Aria - Richard Rodriguez

            This short story Aria written by Richard Rodriguez talks about the obstacles young Rodriguez faced when he went to school. Rodriguez grew up in a Spanish speaking home, but that identity was ripped away from him and his family. Rodriguez's teachers wanted him to speak only english which forced Richard and his whole family to conform to the public language of "los gringos". Rodriguez goes on to explain how this Americanization changed his families ways they were not as close as they once were.
           
             Earlier in the story Rodriguez says "the odd truth is that my first-grade classmates could have become bilingual, in the conven­tional sense of that word, more easily than I. Had they been taught (as upper­ middle-class children are often taught early) a second language like Spanish or French, they could have regarded it simply as that: another public language." This is something I personally thought was odd about the American culture. Many people don't learn a second language but many other countries teach their people at a young age english language. American expect everyone else to learn our language but we don't take the time to learn theirs. And often times they don't like when people use a different language around them saying "this is America speak english" which is along the lines of what the nuns said to Rodriguez's family.
 
               Expecting students to change their identity and learn in a different language they are not used to sets them up for failure. Rodriguez even explains in the story "it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid." I think this is a very important point the author made and as a future teacher I will keep in mind. This also reminds me of my classroom I volunteer for this semester, in the morning while singing and such they say the days of the week in both english and Spanish. I think even something like this is very important for Spanish speaking students and non-Spanish speaking students is makes a small bridge between a gap they might feel.

             This story made me think of Lisa Delpit's meaning of Culturally Responsive Teaching, one way of allowing your students to be successful is allowing them to express themselves using their OWN language.