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De’Ja Robinson
English 102
Professor Buck
2/18/19

Second Language
I remember my journey began when I was just in kindergarten. I used to love coming

home to watch Dora the Explorer. Dora was a popular kid show that would play on Nick Jr., it

taught children Spanish, how to count, spell and more. Dora was a bilingual character that would

go on many adventures where she would teach her audience Spanish. She was all I ever wanted

to watch growing up. I was such a fast learner that I would go back and teach my parents and

grandparents what I learned. When my parents saw how much of a big impact that show had on

me then started buying my flash cards and teaching me some of the things they knew.

When I got to the third grade my parents then paid for a tutor who would teach me all I

needed to know. My tutor name was Teresa Rojas, she was very pretty and nice. She became

apart of the family, she would often take me to her house with her children and would invite us

to her family functions. I got to see what it was like inside of a different culture. Turns out that

she a has a special needs daughter and my mother is her nurse. So, I still she her often.

However, after the fifth grade my mother got into a terrible accident and they had to do

budget cuts and unfortunately, they had to cut my tutoring session. At that time, I was writing

sentences and speaking sentences in Spanish however, that all stopped. Although I had Spanish

in middle school it just wasn’t the same as it was with Mrs. Rojas. At the middle school I

attended, we could never keep the same Spanish teacher after a year. We got a new Spanish

teacher every year, because the children wouldn’t really listen. Paper was thrown across the
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room, kids laughing loudly at each other jokes, the chewing could be heard at times. It sounded

like the soul circus was in town when anyone had Spanish class. And when the Spanish teacher

would teach, I already knew the material, so it happened to be easy which made the class very

boring. It was frustrating to have to sit there and learn the same thing over, for half of the

students not pay attention and always talk while the teacher was teaching. I was far ahead then

my peers in middle school, so nothing helped me at all. So, I stopped practicing on my own.

Things started to change for the better once I got into high school. My freshman year I

was able to test out of Spanish 1 due to my outstanding scores from middle school. I needed a

ninety percent or better to test out. Unfortunately, I got an eighty- eight percent, I wasn’t upset

because I knew I haven’t practice or did anything with Spanish since I stopped practicing with

Mrs. Rojas, and I made silly mistakes.

When my Spanish teacher named Mrs. Vega seen how I was taking her class very serious

and was excited to learn more, she offered me free tutoring sessions after school, and during free

period for free. I was very thankful for her taking her time out to help me. It was much more

challenging to learn everything this time around then when I was younger. But I push through,

and I eventually pick up on things because of how fast I pick up on things. I joined the Spanish

club my sophomore year and stayed in it for the remainder of the time I was in high school and I

learned a lot more in that club. In Spanish club we took different field trips to learn all about the

different culture. My junior year is when I got excepted into the Spanish Honor Society. That

was a great experience for me.

Last summer my family and I went on a cruise to Dominican Republic, Grand Turk,

Aruba and Curacao we got a chance to explore the island for a certain amount of time and had to

get back on the boat. When we got off the boat to Dominican Republic some of my uncle’s
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family met us at the beach for a good time. On the beach they had many stores, gift shops,

games, beach toys, and a beach bar. My mom wanted to go into the gift shops to buy some

things, so I went along with her because in most countries when people see tourist, they try to get

over on you. So, my mom asked one of the workers what was the price of the shirt

“¿cuánto quieres que les cargue por la camisa”, said the worker

“se ven como si tuvieran dinero tan 50 dólares” said the boss

“$50 mamas!” said the worker

the worker asked his boss in Spanish, and the boss told him to charge us extra because we look

like we had money.

“Momma they only charging us $50 because we look like we have money!” I said to my mom. I

told my mom what they had said, and my mom spoke up.

“Since we have money, we can take our money and shop elsewhere. You should be fair about the

prices for all customers sir.” My mom said

They looked shocked that I understood what they had said and apologized and tried to

sell them items to my mom at a cheaper price, but we just went to another gift shop. Most people

are very shocked that I understand Spanish because I’m black. But what most people don’t know

about my family is that we are diverse and a big family.

I wouldn’t say I speak Spanish fluently, I understand it and can speak it a little bit. I’m

still learning how speak it to this day. I practice at least once a week. But by the time I graduate

college and get ready to work in the health field I should speak it fluently. That would put me

ahead of others and I could potentially get paid more.

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In society today, it has become important to be literate in any language other than English

and to further be educated and comprehension in its context. I knew depending on my family,

beliefs and background my experience with becoming literate in Spanish would be way different

from others. Growing up my parents always instilled in me that it would be a bonus for me to be

bilingual. With our country expanding each year, majority of our citizens speak Spanish. So of

course, it would make sense for me to learn a second language, it’ll benefit me in the long run. I

know that my future career I would be hired before most people because I can speak another

language.