Talking Point # 2 - Rodriguez

Aria

Richard Rodriguez 

Authors Argument: Rodriguez argues that 

children who are taught english because they go to an english speaking school loose some of themselves in the process. a little bit of their family life is diminished and other people can be affected by this ripple of information

1. "Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that I needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions. Each time i'd hear them, i'd look up in surprise to see a nun's face frowning at me. I'd mumble, not really meaning to answer. The nun would persist, 'Richard, stand up. Don't look at the floor. Speak up. Speak to the entire class, not just to me'"

I Chose this quote because it reminds me of a little boy in the kindergarten class i observe in. his first language is clearly not english and when he is asked a question he looks panicked and pained. when the teacher is giving instructions he looks VERY puzzled and he looks around to see what everyone else is doing. i feel like (as the nuns) the teacher doesn't really try to help him. she mostly barks out commands and i can tell that it makes this little boy feel terrible. when i was doing a rhyming activity with him, his lack of english skills was very apparent. when asked which of the 2 out of 3 cards rhymed he responded, "man, rhyme". i was very taken a back. i felt like he should have resource or a aid with him to help him get through the class and help him learn english. the teacher is not going to help him learn english and he's not going to learn anything when it sounds like gibberish to him.

2. "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."

This quote also made me think of that little boy. what if learning english was going to 

make him feel like he was being pried from something? what if learning english was going to make him feel like he was being pried from his roots? what if the teacher didn't embrace his heritage and just made him flat out forget about it and speak and think strictly in english? in that case, i would feel terrible

3. "The family's quiet was partly due to the face that, as we children learned more and more english, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents. sentences needed to be spoken slowly when a child addressed his mother or father. (often the parent wouldn't understand) The child would need to repeat himself (still the parent misunderstood). The young voice, frustrated, would end up saying, 'Never Mind'"

Again, i think of the little boy in my class. if he does learn english and it becomes his

primary language; what is going to happen to his family life? he obviously speaks only

spanish at home. is he going to loose ties with his family like Richard did? is spanish going

to be that barrier between his family and himself? if so is learning english worth it? i would

never want a child to loose touch with his family because they couldn't understand each other.

family is all you have in the end and is a public language something worth breaking that up?

overall i found this article interesting. i thought of the little boy in my class the whole time. i

want so bad for him to be able to understand the teacher and follow what is going on.

his education is important but is breaking up a family worth it? perhaps there can be a 

common ground. i want that little boy to learn and not sit in his seat puzzled because he 

doesn't understand the public language. i really wish for him to go to resource or have and aid.

i guess that since english is most of our first languages that we kind of take advantage of it.

we learn new things everyday because we can understand the language. how unfair is it

to not be able to learn because you can't learn the foundation of what is being said, the

english language. i get very frustrated when i try to help him, but i don't know how to.

i have to remind myself im not trained in that. so until then, i will do my best for him.