More Than Just A Language by Jerica

More Than Just A Language by Jerica - August 2013 Scholarship Essay

   In my 13 years of being in different classes I have learned a tremendous amount of information and lessons.  But the most interesting one by far has been the lesson I learned from my Spanish 1 class.  In this class I was not only taught another language, which is an interesting skill itself, but I was also taught about culture.  While we brushed up on vocabulary and the teacher also had us watch videos on the different countries that spoke Spanish and how they started out with this language.  I learned about Afro-latinos and began an interest in ethnic studies and the class discussed mistreatment of darker people in Spanish speaking countries by Europeans.  This history lesson helped me to better understand the language and put meaning behind the words.  The real lesson that was behind this was that a language is more than just words but also tells where a person has been, where they can come from, and possibly how their family has lived for generations.  That is the lesson that I found not only interesting but important to remember.