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Vanessa Anahi Zempoalteca

Professor Lewis
Day assigned 09-03-2015
Due date: 09-25-2015
English 113A

Daughter and father conquer the American Dream

The united states is the third largest country in the entire world.
Because of this, the United States is one of the most culturally diverse
countries in the world. Nearly every region of the world has influenced
American culture, as it is a country of immigrants. culture has also been
shaped by the cultures of Native Americans, Latin Americans, Africans and
Asians. American is ultimately the nation of immigrants people like my
family and myself travel across the nation on the search for the american
dream on the search for freedom and prosperity. Trying to conquer the
american dream wasnt as easy as it sounds language played a huge roll in
my life when coming to the united states.
My family cultural is very unique I come from a Mexican and korean
family. My mother is Mexican so is my father however my grandmother; my
fathers mother is korean.

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My father was the first to come to America he got here to los angeles alone
because he wanted to find a job and make money before sending my mother
and my brothers and i to los angeles. My father was able to make some
money and with the help of my uncle my dad had the chance to be able to
rent a single apartment that is when he realized it was safe to send my
mother and my siblings to the united states.
The variety of English spoken in the United States is known as
American English however Spanish is the second-most common language in
the country, spoken by almost 30 million people or 12% of the population. I
was 10 months old when i took my first footsteps in california. Throughout
the years i had a babysitter while my parents worked the babysitter that i
had would speak to me in the english language. Throughout my years of
education, during elementary and middle school i was never forced to learn
the spanish language until i got to highschool. I wasnt ready for what was
going to come my way when i notice that i had a spanish class i thought i
was going to be okay because i knew the basics of spanish. But i was wrong,
the spanish language was much more difficult than i imagined. I had trouble
writing, knowing when and how to use past and present words i had trouble
pronouncing big words as well as i would have trouble reading and

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understanding what it would say i would have to re-read it and have

someone translate it to me. it would frustrate me because i didnt want to
ask for help i wanted to learn by myself but that was impossible i needed
that extra help.
On the other hand i wasnt the only one struggling when i came to
learning a new language. So was my father for my father was more difficult.
Everyone around him spoke english at his job in the streets and no one was
there to translate he had to figure out on his own he knew a few words and if
he wanted to respond back to them he would use hand signals he would
point out things or tried to pronounce a few words that he knew. He wanted
to learn on his own he was never afraid to learn things but just like i needed
that extra help so did my father.
One day i couldnt do my homework i was struggling i didnt know how
to write an essay my dad notice how frustrated i was at the dinner table i
looked confused he looked at me and said if you know im fluent in spanish
why arent you asking me for my helpi asked myself the same question
why hadnt i asked my father for help i will always remember this night he
stayed up at the dinner table with me and helped me out with my entire
essay. we communicated and bonded so well that night he said he will be

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there for me if i ever needed help again and i responded so will i. We were
there for each other when it came to communicating with others. when he
would receive and email or a text message from his boss he would try to
respond back and i would double check it and show him his mistake and how
he was able to fix them. My father also took english classes to improve his
english language skills.
when it came to my second semester, one day after class my teacher
asked me if i could stay after class because she wanted to speak to me i
remember what she told me she said vanessa i have seen your hard work
and dedication towards my class and ive seen a tremendous improvement in
your reading and writing skills and i wanted to ask you if you are interested
in taking AP spanish your junior year of high school i smiled so big i was
beyond excited to be part of an AP class not only that but i was more excited
at the fact that my teacher notice my hard work.
A week later during my lunch time my father gave me a call and said i
have great news i felt the excitement in his voice he then said i got a call
today from my boss and he said that due to my hard work and me putting
time into learning the english language theyre offering a high position in my
job as a manager i had never felt more accomplished. our job here was

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done. We were both experts by the end of my junior year he was a manager
speaking fluent english and then there was me getting ready for the Ap
spanish exam which i passed with a score of five.
This was a journey that i will never forget, coming from an immigrant
family has been a blessed ive become humble to achieve my american
dream i graduated with honors i was accepted into california state University
of northridge and i made the choice to attend her and it has been one of the
best decision i have ever made. Speaking english and spanish has been life
changing, i able to communicate with both types of cultures at work at
school or simply in the streets.