Name: Omeisha Daley

Date: 11/15/2020

Professor Velez

English 110

Rhetoric, Research, L&L Experiences,

 and All Things Great!

I can honestly say that I’m so relieved and grateful that this semester is almost over and done with and that class is ending on a somewhat good note for me. At the beginning of this semester, as silly as it may sound I was so afraid of English class and writing because I thought that my writing just wasn’t worthy enough of being read and I didn’t want to bore anyone with my writing. As the semester has progressed I’ve discovered that no one’s writing is perfect and all pieces of writing comes with its flaws and things that needs to be worked on. With that being said I’ve come to realize that there was no need for me to be afraid to write because writing is all trials and tribulations that we could all stand to learn from. And with this realization I’m starting to notice that I’ve undergone some serious academic and mental growth with each and every word written in my essays. These essays have helped me to become more confident in my work and have helped to motivate me when writing other essays in the future. Most importantly, I’ve mastered most of the Course Learning Objectives through my work; which has humbled and grounded me.

Our English class has been split up into three different Phases and in each phase we are responsible for mastering or learning the Course Learning Objectives. More specifically, in Phase one of the class we were responsible for writing about a Language & Literacy experience that was a very important moment in our lives and in this essay we utilized two specific Learning outcomes. The learning outcome such as ​ ​Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures was utilized in Phase 1. This outcome can be seen in the words “And I really wanted to know why something as frivolous as an accent could cause me to feel so ashamed and disgusted with myself” (pg 3). This demonstrates the role that language attitudes and standards have in oppressing people. And by saying “ me to feel so ashamed” it’s showing that the language attitudes portrayed by other people can cause oppression and make someone feel “ashamed with themselves”. The learning outcome such as Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations was also utilized in Phase 1. This outcome can be seen in the words “Those few words sent me into an inner turmoil that I battled with” (pg 3). This illustrates that rhetorical strategies were used in this Phase1 essay and pathos was specifically used to appeal to the readers. And by utilizing pathos in the writing the writer aimed to appeal with the readers and get them to feel the pain that they felt because of the language based discrimination they faced. And with the writer using such descriptive words such as “inner turmoil” the writer is trying to make the readers sympathize with her and get them to really understand why she feels the way that she does about being ridiculed about her accent.

In Phase 2 of our English class we were responsible for writing a rhetorical analysis essay that analyzed the rhetorical devices and strategies utilized by specific authors and there was one specific learning outcome that was utilized in this essay. The learning outcome such as Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations was utilized in Phase 2. This outcome can be seen in the words “ And with the appeal being emotions readers will look at  Mother Tongue in a different perspective and realize that it’s relatable and they might even take advice from it and apply it to their everyday lives” (pg 3). This highlights the fact that rhetoric is being explored and analyzed in this phase 2 essay. The writer analyzes the rhetorical devices being used by Amy Tan and helps the reader to see how the rhetoric being used is very helpful in helping readers to understand the conflict being talked about. The writer talks about the appeal that Tan uses to give the reader perspective into how the readers will view this essay. This Learning outcome is really important because it was used intentionally and unintentionally in all three Phases and has been mastered in all of the phases.

In conclusion, The Course Learning Objectives 1, 2, 3, and 4 have all been utilized in all three phases and I can honestly say that I’ve mastered or achieved all of these Objectives to the best of my ability. Some of the Objectives are utilized either more or less in each essay and can be seen clearly in all pieces. However, Course Learning Objectives 5-9 haven’t really been touched on in all three phases of this class and could use some exposure. There’s nothing wrong with not using these Objectives because they really haven’t affected the other phases. And honestly Objectives 5-9 really weren’t that important when it came to writing the essays, but Objectives 1-4 were really important and heavily impacted my writing.

