"A Step from Heaven"

"A Step from Heaven" was an amazing story of the challenges and struggles families experience when they immigrate to the U.S.  I volunteered in an ESL classroom at Oakdale Elementary school last semester and there would always be new students coming in from different countries all over the world.  I would constantly think about how scary and strange everything must seem to them.  The technology, the routine, the expectations, rules, might all be completely new to them.  I couldn’t imagine coming into a new place where you can’t understand what people are saying and they can’t understand you.  I remember a little girl from Congo who didn’t want to eat the cereal that they gave her on her first day at school.  She looked so scared and I wished that there was something I could do to make her feel better.  The story about Young brought back a lot of memories from helping in the ESL classroom.  It also made me think about the struggle students experience trying to fit in with a new culture while trying to hold on to their native culture.  I think that students who have these struggles get placed in a middle identity.  They’re caught between these two cultures that they either want to be a part of or are somewhat forced into being a part of.  The relationships that deteriorate between parents and their children is so saddening.  Young becomes embarrassed of her parents and their home.  She lies about where they live and her parents’ occupations.  While facing these struggles, Young also has to deal with family issues at home.  School and her friends become an escape from her home but she still longs for her parents’ approval and for her parents to be proud of her.  How do children like Young ever find their identity and who they are?  Would it help if they had someone to help guide them and help bring meaning to what they are feeling?  Do all of the children who immigrate to the U.S. also face the same identity struggles?  Do they ever find an identity that they feel comfortable in?

Kang’s article also made me think of identity struggles.  Kang emphasizes that in order for students to successfully become bilingual they need support at home as well as in school.  Parents must be on board and be consistent in their language use.  Parents ideologies with respect to their children’s language development  and how parents implement their ideologies can have a big impact on children’s successfulness with becoming bilingual.  Kang also talks about how students identify with the language that they feel they can express their feelings in.  Although I can see how that would greatly impact what they identify themselves as, I still believe there is a middle identity that many children get put in and many of them are remain confused without some kind of guidance to help them feel comfortable in this middle identity.  I myself have experienced this.  I grew up with an American culture as well as a Mexican culture.  Growing up, I never really thought about what all of that meant.  Many times people didn’t realize I was Mexican unless they heard my last name or were told.  When I got to college and went to Mexico to live for a month, the feelings of being caught between these two cultures were amplified.  However, with the help of friends who were going through the same feelings and my professor, I now feel comfortable in this middle or third identity and hope to one day use it as a tool to help my future students who might also be going through the same thing that I did.