Herrera, 1.
Adrianna Herrera
1/5/09
Per.5
Mr. Fischer
Argument: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood
In the opinion of Richard Rodriguez he argues in his essay whether bilingual education should be appropriate in schools. Rodriguez believes that it is not okay for students to speak the language that is more spoken at home. He attended a Catholic school where he was shocked of how Americans pronounced his name and spoke their language which is Spanish. This made him feel about the English that he felt about bilingual education.
Rodriguez has a Hispanic background with both his parents speak Spanish. While attending a Catholic school, all his classmates had well sophisticated families. They spoke fluent English making Rodriguez stand out from his classroom. He even felt odd when the nuns would pronounce his name in English; for instance, (Rich-Heard Road-ree-Guess). Days went by in school he didn’t want to learn the “Public Language.” His teacher was concerned so a few nuns went over to his house to discuss with his parents. Rodriguez noticed a change in the way his parents had spoke to him and they encouraged him to speak English whenever he was around his parents. Though they did not care if it was well spoken either. Rodriguez stated, “Ahora, speak to us only en Ingles,” my father and mother told us.” (Rodriguez453).Soon after that, the family began to speak more English.
Herrera, 2.
While Rodriguez went through a change of learning the “Public Language,” he became aware of the different sounds between the two languages.