"Aria"

Argument

“This author Rodriguez argues that students like himself gained a lot by having to speak a public language.” In his article titled Aria, Rodriguez reminisces to his elementary school years. He came from a family who spoke a language named “los gringos.” Rodriguez did not want to learn a public language. He felt that he should be greeted in his own language when he entered the classroom, instead of the public language. He sat in class and didn’t say a word for a year and a half. His older siblings did the same. By this time the nuns came to his house to talk to his parents about why Richard Rodriguez seemed so shy in class. The nuns talked his parents into speaking English at home instead of their own language. Since this day their whole lives changed.

Speaking a new language in a house has to be a lot of work. Imagine having to change your language in your home right now? For Richard Rodriguez his family changed their ways of living. When he came home from school his house was wither filled with neighborhood kids or it was emptied because of his parents beginning to have a social life outside of work.  They started communicating in English with the Americans. But, at dinnertime it was silent. They didn’t communicate to each other in English. They just ate and sat in silence. Why? Rodriguez says “as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer words with our parents.” His father grew more and more silent at home, but his mother argued it was due to his upbringing and the troubles in his childhood, not because of his new language.

Today growing up kids who are bilingual get special treatment. The more languages you can speak the better is how I look at it. I wish I could speak another language. Especially when I am in the nail salon and the workers are going back and forth speaking a different language that their customers don’t understand.

-This picture shows how you can say "welcome" in many different languages.