I'm so excited to have Zoraida Córdova, author of The Vicious Deep, stop by the blog today. She's going to talk about how watching Disney's The Little Mermaid helped her learn English. But first, a little about her book.
Title: The Vicious Deep
Series: The Vicious Deep ⋯ Book 1
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Find it here: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
Summary: For Tristan Hart, every-thing changes with one crashing wave.
He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.
His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he’s heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he’s suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.
Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea. . .and now it wants him back.
He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.
His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he’s heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he’s suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.
Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea. . .and now it wants him back.
~x~x~x~
Now for how Zoraida learned English through The Little Mermaid . . .
Actually, I learned while still in Ecuador. I was three and my grandmother, already in New York, sent me the VHS as a gift. I watched it everyday, making my aunt rewind it over and over again, until I could do it myself. I should get her a sweet gift as a thank you.
Sometimes I wonder what is was about this specific movie that enchanted me as a kid. I was already taking English as a second language, but it wasn't enough. Repeating foreign words in a classroom didn't mean anything. When I watched the movie, each word came to life. When I moved to New York at age 6 (maybe 7), I don't remember the transition. I simply remember having complete understanding of what was being said to me in this foreign new school.
I can't say I wouldn't have ever learned without The Little Mermaid as a gateway to language, magic, mermaids—surely I would've gotten there somehow—but I'm very glad that it was. I wouldn't be the person I am without it.
About Zoraida: Zoraida Córdova was left by some merpeople on the coast of Guayaquil, Ecuador, where she learned to speak English by watching Disney's The Little Mermaid and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker on repeat. She's been a New Yorker since she was six, and never forgot about her mermaid lineage. She studied with Jaqueline Woodson, Ann Angel, and the late Norma Fox Mazer at the National Book Foundation writing camps. In 2007 she was awarded the Dennis Lehane scholarship to Pine Manor's Summer Solstice Writing Conference. She majored in English Literature at the University of Montana and Hunter College in New York City.
Find Zoraida
