Becoming an American student

Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High School, writes:

During my first year teaching, half of my schedule involved teaching a class in English as a second language. Most of the students had been in the country less than four years. The class was rich mixture of students from countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.

After lunch one day, one of the more introspective students casually sat at his desk and addressed me: “When you come to this country you become a different person.”

The student was talking about the official name change on school rosters and official documents -- most Latino students' last names are truncated. But the student’s comment can be looked at more broadly.

The revision and trimming of a name blurs how an individual is seen, and, additionally, sees himself or herself. Literally, the process of becoming American transforms student identity. Though my role is primarily to teach and improve my students’ English literacy skills, a larger curriculum of Americanization is implicitly imposed on the myriad ESL students in classes each day. What else is given up in exchange for an American education? What else is unconsciously gained?