Name: Omeisha Daley 

Date: 11/9/2020

Professor Velez

English 110 

Cover Letter 

The audience of this specific essay would be anyone that is using technology or electronics during this pandemic; which as you may know is basically the whole world as of lately. I picked this specific audience because I felt like it was time for these people to start thinking about the technology they use and approach the effects that it may have on them that they probably haven’t even thought of. I used specific language in my essay to get my audience to understand and appeal with my topic which would make reading ultimately easier for them. I’ve gained insights regarding language and literacy such as the fact that language and literacy can be executed and carried out in many different ways and everyone has their own view on language and literacy; which makes L&L so unique in writing. The concepts such as audience, evidence, author, and exigence have impacted my learning and writing practices because they’ve helped me to figure out what I’m writing and how I’ll write it which helps me to write a well organized and well executed essay that readers can truly grasp and understand. I’ve had to use all of these terms excessively in my writing and I believe that they are the building blocks of great writing. I believe that I’ve achieved some Course Learning Outcomes such as Locating Research Sources and Practicing Systematic Application of Citation Conventions. I’ve had to utilize the second listed learning outcome in my third essay and it has helped to solidify my evidence and let the reader know that my evidence is coming from reliable sources. Also the first listed 

Learning outcomes has also been utilized in my third essay and have helped me to determine if I have enough evidence to write this essay and it of course helped me to pick out my evidence from reliable sources.

Technology and Its Effects on 

People During a Pandemic 

Since the 1900’s technology has very much been present in our everyday lives and because of this presence it’s continued to advance and improve over the years. Almost everything we use as of today is digital and can be accessed via the internet; which can be seen as efficient by most people. Technology has helped to make our lives ultimately easier throughout history and comes with its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. There has been a huge spike in electronic activity in the past few months due to virtual learning being introduced. Students all over the world are confined to learning via technology and the internet and it can either be a beneficial or stressful experience for them. Virtual learning is a very different experience for everyone and will take some time to get used to. The increased use of technology in this pandemic has allowed for increased anxiety, depression, stress, and insomnia in students around the world. And while technology has had some pretty impactful results in students, technology has been far more detrimental on students. Technology has also allowed for people to work from home and support themselves and their families, but technology also comes with mental health issues that are driving young people to take part in activities they shouldn’t. Therefore, technology is having too many negative impacts on students and should be evaluated.

Technology has been beneficial to students during this pandemic by allowing for them to get and maintain an education through virtual learning; which should help to keep their brains stimulated and steady while we’re all confined to our houses. Keeping your brain stimulated and busy during this pandemic is crucial to students because without it some people would probably go stir crazy. The internet has allowed for students to learn at their own convenience and on their own time according to Michael Horn “ Pre-recorded lessons also serve to allow students from different time zones to learn at their convenience”(Horn).  This is highlighting and bringing attention to the fact that technology has allowed for students to have access to education with minimal to no hassles. Not only is the internet allowing for students to have an easier education it has also allowed for the teachers to have an easier teaching. The teachers can record lessons at their leisure and upload it so that students can access information at their will; which is a very efficient way to learn. The efficiency of learning has definitely improved since virtual learning has started and students across the world can definitely agree with that. In virtual learning some say that it has allowed for students to express their full identities which helps to engage them in class as said in Anne Dennon’s article “ In virtual learning environments, technologies can be used to show students’ profile pictures, names, titles, pronouns and pronunciations… all of this enables students to bring their full identities into the open, enhancing their engagement and learning outcomes”(Dennon).  This is explaining how virtual learning has allowed for students to better express themselves and their identities; which leads to students becoming more engaged with class and even becoming more comfortable with their classmates and teachers. A student’s “profile picture, pronoun, and name” are all little pieces of insights into who the students are and can even tell you a little about their personality. And with them revealing these things it helps to boost the comfortability between classmates which is really important for the success of a class.

While electronics and technology have been beneficial to students during this COVID-19 pandemic it has also allowed for an increase in detrimental mental health conditions that are plaguing students that have to rely on virtual learning. An increased number of students all around the world are being diagnosed with anxiety and clinical depression ever since virtual learning has been introduced. A professor in Harvard talks about how young people are developing mental health conditions during the pandemic more than any other time by saying “he’s seen a rise in young people with anxiety and depression during the pandemic”. This demonstrates how the pandemic has been causing young people to develop detrimental mental health issues which ultimately makes their lives harder. Also this portrays the idea that this pandemic is causing many unwanted issues for students which isn’t ideal only because of the fact that virtual learning isn’t as easy as some people make it seem. In the polls that schools are sending out the parents are saying that they are not happy about social distancing and virtual learning and feel as if their kids are experiencing more harm than good and the polls that Ray Schroeder created are saying “  Nearly 3 in 10 parents said their child is experiencing emotional or mental harm because of social distancing and school closures and the new virtual education system, according to a nationwide Gallup poll in June”(Schroeder). This suggests that the pandemic and virtual education are not having very positive impacts on kids and are actually causing mental harm to kids that participate in virtual learning. And the fact that parents are the ones that notice the mental and emotional harms inflicted onto their kids makes the concern for kids that much stronger and makes anyone realize that virtual learning efforts have to improve. Virtual learning may give kids access to an education but along with that comes mental harm and mental health conditions that makes learning and obtaining knowledge online that much harder. Schools and administrations  need to figure out ways to make virtual learning easier for students.

