Hi Everyone,

I hope your week is off to a good start.  I wanted to check in to be sure that all of you are up to date on your assignments.  As you know, you can find weekly assignments posted here on the blog.  Please take a few minutes to review each week’s assignments and make sure that you have completed ALL of the work assigned to you thus far.

Once again, I encourage you to visit me during OFFICE HOURS today between 12:30 and 1:30 pm.  This is particularly important if you are missing assignments, are confused about what is expected of you, or have questions about the Literacy Narrative.  You can access office hours via this Zoom Link:  https://baruch.zoom.us/j/83345839831

Yesterday by midnight your Literacy Pre-Write assignment was due in our shared class Google Doc folder.  Most of you have uploaded the assignment already, but if yours is missing, please see that you place it in the folder this morning.

Your work for today involves giving feedback to the members of your Writing Group.  This means that most of you will be reading and providing feedback to three of your classmates.  This is a particularly important assignment because failure to complete it doesn’t just negatively affect you; it also hurts your classmates.  If you cannot find your Writing Group members’ Literacy Pre-Writes in our folder, don’t worry.  You won’t be penalized for failure to comment on work that hasn’t been submitted yet!  But please send me an email at [email protected] edu and let me know whose writing you were unable to find.

So far this month you have had eight small assignments to complete, including the Literacy Pre-Write.  If you are missing more than four of these assignments, you can anticipate that I will be reaching out to your SEEK counselor in the next day or so to let her know that you are behind in the class and are at risk of failing and will also be providing the Dean with the names of students who are currently “at risk.”  Obviously, there is plenty of time to turn things around, but remember that YOU are the one responsible for your missing assignments.  I will not be chasing after you to encourage you to complete them.

If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t be shy.  Stop by my office hours, or send me an email.  I am looking forward to seeing all of you in person on Wednesday!

Professor Sylvor

In this essay written by the author Amy Tan she goes on and talks about her experience being an english language writer but not only an english language writer but one who had grown up with different “Englishes” as she describes it. Amy Tan is an Asian-American who went through so many struggles due to the way her mother expressed herself in a language that wasn’t her strongest. This whole essay was very interesting to me and caught my attention in every way. After Amy Tan began to describe how she saw her mother not being taken seriously at stores, restaurants, banks as well as by government officials because of her “limited” english it made me think about all of those times growing up where my mom would struggle communicating due to her way of speaking english. As an elementary student i would get asked to translate a letter they had received in the mail because she didn’t understand it. But as a 3rd-4th grader i didn’t know what some words meant which led me to look them up on a dictionary to in a way have a more clearer understanding on what it said in that letter. I also relate to Amy when she mentioned having to pretend to be her mother on the phone. Ever since my english vocabulary expanded as i grew up i made sure to always help out my parents whenever they need help communicating because just like Amy Tan i saw my parents get looked down on and be ignored, this would in a way make me feel guilty at times because yes i know they are proud that i understand english to the point where i can communicate and express myself clearly but it was always this little thing that bothered me because i would think to myself ” Well, i help them when i’m with them, but when i’m at school they’re on their own so i just don’t want them to go through more discrimination”. In page 82 of the essay Amy Tan says “But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child”, and i agree with that 100 percent. This is because speaking only Spanish at home and English when i’m not home it would sometimes make it hard for me to express myself because i would stumble on words and get myself confused. Just like Amy said on how this usually happens with children of immigrant families. In response to one of the questions given by Professor Sylvor to think about when reading essay i would like to give it a try and i think that Amy Tan used the term “Mother Tongue” as the tiltle of her essay because just like she had mentioned in the last page i believe on how she wrote her work thinking about her audience and her chosen audience was her mother and it was something she was able to read, something that wasn’t in a english or chinese structure but it was something that allowed her audience to understand.

