Schooled

Castro Valley wasn't the most interesting place growing up.  I mean sure, it had a few things to entertain it's population such as a movie theater and one could visit Lake Chabot, but for me I would have to say my favorite place would be at the high school.

Now you're probably thinking that sounds like quite a strange thing to say, but I have my reasons.  Mostly it's because I would be able to hang out with my friends on a regular basis.  For what ever reason none of us could really get our schedules to match up for everyone to get together very often, making the school a great place to hang out.

The campus got a lot better as I was there.  The cafeteria/auditorium and one of the halls got remodeled between my freshman and sophomore years.  By the time I left, there had already started to build an entirely new hall and had plans to remodel the entrance to the stadium (The picture is the new entrance to the stadium).

The teachers, for the most part, try very hard to come up with things to do in class that would be enjoyable activities to learn from.  These range from doing simple things such as bingo to more critical thinking activities like a mock governments.  There are even a few teachers that I go back to the school and visit with from time-to-time.

For the most part I enjoyed my high school experience.  There were times where I wasn't the most motivated, and it's kinda surprising I even passed with how often I didn't do my homework, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Who influenced my language?

I’ve thought about this for a while and I’m still not sure what the answer is completely.  I think it has to do with the way that I learn in general.  I’m not big on reading or studying to get my knowledge; I learn from listening, watching and doing.

There were very few people in my life while I grew up that would use any sorts of slang or what would be considered broken English.  That doesn’t mean to say that they wouldn’t slip up and use something that wasn’t proper, though.  With my mother being one of eight children from her family, there were a lot of times where things became social.  Every major holiday we would go down to my grandmother’s house for dinner and just about everyone would show up.  They would spend hours talking about their life, their jobs, their friends or even nothing in particular.

Even with the social side of my mother influencing how my speech patterns developed, I believe it was my father that was the major influence in how I talked.  His family is not as close as my mother’s and I think this lead to him being more of a quiet person.  Yes he is social and has friends that he visits with on a regular basis, but the way he talks is much more of a “when it’s needed to be said” sort of way.

I fall somewhere in between these.  I’m a rather quiet person and talk when I feel I can add to the conversation, but I for the most part speak following most of the rules of English.