Araceli Rodriguez

Professor Doutherd
English 5M
December 12, 17

Challenge Accepted
Have you ever had to face the challenge of learning to read and write in 2 different
languages before? My first language is Spanish because that is the only language that my
parents speak. Growing up in a low income community shaped the way I transitioned into
speaking English as it played a big role in my reading and writing skills. Throughout my
K-12 education, all my influential teachers offered me advice that I have taken in to help
me embrace knowing 2 different languages. Being bilingual made it challenging for me to
improve my English skills but I have learned to adapt to both my languages. Due to
knowing 2 languages, developing good English reading and writing skills has been
challenging however, I have seen improvement.
Growing up in a low income community has major affects on your education. Many
parents like mine came to the United States in search of a better future for their children which is
why they established themselves in Los Angeles. I grew up in East Los Angeles, a hispanic
community, where I started Pre K at the age of 3 which was when I was first introduced to the
English language. However, I remember my parents complaining to me about assimilating into
the American culture when I tried speaking English to them but they made sure I never forgot
my first language. Balancing two languages confused me when I was little and that lead me to
speaking spanglish. This lead to the start of me having trouble in fluently reading and writing in
English. During the 3rd grade I moved to Lancaster, a city that is majority a white/African
American community and that was when I first felt out of place with my reading and writing. I
spent my 3rd - 5th grade of Elementary in Lancaster and those were the years where I felt most
pressure because academically I was not as great as the other students. I would constantly be
tested on my reading capacity by my 4th and 5th grade teachers on my choice of books. Since
time to time my teacher would conference my parents to come to class and listen to me reading, I
eventually saw progress and for me that was improvement.
For my middle school educational years me and my family decided to move back
to East Los Angeles. In the article, Sponsors of Literacy by Deborah Brandt, she highlights the
story of Dora Lopez and her challenges of having low access to resources in her community.
Brandt states, Dora recalled that the family had to drive seventy miles to a big city to find not
only suitable groceries but also Spanish - language newspapers and magazines that carried
information of concern and interest to them(49-50). Dora wanted to stay fluent with her Spanish
reading and writing, however not having close access to resources was a challenge for her.
Coming from a low income community myself, I didn't always have easy access to resources due
to my parents not having much money to always buy them for me. Another obstacle was my
own school when it came to having access to books for example.. They tended to say that they
did not have enough funding for students to have a classroom and take home copy of the English
textbook. The funding issue cut down the book options available at the school and that
discouraged me because I would not find enjoyable books to read. This affected me as a reader
because as a hobby I stopped reading books, I only read readings that were assigned as
classroom assignments. Although I wanted to stop reading in general, I came to the conclusion
that I had no other option if I didn't want to get behind in my reading proficiency.
Many teachers play a big role in students lives and 2 of my high school teachers really
developed the reader and writer I am today in both the English and Spanish language. My junior
year english teacher, Mr.Espinoza really challenged me as a student in my writing skills. He
introduced me to the MLA format and that is the only english class in my educational career
where I felt that I really learned. I truly explored different types of essay writings such
as rhetorical analysis papers, personal statements, reading analyzes papers, etc. Despite always
having low confidence when it came to writing in that class, most of my essays were given
perfect scores. Then in sophomore and junior year I took Spanish with Mrs.Robles, where
I learned how not to mix both languages when it came to writing and the writing styles of both
languages. Most importantly I learned by her advice many reasons why I should never feel
ashamed of my culture despite the challenges that I face with fitting in with my English literacy
skills. In the article, How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, she discusses the
challenges that hispanics tend to face for migrating into the U.S. Those challenges consist of not
fitting in with the American life and English language however, immigrants adapt and learn to
take pride of their own language and culture. This reading reminded me of these two classes
because growing up I felt ashamed of speaking Spanish in my English classes since I felt that my
first language was an obstacle of why I took long to develop proper English skills. However, my
last years in High school I was able to improve my literacy skills in both languages and learned
that it is ok to embrace them both.
Knowing a different language besides English did slow down my learning progress of
developing into a good English writer. However, throughout the years I made sure I learned to
dominate both equally. Even though coming from a low income community and having low
access to resources was a challenge, I managed to work with what was available. Good teachers
that came into my life were the ones that improved my writing skills, they taught me to always
work hard because they were the ones that saw my capability of improving as a student. Despite
the challenges of being multilingual, Im grateful I know a second language and had the life
experiences I had to shape the student I am today.