https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95 Excerpts from "Tongue-Tied" by Otto Santa Ana en-us 2018-08-10 01:39:35 UTC 2018-08-10 02:50:26 UTC hello@padlet.com jilsdesso https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272571994 by Margaret Montoya

Summary: This is written from a 7 year old Spanish girl's perspective on "fitting in" in school in 1955 in New Mexico. She talks about her mom switching back and forth between English and Spanish depending on the importance of the conversation. She also shares how going to a Catholic school and having to wear a uniform hides her real life of poverty.

Key Terms: Spanish, English, judged, divided world, economic and cultural circumstances, poverty

Response: Again, my heart breaks hearing the stories of children, mothers, families, who struggle to fit in, who are forced to become something different outside of their "real world"

]]> 2018-08-10 01:42:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272571994 jilsdesso https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272572600 by Armand Garnet Ruffo

Summary: This is a poem written about someone slowly losing their voice because they are forced to abandon their native language.

Key Terms:tongue, conversations, burden, mute fate, silent, empty

Response: This just made me sad. It shouldn't be this way. ]]> 2018-08-10 01:47:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272572600 jilsdesso https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272572770 by Maxine Hong Kingston

Summary: This author tells her story of being a young Chinese child whose mother literally cut her tongue so she wouldn't be "tongue-tied". Her mother believed that by cutting it, that would allow her tongue to move in any language. Unfortunately, it had the opposite and made her silent around English speaking people and at English school. However, at Chinese school, she was more at ease and talkative.

Key Terms: Tongue-Tied, mute

Response: I can't not imagine this or any other act of mutilation done to one's body to "help" them be more successful. It truly shows the differences in cultural beliefs. I felt sorry for her in the English school environment and so happy for her in the more relaxed and comfortable environment of the Chinese school.


]]> 2018-08-10 01:49:34 UTC https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272572770 jilsdesso https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272573010 by Alberto Alvaro Rios

Summary:The author tries to explain how language is much more involved then the words that are spoken. Language involves the body, heart and mind. Learning a new language is not easy, it's awkward, but once you do it opens up a whole new world of communication. Often that language may not be translated exactly word for word, but it is still communication that is respected.

Key Terms: Linguists, physicality of language, translation of words


Response: I enjoyed reading this. It is so true that language does not need to be understood word for word, but it is the "attempt to understand as much as the understanding itself."]]> 2018-08-10 01:51:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272573010 jilsdesso https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272574330 by Amy Tan

Summary: Author, Amy Tan, talks about her 'Englishes' when she speaks and of course when she writes. She discusses the many forms of English and how they make you appear like a true speaker or one as many would describe with "limited" or "broken" English. She describes her English language as 'Englishes' because it is the English she learned at school and the English her mother spoke at home...her mother tongue.

Key Terms: Mother Tongue, "broken" , "fractured", or "limited" English

Response: It was refreshing to hear Ms. Tan speak of her childhood and how the vary levels and types of language helped shape her as a writer and as an adult. Her insight was wonderful to hear.]]> 2018-08-10 02:03:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jilsdesso/mgl1k9etdw95/wish/272574330