Where it All Began

Hello ELL 101 Class! Welcome to my Blog! Here's my language story. 

I came to the United States very young from the Dominican Republic, I believe I was 4 years of age. My family settled to live in New York City, I have been here ever since, I am now 21 years old. My first time attending a school or any learning institution was here in NYC.  As far as language goes, all I knew to speak was the Spanish language that I have been exposed to.  Unfortunately, speaking Spanish alone was not going to be enough for me to be able to truly take advantage of what the United States has to offer.  I had to learn English, and so my journey began. 

Luckily, the elementary school I attended was a great bilingual school.  I remember in my first few years of grade school, my classes were all taught in Spanish.  However, each day in the afternoon, an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor would come pick up a few monolingual students including myself from the class to teach us English at a more personal, one-on-one level. Those precious one-on-one sessions, I believe were what truly helped me the most as with each an everyday I was adding new English words to my everyday use. The learning techniques the instructor had used were extremely helpful.  I recollect from my memory, learning the sounds for each letter of the alphabet, that alone helped me tremendously with tongue placement and mouth movement for the correct pronunciation for many words. 


      Sadly, the more my English improved, the less Spanish I spoke.  English is the language I mainly use to communicate in everyday situations, but I still hold on to Spanish dearly, for the reason that I always have and always will use it with my parents and family members. Every time I speak to my parents it definitely makes for good practice. It also helps that I watch Spanish television and read Spanish articles and books every so often. I consider myself fluent and literate in Spanish and English. I adore using my Spanish speaking skill to help translate for Spanish speakers who struggle with English, such as my parents.
I love that I'm able to speak more than one language.  But why stop at two languages? I am currently learning French and I absolutely love it. I'm taking French II this current semester at LaGuardia. Later, I am planning on learning Japanese. I am a true believer that knowledge of more than one language will open many doors for you in life. In conclusion, the Intro to language course will be a great class to learn about what is language itself.  I am definitely looking forward to what this class has in store for us.  


By Marianda M.

Thanks for Reading! Merci! Gracias!