Page 7 - Language and Literacy Project Stories Revised

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“Why do you not want our children to learn Igbo? I do
not understand why you want them to grow up without
their home language!!” My father’s voice was slowly
becoming loud enough for me to hear from my bedroom,
the door slightly cracked.

“Ah-ah! Slow your voice. They are sleeping.” I could
hear the guardedness in my mother’s whispered tone.
“Have I not told you, Nkem?” she continued, “I do not
want them to end up like me. I want them to be able to
speak English!”

“Nonsense! What makes them unable to learn both?”

“You know why I feel this way.” My mother said
coldly. “When I was growing, my English was very, very
bad. My schoolmates were always mocking my English!
Calling me ewu, a simple goat. I will not have my children
treated this way.”

This was not the first time that I had heard this
conversation. My parents often argued about whether my
siblings and I should learn Igbo. I had already learned
much of the language; I could hold simple conversation
and understand my parents’ conversations. My mom,
however, did not want me to learn any more than this; she
was afraid that the second language would interfere with
my English.

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