POST #7: "ARIA" RICHARD RODRIGUEZ

"Aria"

Richard Rodriguez

Reflection

           Richard Rodriguez offers his highly moving personal story of growing up as an English Language Learner in school, and the lasting struggles he had faced through his educational and family life in the process of transitioning to English, in this reading titled "Aria." As I read through this short section, I was touched by the authors beautiful way of describing his feelings toward his native tongue and the emotion he could feel by hearing those recognizable musical sounds of the language he misses. Rodriguez describes the initial shyness he experienced in school in while not being able to fully feel comfortable speaking English. His teachers would notice his quietness as well. 

        I can't imagine this type of response ever happening in the modern day, but the author describes nuns from his school coming to his home to address the problem of his struggle with English with his parents. It was bewildering to read that they asked his parents to only speak English around him at home from that point on. 

        I found it interesting reading about how Rodriguez viewed his native language as a "private" language that connected his family as a child. Since they did not speak English to each other at home, his family found a strong bond in the way they communicated only to each other, within their neighborhood of predominantly English speakers. 

       Because of his family transitioning to English, at the behest of the school, they grew more connected to their English-speaking community, but at the same time, lost their common bond with each other. This had progressed to the point where Rodriguez's ability to speak English surpassed his parents. Due to this, he began to have trouble communicating with his own family. He described his father growing silent later in his life, and his mothers difficult attempts to make small talk with him. In turn, as the author's English improved, he had lost much if his ability to speak his native language.

        It is very sad to see how this process created such tragic barriers within Rodriguez's family. I hope in today's educational world, students learning English would be able to do so while also learning to appreciate and expand upon their native languages.