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Adriana Briceno
Prof. Rodriguez
ELN 101. 7360
23 July, 2008
Reflection Essay
Reflection
Frank Herbert said; “The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do
not understand”. When I came to the United States and I started to live in New York City where I
imagined that I was going to find only English speakers. I was scared because I didn’t know the
language and to my mind I thought that no one was going to speak Spanish in this city. Not only
I was wrong, but to my surprise New York City was and still is one of the most multicultural
cities in the United States. I came to America to learn English but when I discovered how many
people spoke Spanish in this city I was shocked and very surprised. Many years have passed
since that first contact with my own language in this city and I have learned that the Spanish
language have an important role in the community.
This course opened my eyes and showed me how language is just not a way to
communicate with each other. Language is a massive cultural tradition that each individual
carries and shares it in different ways. Each language has its origins and families, and by
researching on the Spanish language I discovered how language has travel over the years, and
how important this language is to a community. I choose Jackson Heights as the community that
I wanted to know about because I feel a connection between my culture and the neighborhood.
While I was researching the neighborhood, I discovered how Jackson Heights is not only a
Hispanic neighborhood as I thought it was. Many different people from around the world live in
this neighborhood and an illustration of this is the variety of food that is offer there.
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My knowledge of how the education system solves the problem of the English barrier in
the schools, and the programs that involved this process was also a new knowledge for me. In a
short period of time, we discussed the different points of view of the class about that topic, and
the techniques that the schools apply to bilingual children who face the English barrier. After this
course my knowledge as grown a lot, I developed new skills of while I use my critical thinking
and I can create my own opinion and discuss my views with the other classmates.
As part of my first urban studies courses, I have learned how the people behave with
others and how different cultures can co-exist and compliment each other. In a daily basis, I used
my bilingual skills to communicate with classmates and coworkers.
In conclusion, I said in the beginning of the class that reflection is an action in which a
person reacts by expressing different opinions to events and situations. This expression defines
my reaction towards the knowledge of how important a language can be. Also I learned how the
community reacts toward language and different cultures. Looking into myself is a process that
is not easy, but I recognize that I was able to learn something new and because it was beyond my
expectations it is precious.