Elena is able to communicate her thoughts in English through writing and speech in English, but there are specific learning needs for both written and spoken communication.
1) vocabulary, word choice and syntax
Elena has a limited vocabulary that leads her to code switch from English to her native language. She uses Spanish words “tio” “especial”.
2) Correct verb tenses
Elena uses only present tense. This will create a problem when she attempts to write an autobiography covering events that have taken place in the past
Sometimes it felt as if having two languages in her head at the same time made it harder to quickly translate between the two (Julia Alvarez's "Bilingual Sestina"). This made it even harder to be able to become a member her new home, a place with a different language and different people rather than feeling like just a visitor and an outsider. It is easy to believe that Julia Alvarez used her own sense of confusion between her two different ways of living though her two different languages, english and spanish to navigate through this poem. The difference between both languages that are discussed in the poem easily can represent the differences between Julia’s life in the Dominican Republic compared to her life in New York. Spanish is seen as the safe,welcoming, and original language where english is depicted as the new, scary, and unpredictable language that will take more effort to use. These differences is the foundation of this poem and in turn one of Julia’s major obstacles in coming to America. This confusion and uncertainty was instantly ser in place in her first step into New York was her first step into facing prejudice. Julia had to experience being called “different” or a “Immigrant” because she spoke a different language ("Julia Alvarez
Speak is a book that makes you feel and think about your life in a different perspective. Melinda, the main character struggles through many difficulties from parents, to school, to friends, to rape and self hatred. Through the whole book Melinda finds her way to her own voice.
The form of the text was very different. It as many code mashing with English and Spanish, but if the text was read by a person who does not know
In Richard Rodriguez's essay , “ Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood ” he writes about how he struggled as a child who only spoke Spanish but lives in a society where the “public” language is English . He believes that speaking proper English will somehow help him fit into society and find his identity. Throughout the essay he contrast the Spanish language identity and English language identity. As a young boy, Rodriguez finds consolation and safety in his home where they only speak Spanish. He feels that he only has a true identity when he is at home surrounded by those who speak the same language as him
By contrast, Richard Rodriquez, in his article entitled "Aria", strongly believes in surrendering to learning the proper English language, despite how strongly he feels his native tongue is a private language that once functioned to unite his family. Rodriguez creates a division of a public and a private discourse. He feels that he has a right to learn the public language of los gringos'. He creates a visual clash of two worlds: a public world as represented by school and the need to learn English; and a private world as represented by his family and the use of Spanish within the home. He feels that in order to adapt and create assimilation that he needs to abandon the comfort of using Spanish to communicate and force himself to learn English even if it meant alienating his family members.
Mora uses “Elena” to demonstrate the hardships and cultural battle non-English speaking Americans face while raising their children. They feel they have to compete with American customs in order to have a relationship with them. Mora gives the reader plenty of visuals and symbolic meanings that let you see into the mind of Elena and her journey on learning English.
Over the past four years since John started school in Australia his level of English has improved a lot; especially his receptive use of the language. John is a talented language student and is achieving great results in both additional languages he is studying at the moment, English and Japanese. Due to his cultural background John does not volunteer to speak freely during class. This makes it hard for his teacher to find the degree of depth of his understanding of new concepts learned in class. However, he is a passionate language learner and his focus is to perfect his knowledge in both additional languages.
“The fact that I am writing to you in English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you.”(Diaz)
8 When you refer to the narrative of the story, use the present tense, as in the following: “Sammy decides that he can no longer continue to work at the store.” Don’t write: “Sammy decided that he could no longer
“Her language, as I hear it, vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (7). The author talked about her personal experiences with the different kinds of English. She talked about how her
Daniel has been raised in a bilingual household, in which Spanish is the primary and English is the secondary language spoken in his home. The child seemed to be fluent in English and Spanish when
The learner I have chosen has a general level of education from her native country, having attended nursery, primary and secondary schools. In her period of education in secondary school, she managed studied the English language for approximately 5 years.
Children are very impressionable and tend to take on others’ opinions as their own, but as they grow older, they develop a greater understanding and perspective of the way things are and the way they should be. As adults, both Tan and Barrientos learned to accept and embrace the languages that previously embarrassed them. Barrientos immersed herself in her Mexican heritage and enrolled in many Spanish classes. With each enrollment, she faced yet another stereotype that came with being of Mexican ethnicity; her instructors thought she should already know Spanish since she was Latina. Barrientos is now determined to learn her native language. Tan has learned to love the way in
Aside from writing, Feruza’s is struggling with the correct verb form usage. When referring to events in her writing that occurred in the past she only uses the simple past tense and oftentimes she even uses the Present Simple Tense when referring to a completed action in the past: