Spanish to communicate. He also probably wanted to keep the two worlds that he was living in separated-English from Spanish. But finally his parents stated to impress upon him the importance of him learning English; clearly this is what they wanted for him. This also brings up another important point, that it wasn't until after his parents starting stressing the importance of learning English that Rodriguez finally decided that he was going to learn it. This shows how very important it is for parents to support what their children are learning in school. This is what helps the children to actually want to learn.


Rodriguez's piece was not a difficult piece to read, but it held a certain insight into how multicultural children learn. It seems as though the children have a certain resentment to learning a new language because they are reluctant to give up their own private language in which their family shares their intimate feelings with each other. They are afraid to lose that special bond that they share as a close-knit family. This article especially illustrates how even more important it is for the parents of these children to get involved in their education in order to help them learn in a more efficient way. Not everything can be pressed upon the teacher. There has to be a cooperation between the school and home settings in order for the children gain the most out of their education.