English 101
September 16, 2114 My Personal Memories
After reading the designated essay written by Gloria Anzaldua I evidently felt that I can relate to her earlier life experiences using language in contrast with mine. Anzaldua describes a situation at school that brought disciple action from teachers for speaking the Spanish language. In her essay How to Tame a Wild Tongue Anzazula explains to readers that this was in violation of her First Amendment rights to the United States Constitution. In the following essay I will compare my personal life experiences with Anzaldua and how language contributed to who I am today in society and my personal identity.
Comparing Anzaldua experiences in school with language I find similarities with my school experiences as well. In Anzaldua personal memories she clearly recollect feeling her freedom of speech censored for speaking the Spanish language. Sometimes her conversation with instructors would sadly end with five smacks on the hand with a ruler or a long sit in a corner simply for speaking Spanish. Although Anzaldua punishment was far worse than mine I can still remember the disciple action taken towards my poor choice of communication. I recall that morning while at school my class had a substitute teacher to deal with for the day. When I entered the class room all my classmates were laughing and talking to each other. I quickly found my seat but as I looked up to the front of the room to noticed a woman substitute teacher. On break time I began to talk with my neighbor in Spanish and my language vocabulary was suddenly noticed by my substitute teacher. The foreign Spanish language I was speaking was quickly extinguished. I felt ashamed as she judges me in front of other students for talking the Spanish language. I was told to be quiet because it was not correct to speak a foreign language in front of her and my fellow classmates. I did not understand why. I wanted to say I thought this is such an unfair way to treat a person. This made me feel manipulated and disorder. Anzaldua school experiences and mine relate because we were both treated unfairly for speaking a language that was natural to us. Even though our school experiences were similar language has affected me differently.
Language has helped me identify who I am today. I will admit speaking in Spanish is a difficult language but after I understood to speak it I knew I belonged to a culture. Reading and writing was difficult but with perseverance and determination I learned to write and read Spanish fluently. Everyone I know spoke Spanish and it was something