Jasueth Landaverde

English 5M
Professor Doutherd
Journey as a Multilingual Writer

In America there are hundreds of people who are multilingual, yet it is still debated

whether it's an amazing gift of opportunities or a simple burden. If youre one of these hundreds,

then you might be asking yourself, well which one is it, a burden or a gift? I know for a fact I

ask myself that question everyday. As a Latina growing up in the U.S. I was taught that the

proper language was English, and even then I grew up learning both English and Spanish. At

home all I ever heard was Spanish since my mother is completely fluent, while school is where I

adapted to English. At the very end of the day, knowing two complete different languages is

extremely hard, but on my perspective it's bigger of a gift in so many ways, and it has served me

good in my journey as a student, family, and friend. Throughout my 19 years of life Ive been a

multilingual writer and speaker and it has only offered me opportunities behalf of the small

obstacles. Th

It all started when I was very young, since the day I started speaking the only language I

ever heard was Spanish. By the time I was 4 I had adjusted to the language pretty quickly, that

later on became a factor when I began school. My mom thought it was a good idea to place me in

bilingual classes so that ideally, Id know both languages just the same. Problem was, I was so

accustomed to Spanish, that when the teacher began teaching simple things like numbers in

English, I became hostile and never wanted to participate in class activities, or speak to any of

the other kids nevertheless the teacher. Confusion and frustration arose and I didnt want to go to

school nor learn English because I was scared of the material. My mom became worried and

placed me in an all English class that included extra help for students just like me, I was pushed

by the teachers and later on got out of comfort zone. The extra help consisted of a small program
called ELD, which taught us simple things like adverbs, verbs, and extended vocabulary words,

etc. Although I struggled in English at first, the fact that I was placed in spot where I had to learn

the hard way taught me a lot. The whole issue resolved itself after 4th grade, I was fluent in

English.

After years of only being used to English all the time, both at home and school, I didnt

practice my Spanish anymore. As a result, it backfired as soon as I entered high school. My

sophomore year, I was placed in an AP Spanish class which we were required to take according

to the A-G requirements. My first impression was, It'll be a piece of cake, no biggie. Little did

I know, I never really knew how to write proper Spanish, just the slangs and regular Spanish my

family had taught me as a kid. As the year progressed I was struggling with all the essays in

Spanish for both, not knowing the proper language and mixing english with it. I often found

myself wanting to place english words in my essays. It all became a mess, and at one point I was

the same 4 year old lost in confusion. I wanted to drop the class so bad because I thought I was

capable of the work. My teacher started to notice that Id never come to class, or just bullshitted

my work, so he began having different assignments for my class and I. We began reading books

in Spanish of all types. By the time I realized the school year was over, I was sitting on a desk on

an early day in May, taking my AP Spanish test. I passed, and the whole year served me as a

lesson that I had completely forgotten how lucky I was to be able to speak two languages. I was

so proud of myself because as a kid I lacked both languages, and by 11th year of school I was

fluent in both. I was certified to speak English and Spanish.

The ultimate experience that was eye opening for me was taking AP English my senior

year of high school. It wasn't the course or the content that changed my perspective on writing

but it was the teacher. I remember being a junior and being told to get myself together by the
seniors because Ms.Mcgeorge was going to destroy us. Indeed, by the 3rd week of school we

were writing machines. At first everything was smooth, until we were writing three essays on

weekends for homework. Ms.Mcgeorge pushed the whole class to the limit, even those who felt

extremely comfortable with English. She motivated each student to believe in themselves, and

took us out of our comfort zone. I remember by the end of the year we had to write a 20 page

paper about how students can make a difference in our community, and I remember thinking to

myself that it was going to be hard. Mcgeorge always told us to never over think what we wanted

to write about, that our first draft was just the start of our finished product. In article titled,

Shitty First Drafts, Anne Lamott mentions that writing comes as a process itself, and that our

first drafts are made to express everything we have in mind. While I read the article it reminded

me about Ms.Mcgeorge because she always taught us to think of writing as a unperfect

procedure that later on would flourish itself. It was then that I realized, how good of a teacher she

had been and how she has now shaped me into the writer I am today. From the beginning of

senior year to now, my first year in college, my writing has definitely improved gradually.

With the experiences I faced as a kid to now, my identity as a multilingual speaker and

writer has changed dramatically. Because the road was tough in both aspects of learning Spanish

and English, I was able to learn more and more from both languages. Being multilingual is

indeed, a gift because I get to express myself as a writer in two different languages. It is to the

teachers and programs, and people who surround me who I owe, for being privileged enough to

learn and keep learning as a writer.