25 September 2024: Spanish Peer Tutor Lorena writes about “Mi Descendencia Mexicana”
25 September 2024: Spanish Peer Tutor Lorena writes about "Mi Descendencia Mexicana" Heading link
This lovely state in the heart of Mexico is the one that I am descended from, with both parents being from small pueblos called Cuanamuco and Pinicuaro. These two towns are closer to the border with Michoacan, so whenever I visited as a kid, it was not uncommon for us to cross over to Michoacan to go shopping or grab some food. There is nothing better than food straight from the Motherland as I like to say because everything is much more fresh and authentic than in the States. Don’t even get me started on the fruit and ice cream, these snacks are my absolute favorite because they honestly just taste better. There is no other way to explain it.
Whenever I visited Mexico as a kid, everyone knew immediately that I was from “El Norte” as they say, simply because my Spanish was very recognizable as not being native Mexican. My parents would always tell me and my sister to never speak English whilst in public because we would be charged more for whatever we were buying. This is due to the stereotype that exists in Mexico in which many people think that people who come from the US are rich and have successfully completed the rags to riches American Dream. Therefore, I tended to find it a bit difficult to communicate properly because I mostly talked to my sister in English and, being a kid, I had many slip ups when we would go to the grocery store which caused me to receive many perplexed looks from the locals.
My parents emigrated to the United States almost 40 years ago, so they both have lived most of their lives in the States rather than in their native country. This being said, my parents have always wanted for me to be in touch with my Mexican heritage, which is why Spanish was actually my first language. One reason for that was the simple fact that my parents did not speak much English, and whatever they did was not the best. This meant that Spanish was the only language spoken at home until I started to learn English through my older sister, the children from my neighborhood, and later on when I started elementary school. Another reason was because my dad was the type to silently judge those who neglected to teach their children Spanish because he felt they were robbing their kids of great opportunities. Thus, my dad made sure me and my sister knew our native language.
My journey with my bilingual skills became a bit complicated as I continued to grow up because I slowly started adapting to, and speaking, more English that I did Spanish. Especially because I was always very involved at school and had many friends who didn’t speak Spanish, I slowly started speaking it less and less because I never really spent time with my parents or had conversations with them. This was the case for most of my grade school experience and it wasn’t until high school when I truly started to speak more Spanish both at home and in school. Now, there is not a single day in which I do not speak Spanish whether it is in any of my Spanish classes, with friends, or whenever I call my mom.
I am eternally grateful that my parents taught me Spanish because they equipped me with skills that they themselves do not possess and it has opened many doors for me like being able to become a peer tutor and help others learn my beautiful native tongue.