Here is a link to my presentation : https://www.canva.com/design/DAGTvzpnCso/nTtybueGyCplHZbywtRpRg/edit?utm_content=DAGTvzpnCso&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING

Throughout my story of adapting to English, my audience that I am hoping to connect to is the people who have had linguistic conflicts in the past. I used rhetorical strategies such as pathos. Furthermore, I have adjusted my writing using ethos to appeal to thpeople who do make prejudiced comments towards “broken English”. One of the meaningful insights I’ve gained writing this assignment is a step back and reflection on how the usage of English has changed for me. Initially, all I cared about was speaking English properly due to the circumstances I’ve faced. However, I’ve realized that changing my accent was definitely not the way to combat racism. My accent shouldn’t have to change, but the prejudice point of view regarding accents definitely should. My strength in writing is that I’m very precise and detailed which allows me to paint a picture in the mind of my audience. The concept that has impacted my writing is definitely having to present my story because I was a little cautious of the words I used. The assignment has helped achieve confidence in my storytelling and public speaking and I’m appreciative of the reminiscing the assignment has allowed me to do.

It was a gloomy afternoon. The same schedule as usual. I went into my second to last class with my friends hoping for nothing indifferent. The school was unusually large for an elementary school. Perhaps, it seemed unusually large to my senses because I was not accustomed to my schools being that gigantic in my home country. There was a playground that had all different kinds of sports suited for it. Soccer was most definitely the favorite as it should be given that it is the most popular sport in the world. It being the most favored sport made me feel a sense of relief and a break from feeling like an alien. In the beginning, the school felt like a dream; everything I had hoped for. Pizza as school lunch? I had finally got a break from the moldy bread and rotten bananas. As time went on, I realized that if it was a lucid dream that I was living in, I wanted to wake up.

I always had fun in the class as it was all about music and singing. The concept of entertainment being an actual academic class was mind boggling to me. 

The classroom was nothing but efficient for the tools one would need to practice playing an instrument. Full of vibrance and full of innocent souls incapable of injustice; or so I thought. The teacher in awe of her own singing was unable to notice a few of my classmates blatantly mocking her. Ms. Meija finally noticed a particular sound coming from the area I was sitting in. Just like that; all the music and entertainment came to a pause. Max and his friends all pointed to me knowing they were the ones that had been making the noises. I had a very thick accent because that is the way of speaking that was considered the norm where I am from. However, I was well aware of it but never thought that it is something to be ashamed of. 

10 minutes had passed and there she was with her earrings in the shape of snakes towering over me. “Is there any reason you have for yourself for you to be mocking me?”, she said furiously. “Ms, I didn’t do it” was the only reply I could think of as I couldn’t ever imagine my “friends” would use my lack of experience in English as a laughing stock. Shortly, she began explaining to me what she was saying through hand gestures as if I couldn’t understand her and didn’t already deny that it wasn’t me. She called Abdul who was also Bengali and could speak English fluently. Consequently, I looked up to Abdul as he spoke in the perfect english that gets so much credibility. The constructor politely asked Abdul to translate what she was saying to me. Prior to this event, me and her had several conversations in English so she knows that I am capable of understanding the language at the least. Despite that, she brought me a translator, painting me as the outcast of the class. I descriptively explained to Abdul that the sounds were not from me but the people around me. Even after being taken advantage of as a laughing stock, I had enough dignity in me to not throw out names. However, Ms. Meija got irritated that I am not owning up to my faults. I was told to remain outside for the rest of the class. After that day, music class was never the same for me and I realized the discredibility someone gets for not speaking English the way that Americans do.

I took it upon myself as a challenge to do whatever I can to improve my English linguistic skills. I had gone back to my home country, Bangladesh, to study and be prepared to communicate in English for when I do come back. Eventually I came back to the states, I was able to speak in the so-called “perfect English”. Unfortunately, I forced myself to lose my accent. The reason I say that is unfortunate is because there is a beauty in having an accent. I realize that having an accent acts as a symbol of carrying your motherland with you and it needs to be protected with pride. 

The bigger picture of this little conflict that I faced is not irregular at all. In fact, it is still more common than you may think given that it is 2024 and there is still injustice ongoing regarding the way English is spoken. It is extremely unfortunate and unfair that the credibility of one’s words is dependent on whether they have an accent or not. Since this is an issue all over the glove, that gives humanity an opportunity to unite together to combat this oppression. For culturally imperialistic behavior to cease, we must reach our variations of success whilst embracing our identity and the accent that comes with it.

“I don’t make fun of people who can’t speak English correctly, I’d sound ten times worse if I even tried speaking their language” is a post I once saw on social media and chuckled because it couldn’t be more true. The irony that takes place on people critiquing immigrants for not speaking English with an American accent are the same people that most likely cannot pronounce a single word correctly in a foreign language. I have learned to get over what happened in 5th grade and come at peace with my origins. An accent is an identity that is to be confidently embraced to combat the injustice revolving xenophobia.