Bilingualism

Bilingualism
Conversation Partnering # 8

Isabella and I spent a lot of time talking about how it was like for us in school because neither of us are native English speakers, and how teachers and the school use to treat us differently. Isabella told me that she spent most of school in ESL and RSP class and how hard it was for her because it made her feel alienated, and that she felt like she stood out. So she would only hang out with other Mexican kids. She told me know that she is older and has a job that it’s a good thing being bilingual because she can talk to other people and how people now ask her to translate for them.

We talked for a long time about this and I found out that I had it a lot harder then she had because there where a lot of other Mexican kids she could talk to but there where no other Persian kids that I could hang our with. I also asked her if in school they only made she speak English and she said no that they let them speak Spanish all the time, which was much different then me because I was never allowed to speak Farsi. I was also told to take of my earrings and bracelets so I wouldn’t look to ethnic.

Even thought we had very different childhoods I think the way we where treated in the school system because we where bilingual is what makes us try so hard in school today. Where still trying to prove to them that we are just as smart as all the other kids who could speak proper English and no matter how old we get the why we where treated in school will always have an impacted on us no matter what we do later on in life.