A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH 1

A Little Bit of Both

Karen Casillas
Dr. Elexia Reyes McGovern
TED 407-02 Language Learning
California State Univerisity Dominguez Hills
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I am a first generation college student, with ancestral roots of Nahuatl. Mi piel canela, my

light brown skin tone is amongst the few features that resemble my indigingeous side. As a first

generation college student, I scuffle between when it is appropriate to speak Spanish comfortably

out in society, while still enduring the “appropriate” language of English in a professional and

educational environment. Ama y Apa left their homeland with a pocket full of dreams and a pair

of huaraches. Los huaraches de mis padres, tell the language of our ancestors prior to the

colonization of the white men. Not knowing any other language other than their broken spanish,

upon their arrival to the United States my parents took their language barrier as a challenge

rather than a obstacle. By the age of four years old, I can recall being my parent’s personal

translator struggling between balancing two languages at that age brought to me many questions

of which language identified me. Now as a undergraduate first generation student,I identify a

little bit of los dos languages as a part of my identity as a Chicanx whose parents left their

homeland of Jalisco and their culture nearly three decades ago with their huaraches bien puestos.

Through the use of navigational & linguistic capital from Tara Yosso’s (2005) article “Whose

culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth” and Judith

Lessow-Hurley’s (2012) “Aspects of Language” I will define how huarache pedagogy affects my

language development.

A symbol of my indigeneity that represents migration from one place of origin to another

and the linguistic repertoire that is needed to survive in new spaces. Just like my ancestors

fearing for their lives during the era of colonization, my parents migrated to the United States in

search for new opportunities. Learning to master code-switching from one language to another

based on the social environment one is involved in can affect one’s attitude and form of speaking

depending on the group. According to Yosso (2005) , “ Historically, this infers the ability to
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maneuver through institutions not created with Communities of Color in mind” (p.80). Growing

up within a very diverse community throughout my whole life, one would think that I have not

experienced feeling out of place and oppressed within my own community. As much as people

say that in California we see diversity all around that is not always the case. For example, when I

go to the South Bay Coast near Redondo Beach and El Segundo I notice that I stand out, even

more I noticed when I went to visit Loyola Marymount University. Not only did I feel oppressed,

but I felt that my community was not present while being on that campus. Not a single time did I

hear someone speak Spanish, except other than the typical “Taco Tuesday” and “Horchata” by

Caucasians. My culture and language are just represented through the cultural appropriation

norms that we now see now a days, but the lack of institutionalizing institutes based on diversity

continues.

Upon their arrival to the United States, my parents did know how to speak English. As I

was growing up, within my household I ever did was speak Spanish, broken Spanish from el

rancho. Once I started attending head start, my English tongue developed and so did my skill of

code switching from Spanish to English and to what we know now as Spanglish. Learning to

master code-switch from one language to another based on the social environment one is

involved in can affect one’s attitude and form of speaking depending on the group, Yosso (2005)

states, “…must often develop and draw on various language registers, or styles, to communicate

with different audiences” (p.79). For example, I have to chose my choice of words and tone with

whom I speaking to very carefully. When it comes to speaking to my parents, I can say “Que

pasa calabaza everybody” while on the other hand if I am speaking to my grandparents I speak in

a more respectful manner such as “Como esta usted”. Code-switching from one language to

another already is already a transition, but it becomes even more complex when speaking a
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second language. At my 23 years of age, I continue to struggle with the complexity of using “No

way dude” to “I cannot believe what you are telling me” based on the environment I am in, many

of the times I feel as if I am being diminished based on my pronunciation and my dialect simply

because my first tongue is not English.

A veces I feel that my Spanish is not as fluent as others, while sometimes I feel like my

English ain’t proper enough. My dialect is composed of the chismes one hears at the local

mercadito across my apartment building, the oldies that one hears rolling down Pacific Coast

Ave at full volume and the local “Hey , how you doin” while walking down . These are my

people, mi gente whom have taken in great part of my dialect. Lessow-Hurley(2013) mentions

how, “Any individual’s particular speech, or idiolect, is influenced by both regional and social

class factors” (p.44). My language was passed down from my parents and their hometown. A lot

of the times I am told that I speak “Como del rancho” which is saying that I speaking informal

Spanish. There are certain words and sayings that are not very common in other parts of Mexico,

making it pretty noticeable that I came from the Western region of Mexico. Even within the

South Bay area, I am constantly told that sound “ghetto” based on the terminology that I use

when communicating such as “Nah man” or “What you mean homie”, I guess every city has

their way of speaking and Long Beach just happens to fall under the category of urban and low

educated as our neighboring cities Compton and Wilmington.

Between scuffling between Spanish, English and Spanglish, I can say that I am a

trilingual. From code-switching from one language to another and incorporating both languages

to make a completely new one, I can say that it is beautiful. I have three languages, from which I

feel I am all connected, not only to my colonized Indigenous side, but also to my Americanize

side. Mis huaraches, represent the travesty that my parents went through to reaching el sueno
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americano. I am not from here nor I am from over there, no soy de aqui ni de alla but I know my

parents risked it all al cruzar.

Growing up as a first generation students has become more frequently seen now a days,

we hear more of a diverse variety of languages other than Spanish and English, new languages

continue to migrate to the country that now anyone can be bilingual without having any prior

knowledge of a language. Based on my experiences while growing up, many of the times I was

intimidated and felt oppressed of speaking my native tongue and now reflecting back on it, as a

future educator I aspire to be a teacher in which every student will feel safe and comfortable to

speak their language of their choice without feeling the need to be ashamed of their cultural

background. In order to do, I will encourage engagement through a variety of different cultural

practices, languages, and differing abilities of each individual students not mattering their ethical

background. There is no right to wrong when it comes to speaking English, the pronunciations

are what differ but not the meaning behind the words depending on the context. As a teacher, I

am nobody to judge a student’s pronunciation or contextual use of words, the use of different

Englishes in my classroom will be from the general English that is typically heard to the informal

tone we tend to hear in the street. Every cultural background from each student is significant,

their language, their culture, their traditions...every concept that takes part of their culture takes

part of their identity.Incorporating parents can sometimes be difficult,as a teacher I know it will

be a struggle to communicate with the parents and the community, but it does not mean it will be

impossible. Engaging and getting to know the community through school events and reaching

out in local events providing services for families. The linguistic support that I aspire to obtain as

a teacher is through a visual and welcoming environment, through the possible support of the

school and even in great part of me. I want to be that teacher I never had growing up.
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References

Lessow-Hurley, J. (2012). The foundations of dual language instruction (6th ed.). Boston, MA:

Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community

cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 8(1), 69 – 91.