Friday, March 14, 2008
Don't Trip
People all over the word speak different languages but in every language there are sub categories. English is the language that I speak the most, but there are two different sub dialects I speak depending on the situation. These two dialects are Ghetto English and proper English.
When I’m with my friends I talk Ghetto English. Ghetto English is a dialect, if you will, spoken by young people from the streets. In this particular dialect we break some grammar rules of English. A very popular phrase is “We is going to the movies,” where we substitute the proper word are for the word is. Another rule we break in this dialect are the meanings of certain words. On example of this is the word trip. In regular English trip means to stumble or tilt, but in ghetto talk this word has a different meaning. If I’m talking to a friend and I say “Don’t trip” what I’m really saying is “Don’t worry.” I remember the first time my dad heard me telling my brother “Don’t trip,” my dad thought my brother was actually tripping. I just laughed because I knew he didn’t understand what I really meant. I didn’t even bother trying to explain. For this reason, I only speak ghetto when I’m with my peers.
When I’m at work I speak a different dialect. I work with children which is why I must speak proper English. When I’m at work, I no longer say “Don’t trip,” instead I say “Don’t worry.” I have to make sure I speak proper English because I don’t want my students to pick up any bad habits as they’re learning to speak English fluently. I also communicate with their parents, so I have to make sure I speak like a professional and talk correct English. Some parents don’t speak English and that’s where my Spanish kicks in. Anyway, when we have meetings at work, I love talking in English. I feel like it’s my time to show off my impressive vocabulary. Sometimes I feel like I shock people with my conversations and I love that feeling.
Over all, I feel like I speak 3 different languages. I speak Spanish when I’m at home because that’s how I communicate with my parents and family. When I’m at work, I speak proper English. I use impressive vocabulary words in order to show my professionalism. When I’m with my friends, everything changes. I speak Ghetto with my friends because that’s the way we learned to communicate. I can speak any type of English but I just need to learn when and where it is appropriate to speak a certain dialect. I can do this so I have nothing to trip about.
Frightening
In the story “No Escape” from The Mee Street Chronicles by Frankie Lennon the narrator finds herself in a scary situation as a child. As she faces this situation she demonstrates different character traits.
As a young child, Frankie faced a frightening situation that demonstrated her brave and courageous character. I see her as brave and strong because she encouraged herself to keep walking through the dark when she didn’t even know what kind of things she was going to find. Although she mentions her godfairy mother as her encouragement, in reality she is her godfary mother. She is the encouraging her self to be brave and walk through the dark forest. This behavior makes me see the character as brave and courageous because not a lot of three-year-olds are brave enough to walk through the darkness specially when there is a heavy storm outside.
I also see the narrator as an adventurous and curious child. I think that besides trying to find her parents she took this situation and turned into and adventure where she had to make it to the end as a survivor. She recreated her own version of Hansel and Gretel where she wanted to be like Gretel and cross the witch’s forest in her bedroom. She also had her godfairy mother who helped her through this situation. Her godfairy mother was the one who told her “Be like Gretel” and encouraged her to keep going until she reached the kitchen. This also shows how creative the narrator is because of her ability to make a connection of the story with her real life situation.
Personally, I can relate to this story because I also experienced a similar situation as the narrator did. I was about five-years old when I woke up one morning in an empty room all alone in my bed. I panicked! “Where are Mami and Papi?” I asked myself. They never leave me alone in my room. I always wake up next to them. “Where did they go that they didn’t take me? I began to wonder where they had gone and why didn’t they wake me up? Had they abandoned me? Why would they do this to me?” I thought to myself. Tears covered my eyes as these horrible thoughts came to my head. I was just so scared my legs couldn’t even move. Tears turned into sobs as I finally gained the courage to get off my bed and look for my parents. They were definitely not in their bedroom. I checked the kitchen, the bedrooms and living room and nothing. The house was empty! I was so terrified I didn’t even know what to do. All I remember doing was turning into a little ball in the middle of the room as I cried and cried. After a couple of minutes I heard the door knob turning. I rushed to the door and found my parents walking in with plastic bags in their hands. They had gone grocery shopping and decided not to wake me up because it was too early in the morning. I sighed. All they wanted was for me to sleep. They didn’t want to abandon me like I thought earlier. They loved me! They apologized and took me out for breakfast.
As a young child, Frankie faced a frightening situation that demonstrated her brave and courageous character. I see her as brave and strong because she encouraged herself to keep walking through the dark when she didn’t even know what kind of things she was going to find. Although she mentions her godfairy mother as her encouragement, in reality she is her godfary mother. She is the encouraging her self to be brave and walk through the dark forest. This behavior makes me see the character as brave and courageous because not a lot of three-year-olds are brave enough to walk through the darkness specially when there is a heavy storm outside.
I also see the narrator as an adventurous and curious child. I think that besides trying to find her parents she took this situation and turned into and adventure where she had to make it to the end as a survivor. She recreated her own version of Hansel and Gretel where she wanted to be like Gretel and cross the witch’s forest in her bedroom. She also had her godfairy mother who helped her through this situation. Her godfairy mother was the one who told her “Be like Gretel” and encouraged her to keep going until she reached the kitchen. This also shows how creative the narrator is because of her ability to make a connection of the story with her real life situation.
Personally, I can relate to this story because I also experienced a similar situation as the narrator did. I was about five-years old when I woke up one morning in an empty room all alone in my bed. I panicked! “Where are Mami and Papi?” I asked myself. They never leave me alone in my room. I always wake up next to them. “Where did they go that they didn’t take me? I began to wonder where they had gone and why didn’t they wake me up? Had they abandoned me? Why would they do this to me?” I thought to myself. Tears covered my eyes as these horrible thoughts came to my head. I was just so scared my legs couldn’t even move. Tears turned into sobs as I finally gained the courage to get off my bed and look for my parents. They were definitely not in their bedroom. I checked the kitchen, the bedrooms and living room and nothing. The house was empty! I was so terrified I didn’t even know what to do. All I remember doing was turning into a little ball in the middle of the room as I cried and cried. After a couple of minutes I heard the door knob turning. I rushed to the door and found my parents walking in with plastic bags in their hands. They had gone grocery shopping and decided not to wake me up because it was too early in the morning. I sighed. All they wanted was for me to sleep. They didn’t want to abandon me like I thought earlier. They loved me! They apologized and took me out for breakfast.
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