Rodriguez, “Aria“ blog #7

 I came to America when I was four, my middle sister was 12 and my oldest sister was 14. They have a stronger foundation in Spanish but for the most part my mother pushed for all of us to learn and speak English. It was a new world everything was different and all she wanted was for her daughter to be able to successfully integrate into America. It’s the passage of the story we read was interesting, I have felt these feelings of disconnect to my culture and home because of the push to only speak English. My mother is never going to be able to fully understand me because my expressive language is English. My first language is Spanish, but it was never developed and now as I get older, I feel less connected and struggle to use it. Even though I get to use it often to connect with families I work with. I find myself stuttering or struggling to think of the word. Which make me distant even more from first language. I wonder what could have been like if I was able to nurture both English and Spanish as a child. Why as society we were to appreciate two languages later on in education but make it an issue if you’re in k-8 grade. Maybe I would if felt more connected to my roots and also still embrace America for all that it gives.