Richard Rodriguez explains in "Memories of a Bilingual Childhood" how he grew up in the U.S.A., having a negative attitude towards learning public language. His parents wanted him to assimilate into the American society and the first step to do so is to learn English language properly. In fear of losing their culture, his parents urged him to stay true to his "private" culture and language of Mexico until they realized that this was not an effective method to aid his assimilation into America. He was torn between two identities. He wanted to be a part of the culture that surround him in school and in the streets. During his primary developmen

So many immigrants have learned English successfully in the past without any special bilingual help; these days immigrant children should not be different (Krashen, 1999). Moreover, it is known as a fact that immigrants are resisting English language, and are holding tight onto their first language and culture (Krashen, 1999). People living in one country should be glued together by having a common language which holds the country together. When a country chooses bilingual education it is kind of dividing the country. When Hispanic children would be taught in their native language, they would be separated from other student and this action could possibly cause segregation in the negative way. . But on the other hand their native language and their culture are not an obstacle but an instrument in the new culture (Krashen, 1999). Bilingual Education also supports the positive function of the student cultural background, keeps the student learning in his own language while trying to be more familiar with the English language does not lower the importance of its own culture and at the same time, the student is introduced to this other culture.

t years, his parents taught him to stay away from the Americans or as they called them "los gringos". And they also raised him with a pessimistic attitude towards Americans until he began formal education in regular school with nuns. Mr. Rodriguez continues complaining about his feelings in the firs grade. He felt very afraid and strange. The main reason why he felt like this was, because of the unsentimental acting of the nuns. The nuns were forcing him to speak in English. He had to speak loudly, in front of the entire class. He was not getting better at English language at all. The big brake in his life was when one Saturday morning three nuns came to his parents house to talk to his parents. The nuns asked the parents to talk with their children in English at home to improve their ability to speak English language. His parents took the suggestion of the nuns of forcing their children to speak English at home. On one hand this action of the nuns and also action of his parents to not speak Spanish at all meant to help him to assimilate with the American environment, but on the other hand it also took away his family privacy and also his language of intimacy. Mr. Rodr

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Approximate Word count = 1745
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)