Diana Pardo Pardo 1

Dr. Smith

ENGL 101 2COB

June 15, 2017

My Earliest Memories in New York

Imagine what life is like for a seven-year-old who is in a different country that does not

speak the language other than her primary language. She might have many thoughts going through

her head such as, when will I learn the language, will I be able to catch up, and what are my

peers and teachers saying,. learning new information in a different language can be stressful and

nerve-wracking. I am a 26-year-old woman who was born in USA, New York. My predominant

language is Spanish. After I turned three-years-old both of my parents decided for my father to

take me to Colombia to start school there since the education is more advanced. They have always

thought that education comes first. My parents placed me in a bilingual Montessori school, which

taught children English as a second language. When I got to second grade, I was falling behind

due to my English receptive and expressive language. After this circumstance, both of my parents

decided to send me back to New York with my mom for at least a year. First, they wanted me to

improve my English because they have always thought that having a second language is very

important for my future success. Second, they wanted me to improve on my academics. My earliest

memories in elementary school, when using a new language, and learning how to write fully started

when I returned to New York at the age of seven. Studying in New York for one year, was the best

option that my parents thought was going to enhance the proficiency of my second language and

my academic progress in Colombia.

Three months before starting third grade, my parents told me that I was going to live with

my mother for at least one year in New York to mainly learn English. I felt excited because I was

going to live with my mom, I was going to be around my two female cousins, and was going to
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make new friends. It calmed me to know that I was still going to Colombia every six months to

visit my father and my family.

On my first day of school, I got into a class that the teacher only spoke English. This

situation at first made me feel nervous. I thought that none of the students in my class spoke

Spanish. There was a moment where I told my mother I couldnt be thrown in a classroom full of

English speakers. At that moment, I felt miserable because I thought people were going to look at

me weird since I didn't know the language. I also thought I was not going to have friends, that the

teacher was never going to understand me, and I was never going to understand her. I remember

that my mom softly held my hands and told me that I was going to be okay, and that few students

in my class spoke Spanish who were also going to help me get through. She was right! There were

about two or three students who also spoke Spanish like me. The teacher knew that my first

language was Spanish and that I needed to learn English, so she placed me next to a boy named

Pedro who was going to translate for me whenever I didnt understand any information. There

were also two more girls, Amy and Joshi, who helped me throughout the year with the language.

As I started my new school year, I was a little anxious and nervous because I barely

understood what the teacher was saying. Like David Sedaris, My fear and discomfort crept

beyond the borders of my classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards, where,

no matter how hard I tried, there was no escaping the feeling of terror I felt whenever anyone asked

me a question (David Sedaris 305). Sedaris experience illustrated how I was feeling for the first

two week of class. I completely shut down when the teacher wanted to communicate something to

me, also when my peers were asking me questions about myself. Thankfully, I had my three new

friends who helped me understand the teacher and get through the tasks.
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I remember that I wanted to learn the language so badly and fast that at the third week of

school I started trying to speak English with my new friends. My friends thought that to make it

easier for me they preferred speaking to me in Spanish, which was not helping me to progress. The

teacher told them that they couldnt talk to me in Spanish at all times, only when I didnt

understand something and that I was in their to learn English. Once the teacher gave them the

warning, they were speaking to me only in English. I felt shy for my mispronunciation, but my

peers were so kind that I dont remember anyone making fun of me. Instead, they corrected me

whenever I mispronounced a word. I took the corrections in a good way; they were trying to help

me enhance my pronunciation.

After six to eight months, I was already having full conversations with my friends and with

the teacher. I no longer needed a translator, which made me feel that I was progressing. My teacher

always reinforced me by telling me how well my English was getting. Having people around,

telling me how well I was progressing on my second language made me feel that I was making a

difference on myself. My three friends were always by my side, either to play or to help me with

English. Being placed in an entire English classroom was the best option that my mother could

have done. Many people were telling her to place me in a bilingual class since I had very limited

English proficiency. She knew she was doing the right thing and I agreed with her after seeing my

improvement. I was already coming from a bilingual school, and all I needed was to be placed in

an English classroom where I was going to pick up English quickly.

After a year, I became better at speaking and understanding English, but my writing skills

were not up to par. Although my receptive language was better than my expressive language, I still

tried to express what I wanted to convey. Since I was improving on English, I felt more confident

and did not feel shy when interacting with others. Whenever it came to spelling tests, some of the
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times I confused the English spelling with the way it is spelled in Spanish. For example, if I didnt

know how to spell tremendous I would have written tremendus. Writing was always the most

challenging task.

Since writing was my worst struggle, my mother hired a tutor and my writing skills

improved. I have always thought that speaking and having conversations in any language does not

mean everything if the person doesnt have good writing skills. I can relate to Frederick Douglass

because he states that all he wished for was for one day to learn how to write like his master, until

he finally became succeeded on his writing (4). This is how I felt! I wanted to be able how to write

and get good grades on my spelling tests. All I needed was to improve my writing skills to be a

successful student and a professional. Properly expressing, decoding information, and writing

fluently have always been critical for me. I think that these skills can definitely take me and any

other person far in life if they propose to succeed.

My earliest memories when I started living in New York were remarkable. I learned a new

language, made new friends who helped me through my most difficult years when learning

English, not only I learned English, but I also learned how to read and write in English. I have

always thought that learning a new language and having all the components that are needed to be

proficient in the language takes time to acquire and willing to want to learn. Both authors,

Frederick Douglas and David Sedaris, spoke on their literature about their struggles of using

language, either written or spoken. I was thoroughly related to both of their experiences. As it was

nerve-wracking learning a new language for Sedaris, it was also frightening to me. Learning a new

language is like starting all over again when you are born. In Douglass experience, he had no one

to teach him how to read and write, but he successfully found the way to becoming a master

writing. I relate to his struggles when learning how to write, but with the help of my mom who
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hired a tutor, I improved my writing skills and got better grades on spelling tests. I had to be

persistent, have positive thoughts, and keep on going forward with my goal. These challenges in

life have made me grow stronger as a person and as a professional.

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Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Learning to Read and Write.

http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/learning%20to%20read.htm. , pp. 1-4.

Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day. Models for Writers, (12th ed)., edited by Alfred Rosa

and Paul Eschholz, Bedford St. Martins, 2015, pp. 301-306.