In conclusion, technology can either help or hurt humanity and in this pandemic we are starting to see clear ways in which it can either be an advantage or disadvantage to certain people. Virtual learning has caused increased mental health issues among people across the world and has really become a huge problem for people of today. Students all over the world are forced to deal with anxiety and depression by themselves with no real support. And none of these schools have really taken the time to step back and think about ways in which they can tweak and improve virtual learning efforts in order to improve the mental health issues caused by virtual education. Teachers still continue to bombard students with assignment after assignment and it would definitely be beneficial if they got the students opinions on the material being taught; in which they would know how to move forward. 

Works Cited Page 

Ray Schroeder; Worldwide, lives are stressed and strained by COVID-19; October 1, 2020; https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/wellness-and-mental-health-2020-online-learning 

Michael Horn;COVID-19’s Ultimate Impact on Online Learning: The Good and the Bad; 04/30/20;https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/04/30/covid19s-ultimate-impact-on-online-learning-the-good-and-the-bad.aspx 

Raji Srinivasan; The Positives of Virtual Learning That Nobody Is Talking About; Sep 30, 2020; 

https://news.utexas.edu/2020/09/30/the-positives-of-virtual-learning-that-nobody-is-talking-about/

Anne Dennon; Coronavirus Impacts on Students and Online Learning; October 19, 2020; https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/coronavirus-impacts-on-students/ 

University of Illinois Springfield; Strengths and Weaknesses of Online Learning; https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/tutorials/online-education-overview/strengths-and-weaknesses/ 

Emma García and Elaine Weiss;COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy; September 10, 2020; https://www.epi.org/publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-education-performance-and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-pre-pandemic-research-to-inform-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/ 
Cathy Li and Farah Lalani; The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever; April 29, 2020; https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/

Name: Omeisha Daley

Date: 11/1/2020

Professor Velez 

English 110 

Cover Letter 

My audience in this essay is anyone that has immigrants as parents or anyone that is an actual immigrant and I talk about this audience specifically through the utilization of Amy Tan’s  personal essay Mother Tongue. I use Tan’s text in order to analyze how she uses rhetorical devices and features in order to appeal to her specific audience. I had to constantly keep in mind while writing that I had to use language that was centered around rhetoric and help to explain how it connected back to her audience. The most helpful insights I’ve gained in this phase regarding language and literacy is that language can have such heavy impacts on someone’s life and can allow for self-conflict and turmoil within their lives. Language can also bring people together and unite them in ways you could never imagine which is a very beneficial thing for people. So I’ve learned that language can have both good and bad impacts on people and sometimes the bad experiences can lead to good experiences in life. Rhetoric, rhetorical situation, exigence, audience, and argument are all concepts/terms that have most impacted my learning and writing practices. These concepts are what have been driving my writing lately and they’ve helped to make my writing solid and helps my writing to stick. This phase’s assignment helped me to achieve the Course Learning Outcomes such as 1. Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations and 2. Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. I’ve had to use both of these Learning Outcomes in my writing and they’ve helped me to get my thoughts in my writing together. 

Rhetorical Analysis Essay 

Language based discrimination can be seen in many forms and it doesn’t matter that it can either be a macro or micro discrimination it has the common goals; which are to tear down and make people feel as if they’re inferior because of the way they communicate with people. Language based discrimination is very common and is often time downplayed and not taken seriously; which is why author’s have taken the time to shed light on the issue through the use of rhetoric and rhetorical devices in order to appeal to an audience. More specifically, one author that discusses language based discriminiation through rhetoric is Amy Tan. Tan wrote a personal essay Mother Tongue that was published in an American literary magazine Threepenny Review  in the 1900’s; during which it was very popular. This specific essay approached and addressed the topic of language based discrimination and gave readers an upclose and personal view on her experiences and struggles with language based discrimination, through the use of rhetorical devices. Tan’s essay is directed towards immigrant children and aims to help them with their struggles in language by explaining and showing them how to understand and appreciate their mother tongue and even their parent’s language through her appeal to emotion and logic. The author appeals to emotion and logic in hopes to pull in readers and make her writing more relatable; which would ultimately make reading easier.

