Calstaleh seb Kielendet Name: Kielende Treacy Isungu Prof: Altman English 101 November 18", 2015 “identity” ra Vv Identity is every aspect that distinguishes every human being from each other toward their character, looks, behavior, education, language, life experience, ethnic group, skin color, etc, All of these aspects distinguish every human being. Education and language plays a key role | in one’s identity. ince | was young, my identity has been shaped through my parents’ way of living, Both of my parents came from poor families and worked hard to become who they are today. My father’s dad used to work as a cook for the Catholic’s priest. Due to the fact that my grand- father worked for a Catholic priest, they allowed my father to attend their school because back ~~ in 1958, not mith'apCongolese people could attend school or be educated. This was because 4 we were still under Belgium ruling. When my father graduated from high school, he was lucky enougi to win a scholarship to go study at Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium where he earned his masters on mechanical engineering. My mother was not that lucky. In 1960, after the indeendence of my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, most of the Belgians left my country because of civil war and my mother’s father had to leave her when she was five years old because he was Belgian and the Belgium government did not allow him to live with his family. After that, my grand-mother married a Congolese soldier. Although my mother’sKielende3 punishment and even though my punishment was over, | did not want to go back being this person who limited himself by knowing only what the society and school wanted us to know. Therefore, | kept pushing myself to learn more about the world and became very curious. To satisfy my curiosity, | started reading more books and watching scientific documentaries. However, even though | was great in most of my courses and pushing myself to acquire more knowledge, English is still the only course that was giving me a hard time. | did my best and put in extra hours to learn how speak proper English, but | could not speak English correctly ‘ due to the reason that my parents’ mother tongue was French. When | finished high school, | lost all interest gn learning how to speak proper English, because | never thought that one day my parents will send me to study in the United Stated. | came here in 2010 and | struggled to have a proper English conversation. But | was lucky enough to do some English as a second language (ESL) classes which allowed me to learn more English and | was able communicate “ with Americans. After | finished ESL classes, | have been trying to speak English without my accent because | thought Americans will understand me better without my French accent.nsiKe_ Amy Tan narratiew dn “Mother Tongue”, she could not speak proper English because her oe h Ova, 7 — Omg le mother spoke broken English to her. Also teachers were steering her away from writing and into math and science because that is an Asian stereotype. Although she was not good in how dug j+ Qiu to Amy Tan, | embrace my accent and | did not want to lose it anymore because people started f/vi/\7 English, she pushed herself to major in English because she did not want stereotypes. Contrary to identify me from it. They also became intrigued by it and wanted to know more about me, my culture, and where | am from. Thus, | decide to keep my accent because it is a part of my identity.Kielendea Therefore, Education and Language play a key role of every human being's identity because with education you acquire knowledge that help you to build your confidence, know what you can and cannot do. Language identifies you from your culture, which makes you who you are. This 16 * Mech i gill dd. Ta eis20, Sy ae the GAM qvoly L onnyee hoy {pe fe j your point. 1 ) os cd .