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Learning English
My first language is Spanish and once I got into pre-k, I didn't have another choice but to learn English. I was barely learning how to speak, how to count, and the sounds the letters in Spanish make and adding a completely new language messed me up. -
First Day of School
As time passed in Pre-K, I learned a thing or two and had to say goodbye to my favorite time in Pre-K, naps. Once I entered Mrs. Carrie's Kindergarden class, I had a feeling I didn't fit in because everyone around me was crying as they walked through the outside door to get inside and I was not. I even wondered if I was supposed to cry and considered making myself cry in order to fit in, unbeknownst to me, I had to learn more about English to "fit in". -
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Miss. Gambardella
For many years, I had to be pulled out of my classes to learn how to speak, read, and write English like everyone else. I remember playing games, reading books, and having to summarize books and at the same time wondering why only I was getting pulled out of classes. I remember that eventually I stopped getting pulled out and wondered why. I wanted to continue getting pulled out. I wanted to not "fit in" with the rest of the class as I had gotten used to getting pulled out. -
Guatemala
A couple months after I stopped getting pulled out of class, a Guatemalan boy whose name I don't remember, transferred into my class and I was told to help him. I had gone from being taught to being the teacher in a matter of a couple of years. He was living what I began to live early in my life, he was getting pulled out to learn English in order to "fit in". I couldn't believe that I was teaching a language I thought I couldn't learn and cried every other night because I couldn't understand. -
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ACL and Honors
Yet again, I was amazed, flabbergasted, and honor because I, a first born Mexican-American, made it into accelerated and honors classes. I never thought that I would ever make it into an honors course and not a person whose first language was English. When my single mom found out her first child is successful academically, she felt like she did something right. I gave her a relief and hope that I'll have the future she has been praying for me. -
AP Classes
Many essays and A's later, I got into my first English AP class and when I told my mom she was more than happy. She was and is still so proud of me. Along my way in my English journey, I developed a liking for writing; I even write in order to help me not get into a depressive loop. To this day, I'm still on my English journey and will never feel like I finished it because English will always be my second language.
