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12: impact of monolingualism on play - 3/11 (revisit)

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12: impact of monolingualism on play - 3/11 (revisit)

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As someone who is bilingual, I can definitely relate to this week's topic on a more personal level. Vietnamese was my first language, second being English. In school, I spoke English and when I was home, my mom only allowed me to speak Vietnamese. I'm grateful my mom raised me this way because I'm able to speak both languages now. However, since moving to Austin and being away from my family, my Vietnamese has been getting worse. I think it's great that we're discussing this topic and bringing more awareness to future educators because I believe it's important for our education system to welcome and embrace every child's background into the classroom.

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11: impact of race and gender  (revisit)

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11: impact of race and gender  (revisit)

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I do believe that the intersection between my racial and gender identities have played a role in my development. I don't remember playing a lot with toys when I was younger, but I do remember watching TV often. As a young child, I remember being curious as to why there weren't many people like me on-screen. It was definitely harder for me to relate to the stories being shown and it made me want to become more "americanized" to fit in. Also growing up female in an Asian household/community, I remember having to deal with unrealistic beauty standards that  people around me had. I think this is a topic that not many people talk about, but it is something I find to be very prevalent in Asian culture. I think that this sort of thinking from older generations is extremely harmful and toxic for young girls.

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After watching the Babies documentary, it was interesting to see the different environments that each infant was in and how it affected their agency. It also made me curious and I wanted to reflect on my own upbringing and how agency has impacted my life. Each child was raised in their own respective cultures and standard way of living. It’s unique to see the range of agency that each child displayed. For example, Ponijao and Bayarjargal had more agency compared to Mari or Hattie.

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In my early childhood years, agency wasn't something I had much of expressing on a daily basis. I remember going to schools where students weren't given much opportunities to use their agency. The parameters of our education was set by the teacher, and as students, that was the only thing we were allowed to do. Looking back, those days seem so normal and what I thought everyone experienced. However, what we discussed in class and learned so far has taught me that this method of education is far from effective.

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Having a traditional Vietnamese mom and a dad who lives in Vietnam, I grew up strongly connected to my culture. Every 2-3 years, my brother and I would get to visit my dad for the summer. Being able to travel to Vietnam made me appreciate where I came from. My culture has greatly shaped my identity.

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For as long as I could remember, I have always been a student. Sadly this will be my last semester at UT. I'm attending UT as a Human Development major, minoring in Business. I plan to take a semester off after I graduate and then apply for PA school. I can't believe how my college years flew by in a blink of an eye. It's weird to imagine that I will be graduating so soon. My experiences at UT has greatly impacted who I am today.

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It's true when they say that you would meet your lifelong friends in college. Even after 4 years of friendship, we are still learning things about each other everything. They are truly my ride or dies.

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I wouldn't be who I am today without my family. They were the foundation that built my identity. I currently live with my mom and younger brother in America, while my dad still lives in Vietnam. My mom is one of my greatest heroes in life as she taught me everything I needed to know. She pushed me to achieve my dreams. My brother is also attending UT as a sophomore in Kinesiology this year.

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My pronouns are she/her/hers. In my opinion, being a woman is an exciting experience. For me, females are inspirational, brilliant,  strong, and just really, really cool human beings. Being a woman in this modern age makes me feel like I can achieve anything I set my mind to, regardless of what anyone says.

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English is my second language. My first being Vietnamese. Being able to speak two languages fluently is something I am incredibly proud of today. When I was younger, I dreaded speaking in Vietnamese because I was afraid that I would have an accent whenever I talked. Yet the truth is, when you speak more than one language, it's normal to have an accent. Since coming to college, I realized that my Vietnamese had gotten worse since I'm not communicating with my family as often as I was, and it's something that I'm trying every day to work on to not forget.

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One of my most important identity is being Vietnamese-American. Growing up, I didn't realize that many of the people around me didn't know much about the Vietnamese culture. Half of the time, they didn't even know what or Vietnam was! Being the only Asian student at my elementary school made me question whether I could fit in with the other students. Looking back, I can still remember the low-level racist remarks I was told as a kid because I looked "different" from the rest of my peers. However, as I grew older and gained new experiences, I began to embrace my unique identity as an Asian-American (specifically Vietnamese-American).

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I was born in Ba Ria-Vung Ta, Vietnam and immigrated to America when I was five years old with my mom and younger brother. We moved to New Orleans and eventually relocated to Dallas after Hurricane Katrina. We moved around a lot during this time, and I remember transferring to at least six different elementary and middle schools.