ENGLISH 10115

WRITING PORTFOLIO

First Draft of Immigration Narrative

My parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic. My father came 50 years ago. Then he brought my mother and now she has 20 years here in the United States. They did not know the language. Maria (my mom) has family members in the Dominican Republic that she sends money to. Maria works in a salon. Sometimes she goes to work at 7 am and comes back home at 11pm and the next day wakes up at 8 am to go back to work. When I was little she had to get someone to take care of me because she was too busy. The only day that my mom was free was Tuesday and she used it to clean and do things that she had to do, pero aun asi I loved and still love Tuesdays. I remember going somewhere with my mom and having to translate with my shyness. Sometimes we would go on and on “no, you tell her” “mami you tell her, maybe she knows spanish” and the cashier looking at us crazy.

My first language is Spanish. I learned English in school and I only spoke English in school. It was hard for me to read because I would get confused or not know the word. I would think, “Why if I was born in New York I can’t read and speak correctly”. Kids in school were mean, they would laugh at me for not knowing how to say a word correctly. My dad knew a little bit of English and the words he would say I would repeat them the same why but he used to say it with an accent and sometimes it was incorrect.

One day I was in class and I was reading a text in class about baseball. I was very excited because I love baseball. I kept reading and instead of saying “yankees” the way you’re supposed to say it, I said “yankees” the way my dad says it which you should know that it’s with a strong Dominican accent. I kept reading and then I heard laughing and people speaking while I was continuing the reading. Then my “friend” repeated the word “yankees” the way I said it three times, “yannnnkees” “yannnnkees” yannnnkees” and laughing. I felt heat coming up from my feet to my head. I wanted to hide but at the same time speak up. But my shyness and scared to disrespect anyone didn’t let me. Most people in the class were laughing. The teacher was laughing but hiding his face. He thought that I didn’t see him. There are many times that this happens and what is the most sad is that the people who say something or laugh are people that have the same situation as me or have family members that don’t know the language.

Immigrants and their children have it hard anywhere they migrate to because there’s different languages that take time for a person to learn. Also it is hard for people that work and have kids and especially if they have no family member to be there with them. Remember to be nice to people because you don’t know what they are living and the problems that they have.