As a child, I had to go from an English-speaking classroom to a Spanish-speaking home. From eight in the morning my teachers at school gave me English lessons. After three in the afternoon at home I started a conversation in Spanish with my mother, father and brothers. When summer vacation came, I went back to speaking only Spanish, and then regained the Mexican accent that had faded during the school year. My experience learning English was different from that faced by previous Spanish-speaking generations in the United States. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “being caught speaking Spanish at recess…was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” (Anzaldúa 374). Born in 1942, Anzaldua faced physical abuse a few years later to discourage her from speaking Spanish in school (Anzaldua 373). In my experience, learning a few words of English as a child was rewarded with stickers that read “good job” or “awesome”. More than physical abuse, Anzaldúa suffered psychological abuse. Anzaldúa writes: “if you want to be American, speak 'American'. If you don't like it, go back to the Mexico where you belong” were the Anglo teacher's words that reminded Anzaldúa of the society he lived in (374). The little girl was a “sixth generation Tejana,” and the only country she recognized as home was the United States of America (Anzaldúa 373). Despite physical and psychological abuse Anzaldúa continues her American education, why? His mother played a role. At home, her mother reminded her to “speak English correctly” and not “like a Mexican” to get a good job in American society (Anzaldúa 374). Anzaldúa writes: "Chicanos a......middle of paper......ge exposure, cultural threat, and opposition to immigration." Political Psychology 33.5 (2012):635-657. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 December 2013. Roca, Ana and María Cecilia Colombi, eds. “Mi Lengua: Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States, Research and Practice.” Georgetown University Press (2003): 4-85. Google Scholar Web. November 26, 2013. Sorkin, Andrew Ross. “NBC is paying $1.98 billion for Telemundo.” Web. December 2, 2013Tran, Van C. "Gain of English versus Loss of Spanish? Language Assimilation Among Second-Generation Latinos at Young Ages." Social Forces 89.1 (2010): 257-284. AcademicSearch Web. December 4, 2013.US Census Bureau, “New Census Bureau Report Analysis Nation’s Linguistic Diversity.” Press room December. 2013.