Language is the method of human communication, either spoken or written. However, language is not easily attainable, you have to work hard to achieve any kind of proficiency. Sometimes life itself shows you a deferent type of language. For “the deaf and the blind find it very difficult to acquire the amenities of conversation” (Keller, p. 148). Helen Keller was able to surpass her obstacles: being deaf and blind, a status she acquired after a bout with scarlet fever at a young age and eventually she was able to learn language with the help of Annie Sullivan. Jimmy Santiago Baca was incarcerated at the age of twenty-one, but he received the American Book Award for Poetry for his collection Immigrants in Our Own Land after his release from prison,
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I was not introduced to the English language until my arrival at elementary school. The experience was a culture shock because of the foreignness of the language. Once I heard it I felt like Keller, blind and deaf. I was difficult having and hearing two different languages in two areas that were close to me at the time. Just like Keller I was unable to comprehend one language, let alone two languages the same time in my childhood. Keller said, “She was unable to effectively communicate her needs and desires and to connect with the people around her” (Keller, p. 145). I felt the same way at school and at home not being able to speak English at home and being misunderstood by my parents, or speaking Spanish to my friends at school and having them looking at me strangely because they did not understand me. It was not until I was finally enrolled into the English as a Second Language (ESL) program as well as speech therapy. After working alongside professionals in their fields, I was able to comprehend both languages. Those programs and professionals were my Annie Sullivan. They took their time to teach me each word, each definition, and pronunciation. At that moment, “the living world awakened my soul, gave it light, home, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away” (Keller, p. 146). I might have some trouble still here and there when it comes to a word that I do not recognize or in my mispronunciation of vocabulary words for some of my classes; I sometimes remember my time during my elementary school years but I realize that I have come a long way and I am proud of the progress that I have accomplished throughout my academic
I was not introduced to the English language until my arrival at elementary school. The experience was a culture shock because of the foreignness of the language. Once I heard it I felt like Keller, blind and deaf. I was difficult having and hearing two different languages in two areas that were close to me at the time. Just like Keller I was unable to comprehend one language, let alone two languages the same time in my childhood. Keller said, “She was unable to effectively communicate her needs and desires and to connect with the people around her” (Keller, p. 145). I felt the same way at school and at home not being able to speak English at home and being misunderstood by my parents, or speaking Spanish to my friends at school and having them looking at me strangely because they did not understand me. It was not until I was finally enrolled into the English as a Second Language (ESL) program as well as speech therapy. After working alongside professionals in their fields, I was able to comprehend both languages. Those programs and professionals were my Annie Sullivan. They took their time to teach me each word, each definition, and pronunciation. At that moment, “the living world awakened my soul, gave it light, home, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away” (Keller, p. 146). I might have some trouble still here and there when it comes to a word that I do not recognize or in my mispronunciation of vocabulary words for some of my classes; I sometimes remember my time during my elementary school years but I realize that I have come a long way and I am proud of the progress that I have accomplished throughout my academic