People can associate language as part of their identity. This is because it forms our thoughts, who we communicate with, and a lot more that makes us who we are. The more languages a person knows, the more knowledge they have and the more they are able to communicate with people worldwide. Although there are many benefits to speaking more than one language or language besides English, it is disliked by some Americans. People have experienced hate crimes just for speaking a language besides English in public places. This relates to the part of the essay that stood out to me the most. Amy’s mother was denied medical assistance at the hospital. It was evident that it was because of the way she spoke English because when Amy called, she spoke fluent English and her mother then finally received help. Which is very upsetting and happens to this day. Amy Tan could have used “mother tongue” as her title because “mother tongue” means a person’s native language. And this essay is about her mother and her relationship with the English language, which is not her native language. I can relate this essay to my parents. My mother came to the United States as a teen and began studying here. She learned English through school. She tells me it wasn’t easy but her English is very good. My dad arrived in the United States as a teen but began working. So he didn’t get to study. But because of them, I know Spanish, which I am grateful for.

Chang Rae-Lee chose to name this essay “Mute In An English- Only World” based on his mother. When Chang chose the word mute, he was referring to his mother not having contact with other people in an English speaking world because of her language barrier. She often would feel troubled, hurt and in shame when having to face the outside world knowing that her English would cause people to look down open her. In the essay, Chang brings up a story in which his mom had said oxtail in her language on accident, causing the butcher to give her a sour look leaving the mom almost in tears. His Mom would barely talk or interact with other people in fear of their reactions, leaving her “mute” hence the title of this essay. She carried a mini notebook everywhere helping her with English and forming sentences.  Even with the notebook she would often mix up the words making people giving her rude looks. This is why Chang named this essay “Mute in An English- Only World” because of his moms daily struggles communicating with the outside world.

In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. The relationship between language and identity. Where she shares her experience of being an Asian-American writer and her sudden use of a more simpler style of English when she is around her mother and when she is not around her mother she speaks in a more formal way of English. This collides with her two worlds which her Mother’s English is perceived from the outside as “broken” or “limited” while she can perfectly understand her mother because she is used to speaking to her in that way.  The title of the essay “mother Tongue” describes her native language she is born with and she was not always proud of it because she used to think that people would perceive her mother’s English as in her words “if it were damaged and needed to be fixed”. That not speaking Fluent English makes you inferior or unable to express yourself in other types of ways, as if you weren’t speaking in the same way as others you are looked at as being different because they think you are in simpler terms just dumb. Something that stood out from the essay was the part where she had to call her stockbroker pretending to be her mother for her missing checks. This stood out because I could relate. Grow up in a household where they only spoke Chinese had situations in the past where I had these kinds of things where I had to translate for them or doing the paperwork because they couldn’t understand and weren’t able to do for themselves unless they had my sister and myself. I used to think the same way as Amy but I learned that it’s very difficult for someone to learn a language that is not native to their own.  

In the essay mother tongue by Amy Tan, She displays to the readers her point of view as an Asian woman. At one point in the essay, she shows her mother on the side talking to her while she tries to code switch on a phone call with a stockbroker pretending to be her mother. I think this specific scene created a very powerful image because it shows how different the English she spoke in comparison to her mothers. The relation between language and identity is language is a means of communication that can be learned and usually is learned when you are a child. Identity is something you cannot change and that you are born with. Usually with identity comes language that you learn and communicate with. The term “Mother tongue” refers to the language you learn at home before you start school and its also referred to usually as your first or native language. I think Amy tan uses it at the title of this essay to show the audience, her mother and her experience living with her mother that cannot speak English that well. Also to share how throughout her life she has to do many things a normal child wouldn’t have to do in order to help her mother out. I think I could relate this essay to my own experience as a child of an immigrant but fortunately for me, my mother had come to the united states when she was young so she went to high school and college in the USA so she was able to speak English. But I heard many cases from my friends with immigrant parents as well that have to help with phone class, translations and etc.  

The relationship between language and identity is interesting, identity isn’t your language but language is part of your identity. It’s part of the culture you inherit. The term “mother tongue portrays how the mother uses her vocals to share her thoughts, feelings and to conversate with her daughter. Amy uses this as her title because many other parents of first-generation children have similar experiences to her mother. There were some moments where this essay stood out to me. One being the summary of the text, an immigrant mother who tries to speak English as best she can to live an everyday American life. Amy has to try her best to translate or speak for her because many people would not be able to understand or assist her when requested. When the mother got into conflict with someone regarding her financials or health, she would not be able to speak out her frustration without the receiver not being able to understand. Whilst Amy assists and is able to help solve the problem with the English, she was able to learn throughout her life. This can relate to my life because of my father being a Colombian immigrant, his main language is Spanish. He can speak some English due to the fact he has been living in America for about 30 years. Not all the time though, he is not fluent in English by any means, which is normal, I would assist him whenever I can. While my mother is more fluent in English than with Spanish, but can speak both really well. Being in New York could make it easier for such scenarios because it is such a diverse state and within the city many people come from different places in the World with many languages. 

