Irma Gonzalez

10/16/15

My name is Irma Gonzalez. I moved to the U.S 4 years ago. Im a 19 years old student. Im learning
English as my second language. It has been hard to learn English. But I think I have made a great
progress since I just came.
Im a female, the only female in a 5 siblings family. I believe that because I just have brothers and not
sisters im not a girly girl. I grew up with one of my brothers who is just one year and a half older than
me. Being around him all the time have influenced who Im now. As a child i didn't play with dolls
instead I would play with cars because that was what my brother played. Even though I'm not a girly
girl i believe that males and female are the same. Males and we the females have the same rights.
My race is mestizo. Im Hispanic. Im from a small country in Central America called Guatemala. My
race has given people in the U.S a false idea of my origin. Most people who just meet me assumed Im
Mexican. They use to asked me What part of Mexico are you from. Even though I already got used to
it I don't really like to be called Mexican. It doesn't mean I have bias against Mexican people. I have
such good Mexican friends. It is just that my origin, my culture and my whole country is different that
Mexico. Other than that I love my race and ethnicity. Im proud of who Im and where I came from.
Im Catholic. Catholicism was influenced by my parents. Both of them are Catholic. They used to be
involved in the church activities. They used to take me to the church every single Sunday. Well, they
still do it. I go to the church every Sunday. My religion its important to me because I grew up
practicing it. My religion is important for my family so its for me.
My class is considered middle class. I grew up in a good town. My home was comfortable and it had all
the facilities. I have attended to private and public schools. I have received a good health care. I have
never had a lack of food, shelter, medicine, education etc.
Im still in the progress of becoming independent. I feel like Im just starting to take my own decisions
and fend for myself. A couple month ago I was still under my parents supervision. Right now Im on
my own.
I don't have good communication skills. Since Im learning English as my second language I dont
have a good English standard yet. Also, Im shy so its hard for me to verbally communicate with
others. Communication is one of my weakness but Im working on it. I hope to see progress in my
communication skills soon. Im a shy person I don't have a lot of friends because Im a little antisocial.
Im always sitting in the back of the classrooms. Most of the time I just listen to other people talking.
Im emotional. I get really upset when talking about thornier topics such as abortion, child abuse, death
etc.
I have experienced fairness when I have to talk in front of people. Its something I really have to work
on. My talent, I think is my patient with kids. I have a lot of nieces. I spend a lot of time with them. I
believe Im good at dealing with children. I know I have a lot to work on in order to be a teacher. Even
though I have learned a lot Im still fall short.
Teachers should know about his/her students culture, talents, developments, experiences and prior
knowledge to give the students the help they need. Every student learns at his/her own pace. Every
student has a different way of learning. Also, students have different cultures. It is really important to
teacher to know about his/her students culture because each student is identified from others by his/her

culture. Culture is part of who they are and where they came from. Teachers should respect every
students culture.