Self-Other Ethnography I interviewed a fellow titan who I meet this past summer in CAS 301 at Cal State Fullerton. Her name is Amber Malik and she was born in Karachi, Pakistan. Amber immigrated to the United States when she was three years old. Amber’s parents came to the United States in search of better opportunities for their children. Amber did not speak a word of English she Urdu and Hindi. In my case, my parents immigrated to the United States in the late 70’s from El Salvador. I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Whittier. My primary language was English but I did live in a bilingual household were we spoke both English and Spanish. Amber said that coming to the United States she felt that she need to assimilate to the dominant
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The school sent out letters to the parents notifying them of our requirement to take an elective class specifically a foreign language class. My parents enrolled me in Spanish class in which they wanted me to improve my Spanish skills because I spoke Spanglish not proper Spanish. I remember the first week of class we had to introduce ourselves in Spanish. But the level of Spanish that I spoke was little to none. In contrast, to my classmates who were proficient in Spanish they would say real offensive things to me in Spanish thinking that I did not understand. I understood more Spanish than I could speak. I was constantly being made fun of on how I spoke Spanish, which they called broken Spanish. I thought that as a Latin community we would help each other and be more embracing towards all Latin Americans but that was not the case in this situation. They would judge me and say “ se cree gringa” she thinks she white just because I was a lighter complexion than the rest and didn’t speak fluent Spanish. Compared to some of my ethnic and white friends who also enrolled in my Spanish class they made me feel welcomed and embraced my imperfections. They would tell me it’s a step by step process we are all here to help each other out and succeed in learning how to speak proper …show more content…
These programs taught foreigners how to read, write, and speak English motivating them in learning the language. It open door for many non-English speaker it allowed them to engage in class and interact with fluent English speakers. Amber said it helped her gain confidence in herself and knows she was able to comprehend the material better and no longer spoke broken English. Through ESL she learned English and is a current student at CSUF and will be graduating with honors from CSUF in spring 2016. She has come along way from not non-a word of English in becoming a fluent English speaker and through that she made it all the way to college. This is a program that brings good effects to students who are foreigners in allowing them to accomplish their dreams and becoming successful and taking advantage of the great education and opportunities they came to this country
The school sent out letters to the parents notifying them of our requirement to take an elective class specifically a foreign language class. My parents enrolled me in Spanish class in which they wanted me to improve my Spanish skills because I spoke Spanglish not proper Spanish. I remember the first week of class we had to introduce ourselves in Spanish. But the level of Spanish that I spoke was little to none. In contrast, to my classmates who were proficient in Spanish they would say real offensive things to me in Spanish thinking that I did not understand. I understood more Spanish than I could speak. I was constantly being made fun of on how I spoke Spanish, which they called broken Spanish. I thought that as a Latin community we would help each other and be more embracing towards all Latin Americans but that was not the case in this situation. They would judge me and say “ se cree gringa” she thinks she white just because I was a lighter complexion than the rest and didn’t speak fluent Spanish. Compared to some of my ethnic and white friends who also enrolled in my Spanish class they made me feel welcomed and embraced my imperfections. They would tell me it’s a step by step process we are all here to help each other out and succeed in learning how to speak proper …show more content…
These programs taught foreigners how to read, write, and speak English motivating them in learning the language. It open door for many non-English speaker it allowed them to engage in class and interact with fluent English speakers. Amber said it helped her gain confidence in herself and knows she was able to comprehend the material better and no longer spoke broken English. Through ESL she learned English and is a current student at CSUF and will be graduating with honors from CSUF in spring 2016. She has come along way from not non-a word of English in becoming a fluent English speaker and through that she made it all the way to college. This is a program that brings good effects to students who are foreigners in allowing them to accomplish their dreams and becoming successful and taking advantage of the great education and opportunities they came to this country