Aria By Richard Rodriguez

Quotes

"Nervously, I'd arrive at the grocery to hear there the sounds of the gringo-foreign to me-reminding me that in this world so big, I was a foreigner."

In this quote Rodriquez is using his own view to show how a new language made him feel. Where the sounds of the unfamiliar language sound different to him, in the area of the world that he was living in, that language was actually very familiar. Instead of english being strange it is he who is strange. From the reading Rodriguez believes that children should be surrounded by the new language so that they can adjust and become a part of that society. The learner would be able to advance more efficiently with their learning with a stronger understanding of the language. For example understanding more of what is being said in lessons at school and in turn getting a better grasp of the material faster.

"That day, I moved very far from the disadvantaged child I had been only days earlier."

Rodriguez comments on the first day of school that he had spoke aloud in the classroom. It was a big day because the distance that he had felt in the society of english speaking people had been greatly reduced. His parents insisting to him that he practice english more at home and his tutoring in school assimilated him into his new home. His point in mentioning this is that if he didn't have that added motivation who knows how long it would have been until he made that huge step in school.

"By contrast, my father seemed reconciled to the new quiet. Though his english improved somewhat, he retired into silence

While the household was starting to convert over to english as the main language spoken in the house Rodriguez's father was having trouble. His father's inability to speak with everybody else in english had made it so he was like the children in school that didn't know the language. He was afraid to speak and therefore he remembers his father as a very silent man. Without a mid to advanced understanding of english his father couldn't progress and become a part of the foreign society that he had moved into.

Different languages can have an effect on people that trigger emotion. Spanish was always a symbol for love and family whereas english was this crude and uncomfortable thing. Even though this transition is tough and takes a lot of work Rodriguez believes that in order to become a part of the mass society that one is in they must adapt and become like others in that society, being able to communicate with others for one. While he believes this to be true he also believes that heritage is an important thing in someone's life and should not be forgotten. Like he mentions about the time he spent with his grandmother. He couldn't speak spanish as fluently anymore and his grandmother teased him, he was no less a part of the family and has good memories with her before she passed away.
http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/executive-function-disorders/bilingualism-advantage-benefit