Immigrant children are more likely to experience language based discrimination at least once in their lifetimes; which is why Tan decided to take a pathos approach in her writing in order to appeal and relate to children that have experienced what she has. Tan demonstrates how linguistic discimination affects her and her mother’s lives with a trip to the doctor’s office by writing “ And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English-lo and behold-we had assurances the CAT scan would be found” (Tan 3).  In this piece of evidence  Tan exhibits how linguistic discrimination can happen in places that you would least expect it and draws attention to the fact that language can have unforeseen impacts on what should be straight forward situations. This specific doctor scene is appealing to a reader’s emotions and evoking all types of questions and emotions about why doctor’s who are supposed to help and take care of their patients willingly denied their patient information due to something as frivolous as their dialect. And with the appeal being emotions readers will look at  Mother Tongue in a different perspective and realize that it’s relatable and they might even take advice from it and apply it to their everyday lives; which should lead to a happier life for them. By making immigrant children her audience it helps to personalize the essay and by personalizing the essay it makes reading easier and helps to touch more people with the same problems as her and let them know that they’re in this together. 

Language based discrimination almost always happens to children of immigrants and can cause for them to experience self-conflict and make them question themselves and their parents languages and because of this Tan utilized  logical appeal which would be far more important and would make their situations understandable.  In this part of the text the author explains how she had a relatively negative perception of her mother’s English by writing “ I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say” (Tan 2).  In this part of her text Tan writes about her thoughts on her mother’s English when she was younger and talks about how she felt “ashamed” and talks about her “ limited perception” of her mother; which goes to show that what we see and think really is “limited” and our views on are our parents can be clouded. Tan appeals to logic by getting her readers to think about a time where they felt ashamed of their parents English and gets them to think about why they felt like that and tries to help them understand and appreciate these feelings. 9 times out of 10 kids will have  experienced what Tan experienced and they should learn from it and gain a newfound appreciation of their parents when they read Mother Tongue  simply because she puts it into perspective for these children of immigrants. Also by taking this logical approach Tan helps to raise awareness of language based discrimination and let her audience know that they aren’t alone and that there are definitely people out there that they can relate to; which should even inspire other children to help other kids that might have experienced what they have.

In conclusion, Tan’s main goal was to appeal to her audience of immigrant children through emotion and logic and help them come to terms with any language based discrimination they may have experienced. This will help them make sense out of their struggles with language and teach them how to appreciate and understand these experiences. And with her writing this essay she will help to draw attention to this issue and help kids to not feel so lonely with their problems. This essay could be seen as an outreached hand for most kids and can even be looked at as something to ground them and bring understanding to their lives. Most importantly this essay helps to bring attention to the fact that people just aren’t as nice and look for anyway to bring people down in which case they prey on their language and they need someone to be there for them and let them know that they aren’t alone in what they’re going through. So the next time someone either criticizes you or denies you service because of the tongue or language that you carry you can either turn the other cheek and don’t let them get to you or you could give them a piece of your mind either way both responses make you look powerful and in control.

