Ana Velez, 18 years old
I have known Ana for a long time now, almost a decade. She is planning on attending James Madison University and is majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a specialization in English as a second language.
Question #1: What is your favorite Hispanic tradition? What does it mean to you?
Response: Hands down, my favorite tradition is ¨Día de Los Reyes Magos¨ (Three Kings Day). This day is shortly after Christmas as our holiday season continues. Día de los Reyes celebrates the visitation filled with gifts the three kings paid to baby Jesus. It starts with purchasing hay. You’ll shortly understand what exactly we need hay for. We create a trail of hay from our front door to our bedrooms. Shoe boxes are the next necessity as we fill them up with hay for the camels the kings are riding on to come deliver our gifts. As long as we leave out hay and water for the camels under our bed, the kings will gift us graciously for our hospitality. This tradition is one that I hold closely to my heart. Something about the excitement and anticipation of the reyes coming to visit always made little Ana too pumped for the day to come. Plus, my Christmas spirit never had to end after December 25th, the party went on until January 6!
Question #2: Out of all the Spanish speaking nations you have visited, which one has been the most intriguing and why? What were the people like, how was the food, etc?
Response: I may be a little biased, but Puerto Rico, my homeland, is the most beautiful island to ever exist. The mix between African, Tiano, and Spaniard blood perfectly exemplifies the diversity and inclusiveness of my island. There’s this music that runs through their veins. A rhythm that keeps them in sync all day and night. They are humble, kind, passionate, and the most hard working people I know.
Question #3: Do you envision yourself getting involved in hispanic related clubs at JMU?
Response: I am definitely planning on joining latino related clubs at JMU. The importance of finding people that can relate to you in senses deeper than just likes or interests is too valuable. Hopefully through these clubs I plan on joining, I can create bonds with other latinos on campus.
Question #4: How is the social climate towards hispanics in the US? In what ways can it improve? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt mistreated because of your race?
Response: Immigration has evolved into a very hot topic within the United States. This controversial conversation endlessly points fingers towards the Latino and Hispanic immigrants within the states. A growing stigma towards latinos includes the idea that they take American jobs, rape, murder, etc. The social climate towards latinos has massively shifted as a heavy anti-immigrant agenda has been blown up. Ways to change this is to change the conversation, to change the connotation, and to change the perspective we see latinos in society. We need to stop dehumanizing, and actually start fighting for their rights. I’ve had several experiences as to where I’ve been treated differently or badly because of my race, but those interactions don’t define me as Latina or as the person I am.
Question #5: Do you think that the US does a good job of teaching Spanish or does it fall short of expectations? In what way could it improve to become sufficient?
Response: With any sort of education, there comes great responsibility. I can’t speak for the entirety of the United States in regards to teaching Spanish, but throughout my experience, those who wanted to learn Spanish learned it. As a native speaker, getting taught Spanish is different than hearing it at home, being that language differs depending on where it comes from.
But those who were interested, learned Spanish. Those who knew the importance, or even just valued it, learned Spanish. I think it’s a lack of motivation or encouragement that makes learning a foreign language so difficult in the United States.
Question #6: What is your favorite Hispanic meal? Who makes it? How is it prepared? How does it stack up to your favorite American dish?
Response: Alcapurrias are my favorite Puerto Rican specialty. Dough is prepared with yucca and plantains then filled with ground beef. They’re very similar to corn dogs, if you can envision a corndog, you’re on the right track. My favorite American dish doesn’t really compare to Alcapurrias, being that they’re not as available as a good burger is anywhere.
Lucas Zurita, 20 years old
I met Lucas while in Santiago, Chile on a church mission trip. He currently attends Wheaton College and is studying Biblical Studies and Theology.
Question #1: When you were learning to become bilingual in Chile, what was the biggest obstacle in becoming fluent in English?
Response: I actually did not learn any English until I moved to the US in 2011. We moved to the US for three years, and that’s where I found myself forced to learn the language. I think that the word “forced” needs to be pointed out, because I needed to learn in order to communicate, to make friends and basically to survive. I wouldn’t say there was an obstacle, in fact, the need of learning and the submersion into the culture helped me learn much faster.
Question #2: Out of all the Spanish speaking nations you have visited outside of Chile, which one has been the most intriguing and why? What were the people like, how was the food, etc?
Response: I’d say that Spain is by far the fanciest. Spaniard Spanish is the equivalent to British English. Their European nature gives them a culture much different than that of South America and their development is far from most countries in the southern continent (although Chile is doing pretty good). People were pretty nice, perhaps a little too nationalistic, but we enjoyed both the people and the culture in Spain.
Question #3: What was the biggest culture shock making the transition to the United States?
Response: People ask me this a lot, and my answer isn’t quite what they expect. I’d personally say that nowadays the culture shock isn’t’ nearly as big as it probably was 15 years ago. Through the internet, movies and media in general we have all been introduced to the United States’ culture. The only thing that I could say that stood out to me is how people say “What’s up” or “How are you man?” and then keep walking without actually expecting an answer.
Question #4: Comparing your education experience in Chile to your education so far at Wheaton, how does it stack up? Is it better than expected? Worse?
Response: I’d say it has been as expected. The infrastructure is definitely better in Chile Colleges don't have dorms where students live, and that has been one of my favorite experiences here at Wheaton. Education wise, I’d say that it’s extremely similar.
Question #5: Do you think that the US does a good job of teaching Spanish or does it fall short of expectations? In what way could it improve to become sufficient?
Response: As stated before, I think that the best way to learn a language is through submersion. The moment you NEED to learn a language in order to understand whats happening your brain absorbs everything much quicker. Every time I see a friend learning a new language I tell them to go hang out with people that speak it, and force himself to learn that way, and if the opportunity is there, travel to the country and stay there a couple months.
About what could be done in class, I’d say that it’s important to make it fun. As TA here in Wheaton, I’ve realized that when students are enjoying themselves the most, is when they learn more. At some points they are having so much fun that they forget to “think” and words just come out of their mouth naturally.
Question #6: What is your favorite American meal and why? How does it compare to the home cooking in Santiago?
Response: Hehehe, I’d say that right now it's Chicago’s Deep Dish pizza. In Chile, we have all the food chains that are here, but I had never ever seen a Deep Dish pizza. It’s a monstrosity, the height of the pizza amazes me to this day. Americans truly have a talent at taking a normal food and making it bigger.
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