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Alicia Gonzalez
Brayan Adler
English 100 #3638
8 October 2014
Second Language
As a child of two Mexicans I grew up speaking Spanish and then later I learned
English. Throughout elementary school I was placed in an ESL program to help me improve my
level of English. I was not cognizant about my placement in ESL and neither were my parents,
which lead me to struggle more throughout elementary and part of middle school. The lack of
information in my school slowed me down. Also the fact that my parents did not speak English
was a disadvantage to me because I had no support from my parents which meant I had to
struggle twice as others to reach the adequate English level.
It was a sunny morning I woke up to get ready to start my first day of middle school. I
was feeling nervous and excited; I was hoping my friends and I had classes in common. My first
class was math and after nutrition I had English. I realized I didnt have my friends for any of my
classes which made me feel sad and left out. When I got to my English class my teacher Mr.
Sanchez welcomed us and gave a brief introduction about him. He then went on to introduce the
class and the objectives. The class seemed pretty clean and quiet but what caught my attention
was that the teacher had the Spanish alphabet as decoration for his class. I wondered why he
would put it up. Or was it because this used to be a class for those who did not know any
English? I was really curious. I went back to paying attention he said to us welcome to ESL
class (English as a Second Language). I was feeling really confused, I didnt know what that
meant. As he went on to explain to us that ESL was an English language study program for
nonnative speakers who needed help in developing a more fluent English literacy; I was feeling

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angry, upset, and confused. Why had I been placed in a nonnative speaking class? Is this why I
was pulled out of class at random times? Were they assessing my English literacy skills? I knew
how to speak, read and write English. Yes I know maybe it was not perfect but I felt I did not
have to go through ESL. I sat alone I felt simpleminded and dumb. The teacher then went on to
explain that in order to place out of the ESL programs it was essential for us students to pass the
class and any test that were given to asses and ESL student. All this time I thought I was taking
the same classes as others.
I felt ESL was keeping me from excelling in English with all my other friends. Is this
really where Im supposed to be? All my friends are across the hall in the distinguish scholars
class. These are the expressions a white boy used in The Freedom Writers Diary to express his
disapproval of the class he was placed in. He felt he did not belong there. Even though our
situations where quite different the questions and thoughts he had were much like the ones I had.
I hated the fact that I felt less than others academically to me that was a disappointment. Right
after school I rushed home to talk to my sister; she was placed in the ESL program as well. She
really did not know any English because she was brought to the United States from Mexico when
she was 3 years old. But she did pick up on the language pretty quick. When I turned to my sister
for advice I asked if it was hard to place out of the ESL program she had said she was already in
high school and still did not place out of it. I honestly did not think it was because she was dumb
or didnt understand she just fooled around in school too much. I believe it was mainly the bad
influences and her bad decisions. But she also told me that I was a smart girl and that I should
have no trouble passing it. So I decided that I was going to pass the ESL class first semester so
that way I can start in my grade level English class for second semester. I did struggle to
accomplish my goal because I was not able to pronounce many words, and I had horrible

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grammar. I still struggle in life with these things; but little by little Ive been improving. I studied
and tried hard in the class I definitely felt confident and prepared to excel and move on to the
next level. It was a really hot day but I made sure I ate breakfast to be awake and have energy for
the test, I was a bit nervous but I felt determined to pass it. The assessment consists of a couple
of readings and multiple choice answers, vocabulary and sentence structure skills. It had one
essay and also we had to write a story based on some pictures they showed us.
I was told results from the test wouldnt be given till the end of the semester. I was
anxious to know the results, time went by really slow I wanted the days to go by faster.
November came around and I was sitting in class reading a book called Unwind every day we
would read for 20 minutes. A service student came in asking for me. For some reason I thought I
had gotten in trouble. While I got up and got my stuff to exit the class I started getting nervous
and my heart was beating fast. I was taken into the office where I met with like a counselor. She
was polite and introduced herself, but I was too nervous that I forgot her name. She then
proceeded to tell me the results of the test where in. I had completely forgotten about it! I was
impatient and nervous while she looked at her computer with a blank expression. I was playing
around with my hands hoping the results were what I expected. She said Congratulations you
will be moving on to English 4 next semester I took a really deep breath in and let it out I was
feeling thankful and happy. I love Basquiat, I watched Keith Haring You see I study art, The
greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, The greats were great cause they paint a
lot these lyrics by Macklemore convey that the artist are not born with greatness. But with
countless hours of practice, their skills were strengthening until they were realized for their true
potential and greatness. I feel this relates to the effort I put into studying to pass my assessment
tests.

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I can relate this experience to Proficiency by Shannon Nicholas, she struggled to pass
her ninth-grade proficiency test, and although she thought her writing was great the test said
something else. She felt she let her self-down and in a way I felt like that too. I knew how to
speak English since I started kindergarten maybe it was not perfect but I felt my placement in
ESL was not necessary. What upset me the most was that I was already starting middle school
and I was not even aware of my English level or of my placement in ESL.
This experience I had with ESL showed me that perseverance and ambition to do better
will help you overcome challenges and obstacles. Its not that youre dumb and others are
smarter; its just some have more knowledge than others but it doesnt mean you cant reach
them and be at their level. Dweck claims intellectual development is not the natural unfolding
of intelligence, but rather the formation of new connections brought about through effort and
learning. Intelligence is not a gene that is passed on and people are not born smart. It takes time,
devotion, and hard work. Intelligence can be developed through time as long as you have the
accurate mindset. These types of characteristics are used in the article The Perils and Promises
of Praise to describe what a student with a growth-mindset should do. According to Dweck a
student with a growth-mindset cares about learning. A student with a growth-mindset is not
afraid to take a challenge and make mistakes. They tend to fix their mistakes and endure to
overcome the challenge and learn from the mistakes made. I think when I was mindful of my
placement in ESL I felt like I needed a bigger challenge because I was stuck with ESL all my
elementary school experience I started to develop a growth-mindset. I just didnt want to be
stuck with ESL forever I wanted to learn new things and reach my goal of moving on to the real
deal.