MLN

Había una vez hace 18 años…..

Once upon a time, 18 years ago, Princess Xaviera was born in a different kingdom than

her parents, The United States of America. About 3 months later she went back to her parents’

kingdom, Nicaragua. There she was raised with so much love and joy. Everybody wanted to

meet the Princess because she was the firstborn of the happy royal couple. She was healthy and

smart. She started to learn the language of her parent’s home country; Spanish. When she was

old enough, her parents took her to her first day of pre-school. There she discovered a magical

door.

This door let her into a world of opportunities.

Deborah Brandt was a fairy known for her wisdom, especially over literacy sponsorships.

She taught the Princess that her parents, family members, and teachers are the most influential

literacy sponsors. Fairy Brandt would say that those “who turned up most typically in people’s

memories of literacy learning” (Brandt 167) are the ones that are most influential, therefore the

people that had taught and helped the princess build her skills and knowledge were her sponsors.

The Princess’s teachers, parents, and family members helped her develop that new skill

called bilingualism by teaching her both languages from a very young age. She was learning to

write, read, and speak both languages at the same time. This allowed her to easily modify her

languages in any of the two kingdoms.

Both kingdoms were really different. Nicaragua was a Spanish speaking kingdom while

The United States was an English speaking one.

After she discovered that door, started to learn English. Over time she was able to write,

read, and speak it even though she would only use it in school and every now and then at home

with her father, the King.

 When she was about 12 years old, she had to move schools. This new school was very

different. Different kids, different teachers, but it was all in the same kingdom of Nicaragua. The

teachers were natives of the kingdom where she was born, and spoke better English. Once again,

she learned how to develop even further and deeper her bilingualism skills. Over her time at that

school and having teachers that were fluent in another language, she would always remember the

overall definition that fairy Brandt would give for literacy and its sponsorships. Yes, she would

have to learn, read, and write in both English and Spanish, but what helped her learn even more

and actually become fluent in both would be interactions, listening to native speaker of either

language have conversations, and try herself to have those conversations with those native

language speakers.

While she grew up in Nicaragua, she would be taught many things that were specific

about her culture by all the grownups of her life. Suzanne Kesley Rumsey was another fairy

known for her knowledge on heritage literacies. She once wrote about how heritage literacy is

“multimodal” due to how it “accounts for the passage of all sorts of literate practices” (Rumsey

576) without it having to be exclusively printed or written somewhere as commandments.

Even though the princess was born in one kingdom and raised in another, it did not really

affect this new found skill. Like fairy Rumsey said, she grew up learning it based on her

environment and surroundings that she would spend most of her time growing, listening, and

learning, allowing her to develop her skills.

Another teaching of fairy Rumsey was that ancestors are the sponsors of heritage literacy

because they “transfer literacy knowledge from generation to generation and how certain

practices, tools, and concepts are adapted, adopted, or alienated from use.” (Rumsey 575)
 The Princess’ Abuelitas (grandmothers) would teach her and her sisters and cousins about

their ancestors, which then led the kids to speak and act a more similar way to her family and

culture. She would use certain dialects taught by her grandmothers or any other grown person

that she would listen to and then have certain words and phrases stuck on her brain.

Overtime, the Princess learned and “mastered” both languages. She was able to speak

both Spanish and English thanks to her sponsors, heritage, and ancestors.

When the Princess turned 17, a very dangerous and powerful magician created a curse in

the form of a deadly disease that took over every kingdom over the world. Millions of people

died because of that disease.

The King and the Queen did not know what to do in order to protect the future of their

princess. Things in the kingdom where not going well, and they decided that it was time for her

to explore the world alone and so they let her go to The United States Kingdom.

Everything in this kingdom was relatively new for the Princess. She had some family in

this new kingdom, but she had left her parents, her friends, and the rest of her family in

Nicaragua. She was nervous to start that new adventure, yet giddy because it was the first time

she had ever been far away from home alone without the King or the Queen.

She started her last year of highschool in a new school where English was the first

language of most people. Everyone she met in that school was very nice and friendly towards

her, which she was grateful for.

As the months passed, she was able to become even better at dominating the English

Language. Except when she met a witch.

 One day the Princess was invited to a ball by some of her new friends. On the way there,

she was told that one of people there spoke Spanish. She was really excited to meet someone her

age that also spoke her first language and so she went to the ball hopeful of friendship.

“¡Hola, mucho gusto!”- said the Princess as soon as she met the girl that everybody told

her about.

“Mmmm Hi” -said the girl with an awfully rude tone that took the Princess by surprise-

“We should speak in english so that you can practice.”

The Princess felt so embarrassed and insecure after that, so she tried her hardest every

time to speak English as properly as possible. Over time, the Princess learned that it was not the

end of the world if she had some struggles with certain words in the English language.

James Paul Gee was a magician known for his ability to analyze discourses and identity

kits of people of any kingdom. He would say that literacy could be defined as the “mastery” of

things people learn over time and improve as well (Gee 9).

Being raised in Nicaragua influenced the primary discourse of the Princess, which is

speaking Spanish, also making it her “dominant” discourse. English is a secondary discourse

because it was “not mastered by overt instruction, but by enculturation into social practices”

(Gee 7) seeing as she became fluent when she started being around people that only spoke

english and actually interacting with them.

The Princess acquired her first discourse and learned but she acquired the secondary

discourse because she picked up both languages and cultures due to her experience in two

different countries and two different types of people with different cultures. The magician Gee

would say that “Two discourses can interfere with one another, like two languages; aspects of

one discourse can be transferred to another discourse” (Gee 9) which explains how sometimes
she would be able to speak in spanglish, a combination of both English and Spanish, and act

differently in each kingdom.

The magician would also portray how people have “identity kits.”

Some discourses that were part of the “identity kit” of the Princess would be being

bilingual because it comes with some instructions on how she would “act, talk, and often write”

(Gee 7) because she would often find herself talking in spanglish. Her school and moving to the

US sponsored her secondary discourse because she was able to “master” english and more about

the american culture and slangs “by enulturation (appreticeship)” (Gee 7).

As the years passed, she would still be able to improve both languages and feel more

comfortable with writing and speaking either of them. She also realized that every time she

would write something, anybody would be able to recognize her style and identity as a person.

Literacy in both languages made her stronger as a person, but also as a scholar in either

language. With bilingualism not only came the ability to understand two languages, but also the

ability to understand people of different kingdoms.

The Princess over time understood that literacy is something very important for

everybody to understand. Language is very complex yet simple enough that it complicates any

type of conversation depending on the tone, accent, and the way the messenger approaches its

receiver. Being Bilingual is part of the identity of the Princess. Sometimes it is not as good as it

sounds to be bilingual because of the experiences some people might have, but it is rewarding

and useful overall.