Blog #5

                This week’s readings have a special place in my heart, especially the one by Amy Tan. I moved to America when I was 9 and I started out speaking barely any English. In ninth grade, I had help learning English from my classmates and I felt so alone because I could not connect with them. Communication was key and the genres that I was surrounded by, is foreign.

                I could relate to Any Tan when I speak with my parents. I often translate for them whenever we go out because they speak broken English. I can see that they are at a disadvantage when they cannot communicate their thoughts thoroughly with other people; it’s frustrating. I have to call credit card or insurance companies for both my parents if there was a discrepancy with the bill. It is weird to think about it because that is how my family communicates at home – in both Vietnamese and broken English. I could definitely see that those who aren’t familiar with my background would be very confused. I never really noticed until I read the article.

                In high school, English was not my strongest subject but I managed to slip into an AP English class my junior year; I have no idea how that happened and how I survived it. I was the girl who got the lowest score whenever we had a writing assignment because I could not get it right even if my life depended on it. This is one of the reason why I fear English and Writing classes so much. I began steering myself towards communities that were more accepting like math, science and fun electives. My parents even put me into the after school tutoring place called Kumon. There, they gave me tedious spelling homework that I did not need however, I naturally gravitated towards the math homework given, because it is “universal” as there is only one right answer.

                I felt like high school was much more focused on how you could communicate and fit in with your peers the best. Being “cool” or “fitting in” was better than being correct because I can understand the slang and lingos invented for us teens to hang around each other. Looking back at my old English journal, all I can think of is how illiterate I was but my peers could understand me. When I spoke with my teachers, it was formal yet, the formality and correctness barely ever presented itself on my academic papers. Boy, do I feel bad for my high school English teachers.

I did not learn much about English and writing until I entered college. I remember my first English professor who had to work with me step by step to make sure that I was improving. I connect with people on a deeper level in college because I began to form a circle with those who have the same life goals as I do. The conversations I carry now are not about what songs are hip but rather what our passions and what we learned about the world.

Through discourse community, I exited my high school clique and entered into various different communities as I entered college. I understand those students who were pushed in other direction of English that Amy Tan wrote about. I wish there were some other way for immigrants and foreigners to not feel like such an alien when it comes to learning English. Today, the communities I am involved in relates to where I am at in my life – very relevant. The people who I surround myself with have the same lexis and we often communicate with the same genre(s) which helps me maintain my membership in my discourse community.