Spanish Lessons

Our second day of class i accidentally thought that this story was our homework, so i already read it when it came time for me to do my homework today. It was a very nice surprise.

But i learned during this assignment, that reading a story or something twice really does help to better understand the information that you are asked to be reading. the first time i read through this story i was very confused, i didnt understand if the narrator spoke spanish, and english, or just english. But when i reread the story i actually read the introduction, explaining to me that although the narrator was raised in a household of english and spanish, her parents decided to help her better adjust by only having her speak english. this answered my question as to how the narrator was raised and what language she spoke.

When i read this story i was right away pulled into the story. i found it very ironic that the story began becuase the narrator was singing in spanish, and didnt even realize it. i dont believe that she should have been aware of this because she's mexican american, but rather simply because she was signing it. its weird to me to think that someone would loudly be singing something, and truly have no idea whats shes really saying, or what language she is even singing in.

I also find it ironic that her parents encouraged her to be aware and proud of her heritage, but not to speak the language. this basically is them telling her to be ashamed of how she was, but at the same time be proud. how could someone fully carry out being proud and ashamed at the same time? this goes along with the last sort we read, where its a question of whether a person can lose their language and keep their culture and their history. i personally think losing a language, or being ashamed of a language, is much more than losing just a language or being ashamed of just a language. it carries over to their culture, history and heritage. its something you need to embrace and be proud of to keep them alive and keep people aware of them. this includes language, and the traditions of a culture.