Summary Of Camla's Short Story: The New Girl

¨The receptionist asked me in Spanish, ’Are you here for the English class?’... ‘I’m sorry. Our new session starts today, so I just assumed that’s why you were here.’ I was about to say no, but I stopped myself. Maybe it was luck that brought me here, or maybe it was providence... Maybe I would even learn enough to be able to help Maribel with her homework¨ (Henríquez 58). Alma does not know how to speak English when she comes to America. She is willing to learn and her sole motive is to make Maribel do well on her homework. Language is a huge part of life since it is a major way to communicate with other people. If she knew how to speak English, she would be capable to talk to Maribel’s teacher and discuss her advance and problems. Thence, they can get a better plan of education for

Cam was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1989. He is the second child of three boys. Cam was from a home in which athletics and hard work were a central part of growing up. Cams mom, Jackie, always made sure their studies were on top and completed. Their father Cecil, cast a large shadow over their sports lives and weekend activities.

Even though English is her native language, she became fascinated by learning other languages, particularly Spanish, when she was in high school and was taking her first foreign language class. She took Spanish I, II, and III during high school and decided to continue her pursuit in developing the language even further when she went to college. She said that she taught Spanish on the high school level for a few years but then later took a position working at an elementary school. At that particular school, she saw a number of students coming in with their parents and neither the parents nor children spoke very much English. She usually would be the one who had to translate to the appropriate people to help out. So she saw that need and decided that she wanted to help in that capacity and therefore lead her to what she has been doing for the past eight years.

Ever since Alma was an infant she adored strolling through the narrow alleys and backstreets of Paris, one street in particular always deserted, made it her favorite. Alma had the street all to herself. As she pranced around in her favorite alley, she noticed a petite chalkboard for the first time. Intrigued by the board, she inspected it and acknowledged that written on the board was the names of various people, she concluded that she would write her own name. As she scribbled her name she recognized out of the corner of her eye the store across from her had a girl her age peering through the window towards her. As she investigated deeper she noticed the doll looked eerily exactly like her. As Alma steps forward the doll dashes away. Bewildered, Alma walks toward the store. As she gets nearer the door creaks open and Alma steps toward it, however the door seals shut. Discouraged, Alma walks away, but once more, something caught her attention. Turing around, she sees the door creak open yet again, and this

The girl’s inner characterization resembles a coming of age character. She develops because of the action and her traits as a child are presented in contrast with her traits as a teenager. This contrast is emphasized using the third-person narrator at the beginning of

“Well, well, well” Brianna says. “What do we have here girls? Little Sally Walker, walking down the halls. She didn’t know what to do...which makes this a lot more fun” she exclaims with an evil grin. If I mentioned to any of these girls that my name is not Sally Walker, that would just lead to further trouble. Despite this, I’m jealous of the creativity these girls possess.

The first student that I conducted the lesson with was a girl I named Shiloh. Shiloh was an eight-year girl that was in the second grade, but would be entering in the third grade in the coming Fall. Her mother explained that she was an ESOL level two student. She was born in America, but both parents are Hispanic. The father is Cuban and the mother is from Venezuela. At home Shiloh’s family mainly communicates in Spanish. Shiloh’s mother explained that she wanted her daughter to speak Spanish at home because she does not want her to not learn Spanish or forget “where she comes from.” As I learned in TSOL I many parents do this this because they do not want their child

Valeria Hernandez was born May 9th, 1999 in Fort Collins, Colorado. After six weeks of her birth, her family decided to move back home to Temosachic, Chihuahua MX. After two years of being there, they returned to Fort Collins. By this time, she was fluent in Spanish and beginning her life in the United States. Going into classes for preschoolers she began to understand the difficulties that lay ahead. During the first few months of her education, it was difficult being social by having a translator help her around in this new institution. After a few weeks, she learned enough English to understand directions on her own and to enjoy playtime with her new friends. Then came elementary school; attending a bilingual institution, for English and

On February 22, 1971 Fernandez was born in Long Beach, California to her father, a Cuban baseball star and her mother, a Puerto Rican softball player. At the age of seven she started out in a local children's league where she tried out as a pitcher. However, her coach told her that she will never make it because of her size and build. In 1986 she moved to Lakewood,

In the essay about Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez reflects his childhood memory and challenges the idea of bilingual education. As a young child, Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using the Spanish language. Throughout his essay he represents the power of the individual to defeat the language barrier and how he overcame this particular problem as a child. Rodriguez uses this essay to show how he fights through his childhood to understand English. Speaking English clearly will help him to adapt to the modern society.

Linda had an easier time learning English than her parents did because of help she received at school. Upon enrolling in public school in the third grade, Linda was immediately sent to ESL class where she quickly picked up on the new language. Her parents, on the other hand, had a more difficult time adapting to American culture and the English language. Linda’s parents started out working low-wage jobs and eventually, through hard work and dedication, saved enough money to open their own travel-agency business. Linda’s father even had to enroll in language school in addition to his undergraduate education in order to increase his chances of

As a result, Anzaldua illustrates her hardship to the attention of an English speaker as an audience. Throughout the reading, she consistently switches from English to Spanish in many paragraphs forcing a non-Spanish speaker, such as myself, to look up translations an order to make sense of the story. An example of this would be when her mother expresses her disappointment saying, “I want you to speak English. PA hallar buen trabajo hablas ingles con un accent” (206). By forcing this task on the audience, this allows a sense of empathy and understanding of author’s struggles of what she had to go through growing up. She had spoken English but is still sadly looked upon from her mother due to having Spanish “accent”, that with this accent putting her through school is pointless.

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

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

Trista had always been a normal kid except for her stories. It wasn't that they were disturbing or horrific, they were just unusual. Sometimes they seemed exactly like the kind of thing you'd expect from a kid, but other times, I'd have to look at her and wonder how she came up with such things. It started when she was four, shortly after our dad split, leaving the two of us on our own.