LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1

Language Acquisition Autobiography

Israel Anguiano

Los Angeles Pacific University

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Thesis

Being the first generation of people from my family that migrated to the United States in the

80’s was an experience I am very grateful for. The many different hurdles we had to over come

to be a part of this new society and its language was a struggle at times. However, my parents

did an awesome job in finding a safe place for us to learn and be educated. Humble beginnings

in sharing one bedroom for 4 people together, to small apartments, renting one home, and

eventually settling in at what would be the home of my childhood. The journey was a family

affair, my mother and father were learning right along side the kids. We picked up on many

new tools that I will discuss in this paper. Although I don’t consider my journey unique, I do

value the many lessons I had in acquiring a new home language.

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Early Memories

My earliest memories in learning a language were all in Spanish. We moved to the states

when I was only 5 and all I ever knew was Spanish growing up and I was quite talkative. I had

to search deeper and asked my mother if she could recall when I began verbalizing words and

speaking in small phrases. My growth came early and I could communicate with one or two

words to get what I needed by the age of 1. By 18 months I then could speak in small phrases

and key words. By the age of 2 I could speak and hold small conversations. Ages 3-5 were all

spent in learning to recognize words and repeat what was put in front of me by rote. I couldn’t

read but I could recognize words. Now keep in mind these are all of my mother’s accounts and

all I knew was Spanish, I myself don’t recall learning how to speak till my first day in

Kindergarten when I was enrolled into an English only classroom.

Family Environment

My family unfortunately was not a very well-educated family when we were growing up.

My father had a 5th grade education and did not learn his trade till teenage years. My mother had

about half of her High School education completed. Needless to say, we were a working

household and books other than the bible were not present growing up. The only priority was to

learn English by paying attention to our environment every day and watching sesame street.

Although we primarily spoke Spanish at home, we recognized the importance of making sure we

could communicate in our new homeland. I had no clue my parents were subconsciously setting

me up for success. According to the author Katherine McKnight “Yet if our students are going

to succeed as literate twenty-first-century citizens, it’s imperative that they master both forms of

receptive language (reading and listening), as well as both forms of expressive language (writing

and speaking).” (McKnight, 2014, p.85) Any new phrases my parents picked up at work or at the
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markets would be taught to us at home. The remainder of the learning occurred primarily at

school. I was being groomed to be both receptive and expressive.

English Language Acquisition

From how I was raised and what I learned in school; I am very grateful for the teachers

that I had growing up. Every step of the way was a challenge since I could only communicate in

one language. So, I had to pay attention to body language, high frequency words, and pointing

(a lot of pointing). My journey was very interesting because I was learning my second language

while most the kids in my class were working on their first. This is what my parents stressed to

me as being an advantage. I used to think this was a funny way to make me feel better, but

looking back now I can definitely see how my vocabulary in Spanish was helpful. The many

tools my family gave me in my early childhood years really helped me adapt to this new

environment. Repetition turned into words. Words turned into phrases. Phrases turned into

conversations. I remember it being difficult but I do recall once I cracked the code was when I

began reading in both English and Spanish. The answers were right in front of me. I could see

the difference in word inflexion and syntax.

My career path is most definitely inspired by my experiences in learning the English

language. I would love nothing more than to help another generation be able to have the gift of

literacy. I honestly never thought about the word literacy or recognize its importance in my life

prior to taking this course. I definitely see the advantages of being fluent and literate in a

language. My experiences would lean towards all students feeling that they have a voice. “In

1968, following a surge of Cuban settlement in southern Florida, the passage of the federal

Bilingual Education Act1 brought an exciting yet controversial approach for educating
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language minority students to the attention of educators throughout the United States. Educators

and linguists in the area of English as a second language (ESL).” (Ovando, Combs, 2017, p.4)

Even though I was a beneficiary of ESL classrooms (English as a Second Language) which

started in the 60’s, the goal was very evident. I would want nothing more than for every student

to feel the excitement I felt in learning what it was to be socially and academically literate.

“Hence it is crucial that educators, researchers, and policymakers find ways to hear the inner

voices of language minority students, who may be prisoners of silence in English-dominant

classrooms.” (Ovando, Combs, 2017, p.3p) Although this quote relates directly to me, I feel its

important to recognize that all students should never feel like prisoners in a classroom. I will be

sure to emphasize this in my future endeavors in the classroom.

Moving Forward

Being mindful as an educator is what I strive for. Language can be a daunting task to try and

learn. I feel as if my own experiences in early linguistics have given me a huge level of

understanding on how much patience it will take to teach. My understanding is this; If you really

want to teach, give love and empathy to all. If you want to learn; be grateful and apply yourself

to what you are good at and grow from there.

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References

Carlos J. Ovando, & Mary Carol Combs. (2017). Bilingual and ESL Classrooms :
Teaching in Multicultural Contexts: Vol. Sixth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

McKnight, K. S. (2014). Common core literacy for ela, history/social studies, and the
humanities : Strategies to deepen content knowledge (grades 6-12). Retrieved from
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com