Invention activity #1

Step 1: With a partner, list 8-10 topics that interest you. These can be very broad or very specific. Note that a good research paper topic exists somewhere in between these two. 

For example, U.S. medical care (broad), Cat scan results and U.S. medical care of Amy Tan’s mother (very specific), just right: U.S. medical care and nonnative English speakers 

But for now, just list some interesting topics. We can discuss the breadth of topics in-depth later. 

Interesting topics: imigration, language, learning a new language, decrmination, spanish speakers. Video games, school descrimination, Work decrimination. Language barrier. Art

Step 2: Now, on your own, study the list you have created. Choose three potential topics and free­write about each of them for five minutes. Remember that one rule of free­writing is not to stop even if you feel that you have nothing to say. One trick is to just write “I don’t know what else to write” over and over until something else comes into your mind.

Topic 1: Language decrimination, many people get discriminated against because of their language. Many of them have accents that make their english different, and it’s not consider “standard english” because of this many of them are mistreated.

Topic 2: learning a new language in a foreing country could be a very difficult and challenging procedure. Many times kids are being mistreated or yelled at because they try to speak their home languages in school settings. But I feel that a school should be a free expression place for kids to be able to feel safe being themself.

Topic 3:  Art is something amazing, it can express many ideas from one thing, it could be things like poems, photos, drawings, paintings, they all represent something and they are connected to language and its different aspects. How can someone know what art means? Well it could be because the authors or creators use especifics writings or objects to show language.

Step 3. Using your freewrite as guidance, complete the following table:

Note: In examining your existing knowledge, remember to include not only facts, but also personal experiences, stories, experiences of other people, and so on. Later on, you can include these into your draft to engage your readers.

	What I know	What I’d like to find out
Topic 1	Language accents could be very different depending the place that someone came fromMany people don’t accept others just because they don’t have “standard english”	Why do we have a language ideology that does not accept accents?
Topic 2	Learning a new language is challenging especially in a country where people don’t accept a way of communicating because its not normal	Why in may school, a place where a student should feel safe, cant let them speak in their own language.
Topic 3	Art was created by many people fromm all kinds of ages, it shows our history.	Is there something that makes art more important than others?How does art shows language

Invention activity #2

At the beginning of the search, ask yourself a simple but crucial question: “Now that I have my topic and my initial research questions, where and how can I get the best, most reliable, and most complete answers which would allow me to create an effective and readable paper?”

The following activity will help you answer this question. You can work on this activity on your own or with a partner.

●  What sources would allow you to answer your question best? Consider both secondary sources (books, websites, etc.) and primary sources (experts on your topic, for example)?

I think, based on my question, experts on my topic, I could also use personal histories of hispanic people who had experienced any type of language decrimination. Also I could use websites that explain how many of them are not accepted because of their ability to speak english.

●  Do you have easy access to people who are experts on your topic? By the word “experts” I mean not only academics who may have written books or journals articles about your topics, but also people who practice an activity or are a part of a group you are interested in studying. For instance, to study bias in the workplace, it will be useful not only to read texts for information and statistics, but also interview and people who may have experienced bias at work or who may be biased against other people at work.

I do have access to people that have been learning English as a Spanish speaker. Many family and friends had to learn english, so I have access to do things like interviews with them.

●  Do you need special skills to conduct interviews or observe your subjects? For example, do you need to learn how to write and conduct an interview or a survey or how to keep a researcher’s notebook? If so, where can you find information on how to do that effectively?

To conduct my research I need to do a survey, and record them in a document, so I can really bring out the real experience of the people who I am interviewing. If i’m not sure how to do it i could search it up in websites like google or youtube.

Write Up

What I know

I know that many immigrants like myself and my parents, move from their home country for many reasons. Some of those reasons could be, to get better education, to be able to work and support family, to escape the terrible conditions and economy from some countries, and in general just to try and get a better life. The United States is supposed to be a country with freedom, but many incidents of racism, assault, and even discriminations to Spanish speakers and many other immigrants have experienced this. All of these factors have affected latinos, the opportunities that they have are more limited compared to someone who has “standard English”, but  I think everyone should be treated equally, because the language you speak doesn’t measure your intelligence. I have seen many incidents with race and language in my life, I have experienced myself. These experiences are something scary that can lead to many people to suppress their culture and identity just to try and fit into society, but is this really worth it? I know that many people do this as a form of protection, so they can feel accepted, but i dont think losing a big part of your identity is worth it. Now many of the new generation of spanish speaking kids and families speak only english. The school system is not letting kids communicate in their own way, they are being taught that there’s only one way to communicate in this country, and this is called language ideology. 

The searchMy search was a little challenging, I needed to search on how Spanish speaking people get discriminated against for speaking and learning spanish. To do my research I decided to start with google because it is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to find any kind of information. I was really sure on what to type in the search bar to get the results i wanted so broke my topic down in pieces and it ended up being “decrimination to spanish speakers”. This search got many results but many of them seemed unreliable, and some didn’t even make sense, after that i decided to scroll more down and that i found an article with an interesting title called “How the U.S. Taught Me That Spanish Was Shameful.” This title seemed really interesting so I decided to click on it. After opening it I decided to read it. This article explain that the United States is making the future generation forget their own roots, and hw they are discriminating poeple just because they speak differently. So I think this would be a good article to support my topic because it shows how Spanish speakers are treated in some cases. After this article I decided to go look in other resources like the CCNY library page, but I wasn’t able to find anything for a while. So I decided to go back to google and after schooling for a while I found another article for my research. It was called “Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of latinos” This article showed experiences of some latinos and their reactions.This article is great for my topic because I wanted to show personal experiences, this to help connect better with the readers.