Name: Omeisha Daley

Date: 09/13/20

Professor Velez

English 110 

Cover Letter 

So the intended audience for this narrative was anyone that might be an immigrant, have an accent, or people that speak in a certain dialect. This narrative is directed towards these specific people because I want to help to uplift them and let them know that it’s okay to be different and talk a certain way and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Another audience that this narrative targets is anyone who discriminates or ridicules anyone that doesn’t talk like them or anyone that has their own mother tongue. This narrative is intended for these people because they should know that looking down on anyone that doesn’t talk in a certain way that you’re used to is immoral and shouldn’t happen because the differences between us humans are what makes us as a people. Also I made sure to use certain language in this narrative to help people to see the self confliction that can be caused due to the ridicule of accents and get people to empathize with me. I’ve gained some meaningful insights from doing this assignment such as the fact that everyone’s literacy and language experiences are different and these experiences are what helps them to become who they are, and these experiences are the very reasons for how they develop into a person. I’ve also learned that my language and literacy experiences at a young age has helped to shape my mind into what it is today and without them I wouldn’t be half as literate as I am now. I’m really grateful for this specific L&L experience that I’ve endured because it helped to humble me and think on the bright side of things even though I was treated poorly, which helped me to become confident in my ethnicity and have pride in my accent that I carry around. I think the terms exigence and audience have impacted my learning and writing experiences because when you have a certain audience in mind when writing it can help you decide what type of language to use and which devices to use in your writing so that you can appeal to the audience. And exigence is an important term when learning and writing because it can help the audience or reader to know why the narrative was written and what are the intentions of the author even writing the narrative in the first place; which will help the reader to read the text in another perspective. I think that once a reader knows why a text is being written it can help them to really get a feel for the text and even connect to it in most cases. I think that the exigence in my narrative is very straightforward; which allows for readers to get the bigger picture of the narrative and even connect to the exigence of the narrative. Additionally, this assignment helped me to achieve a Course Learning Outcome such as “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing” because a lot of drafting, revising, collaborating, revising, and editing was done in order for this narrative to be even close to perfect. And without these strategies our narratives wouldn’t be as well put together and strong as they are now. I feel like any time you’re doing any form of writing you should always aim to implement these strategies because they can really help a writer to put forth their best work. I personally really liked writing this narrative because it gave my peers insight into who I am and what I’ve experienced that has allowed me to become the person I am today. Honestly, L&L experiences should be talked about more often in schools because it’s a great way for students to really express themselves through words. The collaboration process of this assignment was really helpful for me because it let me know what could be running through a reader’s mind when they read my narrative. And based off of the feedback I was given I accomplished my goal of getting people to feel what I was feeling and making them feel as if they were there with me when my traumatic experience happened. I really took pride in making sure that I was really descriptive when describing my experience and made sure to appeal to the reader’s senses as well. I cannot say this enough but I’m really grateful for my L&L experience because it helped to groom me into the person I am today and encouraged me to advocate for people that might have gone through what I did or something similar to it. And now I try to uplift people from different cultures and embrace the differences between us like how the kids of my 5th grade class didn’t. I look back at them kids and laugh and thank them for their ridicule because little did they know that their ridicule and laughs is what helped make me great.

“Not Afraid” Language & Literacy Narrative

I can’t seem to forget the cool Caribbean breeze blowing ever so smoothly through the neighborhood. I was perched in a creaky wooden rocking chair on the verandah with my legs propped up with not a care in the world. My cousins all surrounded me and passed around snacks and talked about any and everything. I always felt like I was my best self when I was surrounded by my family and friends and relaxing and enjoying the caribbean atmosphere that I couldn’t get anywhere else. The one thing I loved about Jamaica was the way I spoke and felt like it was one of those deeply rooted things that made a person who they are. My dialect is what set me apart from everyone else and helped me shine. And while there was so much good that came outta my country it also brought along self conflict. The self conflict all started when I came back to America after my extended vacation. I had come back to start school, and I was entering the 5th grade which seemed like a big accomplishment for me at the time. If only someone would’ve told me that the kids in America could be so cruel and scared of people with accents and a culture that they weren’t accustomed to. That day I got to school super early and excited to start the day. All the excitement was short-lived when I finally decided to open my big mouth and say “ Hi! My name is Omeisha, what’s yours?.” Those few words sent me into an inner turmoil that I battled with. As soon as I said those words the class simultaneously stopped talking and turned their heads to face me and started laughing, and in the midst of this kids were saying “ why does she talk like that?” and “ Doesn’t she know that you only speak English in America?.” At that point I wished the floor would open up and swallow me right where I stood, I felt so embarrassed and ashamed. I went the whole day quiet as a lamb, and I forbade my mouth from saying one betraying word. I went home confused due to the fact that I thought I was speaking English and knew I wasn’t speaking gibberish or another language. I was also angry at myself for speaking the way I did and felt like I was cursed and just wanted to get rid of my accent as soon as possible and speak like a normal American. I wanted to get rid of the only thing that made me who I was just to seem like I was normal.

