ARIA by Richard Rodriguez

• Talking Point 1: Quotes
• Talking Point 2: Questions

In this story of the young child Richard Rodriguez' assimilation of a second tongue at the expense of his primary language, I am struck by Richard's overwhelming sense of loss, sadness,conflict and confusion when the story takes place, and still later when he writes this reflection. Additionally, I am grateful for a new awareness of the two types of individuality, both private and public, and the inverse relationship of those types that his account portrays.

After having assimilated the English language, Mr. Rodriguez comments on the loss of closeness the family previously enjoyed, irreversibly altering his at home dynamic; "But the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished by then."; "No longer so close.." Imagine the child's observation of his father's loss of patriarchal privilege; his father's retreat from reciting the prayer before meals, "he made his wife recite the prayer at he start of each meal, even on formal occasions, when there were guests in the house."; "my father seemed reconciled to the new quiet."; and his mother's English language dominance, "Hers became the public voice of the family." Witnessing his father's pervasive alienation with the awareness that his father possessed another voice in which, "he conveyed confidence and authority English would never allow him." did (and likely still does) provide conflict about the risks/benefits of Richard's public individuality assimilation. Further, Rodriguez comments on the erosion of interpersonal familial communication as he asserts his public identity and conveys the confusion he experienced as that change occurred .."I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents." Ultimately his success is tempered by sadness when he hears the language of his youth, "Hearing Spanish then, I continued to be a careful, if sad, listener to sounds."

Early in the article Rodriguez states, "Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility." Fortunately? In retrospect, it seems Richard condones the backward societal approach for the achievement of his public individuality despite its cost. Ultimately, it's clear that Rodriguez believes that assimilation of the dominant language differs from a bilingual approach and that assimilation has both "value and necessity". He is clear upon closing, clarifying the relationship of both parts of one's individual self, "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."

Questions: 1) How can we as educators preserve the primary language and introduce the second language as value added even when the second language is culture dominant? A woman in class so aptly stated that while several schools promote bilingualism in schools where English is primary, we beat the primary Spanish language out of students as they acquire English. Her statement has resonated with me since... 2) Can we foster both private and public individualization for students learning the culture dominant language? Do they have to be inversely related? 3) How can we remove fear in new English learners? 4) What creative things can we do to respect the primary language of parents and facilitate English language assimilation of their children? 5) How can we celebrate other languages/cultures affirming students within those cultures, enriching our own? When should this process begin?