In Amy Tans Mother Tongue , Tan describes her relationship with language from how her mother influenced her relationship with language. Ultimately, Tan explains the relationship between language and identity as power and intimacy. Tan describes language concerning identity as the “tools of her trade” ( Tan, pg.80). Thus language is a skill that can be used to get the job done whether your choice in a language is generic or not. Ultimately in Mother Tongue, the relationship between language and identity is very individualized. Furthermore, as I referred back to the title of the text Mother Tongue, the phrases evoked the thought of similar phrases like “motherland” or “the queen mother”.Personally, Mother Tongue seems like the language a person refers back to because, as the mother tongue, it would be the primary source one refers to when thinking about language. Such as “motherland” or ” the queen mother” are people and places we refer back to as primary sources. Overall, I believe tan chose the title Mother Tongue because, as she states throughout the essay, her relationship with language is greatly influenced by her Mothers version of the English language as an immigrant. Therefore, Tans Mother Tongue is literally her mother’s form of speaking and the form of language she refers to as the primary source for her influenced language and its correlation to her identity. As a reader, the moments that stood out to me the most were when Tan described her dislike for the term “broken English” because it insinuated that something was wrong with the way immigrants spoke. This part of the essay was thought-provoking because I agree with the notion that just because someone doesn’t speak generic English does not mean that they are intellectually incapable or inferior. Similarly, I can relate these moments to my personal life because oftentimes, I find myself speaking in English and Spanish in one sentence or “Spanglish” to make it easier for my mother to comprehend me. However, I don’t believe that my simplification of English when speaking to my mothers makes her less intelligent or her opinions less insightful.

Upon reading Amy Tan’s essay ” Mother Tongue “,  She discusses to the audience her undergo with her mother’s English language, which shaped her way to becoming a writer as an Asian woman. Her mother’s English is described as “broken” or ” fractured”  in the first half of the essay compared to hers. For Amy, her mother’s English was comprehensible and clear. The relationship between language and identity is very close. Language is associated at times with race, gender, and nationality, which is a part of one identity. The term ” mother tongue ” means to me the language your first taught and grown-up to hear frequently. Being her mother’s English wasn’t understandable to others and not took seriously, it was important for Amy to step up and make sure her mother was heard. For example, disguised as her mother when on the phone.  I believe she used “Mother Tongue” as the title of her essay to enlighten the audience on language issues. Watching her mother being looked down upon has motivated Amy to shine a light on the discrimination non-English speakers face.  She also uses the title to show her welcoming of her mother’s English. Not being embarrassed or shame but proud of her mother that she expressed her thoughts, feelings, and emotion without regret . A moment that stood out to me as a reader was when she explained she spoke in her mother’s English in her essay. It was pleasurable to imagine how accepted and untroubled her mother could feel reading her daughter’s essay clearly.

In the reading of “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, the author explains how living with someone that speaks as she describes it as “fractured” English can be like. To elaborate, she states her mother knew her “limitations of her English as well” since she thoroughly goes over her life experiences on what she had to do for her mother since she couldn’t do it by herself. Such as talking on the phone as she pretends to be her mother. Language can be based on someone’s culture, since more likely than not, people who speak the same language are a part of the same culture. People like to relate their culture to the language they speak because it has ties to their culture. For me, “mother tongue” means the first language that comes from your household or community. The title “Mother Tongue” lends value to the essay because it shows how her mother speaks in her native tongue and how she learned it from being educated in the language. The moment in the essay that stood out to me the most was when Tan states, “because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her.” This can be shocking to the reader since it can spark many thoughts, like why would someone view their mother as less. As someone who also has an immigrant mother who understands very little English, I can relate to Tan’s point of view more profoundly. For example, like Tan, my sister speaks for my mom whenever she has any type of issue on the phone. To conclude, Tan’s essay was very informative explaining her story about her mother’s “broken” but perfect English.