After this happened to me I wouldn’t speak to my family for months; which was very peculiar because I was normally known as the chatterbox. I was just so afraid of someone be it family or strangers ridiculing me for the way I talked. I just couldn’t understand why those kids thought it was basically illegal to not be like them. And I really wanted to know why something as frivolous as an accent could cause me to feel so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I became a social hermit that got anxiety from just thinking about interacting with another person. I avoided conversation like the plague and tried not to get noticed by people. I became this person I never wanted to become. While this was happening I didn’t notice that my aunt was watching me and taking note of why I was acting the way I was. She finally approached me one day and asked me what happened and where her favorite niece had gone. And I don’t know what came over me but I broke down and told her everything that happened. I told her all about how the kids at school made me feel like a  laughing stock just because I wasn’t like them and made my mother tongue feel unworthy. I told her about how I hated Americans and their way of thinking. And most of all I told her how ashamed I was to have this accent and wished I could get rid of it  all together so I could feel normal around the kids. I never felt as ashamed as I did in that moment because I was shedding tears over irrelevant kids who don’t know any better. Nonetheless, my aunt listened wholeheartedly to my cries of pain and embarrassment and rubbed my back in soothing circles. After I finished wiping away my salty tears my aunt then began giving me the life changing speech that I yearned for. She began to tell me about how any and every accent or dialect is different and unique and that’s what makes them beautiful. Also, she was telling me that no one is the same, everyone is different and talks, walks, and sees differently and that’s what makes us human. And that culture can be seen all over the world and it’s what makes everyone who they are and there is nothing to be ashamed of because difference is beautiful and should be embraced no matter what. She helped me to feel proud of who I am because there’s only one of me. And she taught me to ignore anything the kids at school might say to me about the way I speak and even teach them that everyone is different and these differences shouldn’t make them feel entitled to bully and mock. I took heed of everything she told me and understood that my accent was one of a kind. 

I went to school the following week with a brand new attitude and mindset. This time I was not afraid to raise my hand and answer a question with a heavily accented response, after all I couldn’t help it. And I no longer sat at tables by myself to avoid conversation and interaction with the other kids. I walked up to kids with my head held high and said “ My name is Omeisha and what’s yours?”. I said this once life-altering sentence with pride and happiness and didn’t dare tone down my accent for anyone’s pleasure. And of course the kids still looked at me weirdly but it didn’t seem to bother them as it once did because they saw that I was no longer afraid to speak. They saw and heard how much their stares didn’t have an effect on me as it once did. I felt like I officially placed a claim over my dialect and owned it wholeheartedly that day. My personality did a complete 360 degree turn when my aunt gave me that speech and I thank her so much for it till this day because it literally changed me for the better. I underwent a metamorphosis and transitioned from the ugly and silent caterpillar to the beautiful social butterfly that continues to spread her wings. If I’ve taken anything away from this whole ordeal is in the words of Muhammad Ali “ Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” I stop letting these kids intimidate me because of the way I talk and I’m always ready to educate anyone on how and why no one speaks a perfect form of English. I also made it my mission to support and stand up for kids that might have went through the same thing as me because I know how self-destructing the words of kids can be. And I try to spread my aunt’s words of wisdom to people that are having self conflicts with themselves because of how they talk or are treated because of how they speak. May I say that it truly feels good to be comfortable with myself and how I grew up and I now look back and regret ever feeling ashamed of speaking in my broken English because it truly is my favorite way to speak. People hear my accent and automatically know where I’m from and that couldn’t happen if I spoke “regular English.” I still never understood what those kids meant when they said that “you can only speak English in America” because last time I checked America has no designated language that a person can speak. And for them to say that is blatant ignorance because America is filled with people of many backgrounds and ethnicities that speak many  different languages and dialects. Which goes to show that living in America doesn’t mean that you have to speak English, there are so many immigrants living in America and for most people their first language isn’t English. 

Overall, I believe that people should be free to speak and talk in any way that they want to and there shouldn’t be a problem because that is what makes them as a person. An accent should never dictate anyone’s life and future relationships. And if a person willingly judges someone based off of something as superficial as an accent they really need to reevaluate themselves because they might not be happy with something about themselves. And this might raise the question of if they are deflecting their self-conflict onto someone else and tearing them down in the process. People should really worry about themselves before they go and worry about someone that clearly isn’t worried about them. I look back at that incident and now I just smile because without those mean words I probably would still be that same silent girl who was afraid of her own mother tongue. I wish those same kids could see me now and see that I’m not afraid.