Between Two Worlds – Edwin

I HAVE NOT CHOSEN this Writing Prompt to develop into the Major Unit One Assignment.

Being a kid with no real knowledge of English was hard and me being one of the first-generation kids in America for my family, speaking English wasn’t something we had at home. I had to adapt to my surroundings and learn English. See at home all we spoke was Spanish and learning a new environment was hard for not only me but also my siblings. So for me, I always tended to be very quiet and listen first before I spoke. During Pre-k I didn’t learn much English since my teacher Mrs. Santiago also spoke Spanish to help me and the other kids. But, that all came to change once I went to kindergarten because Mami wanted us to learn English better.

Mami put us all into a small brick school named P.S. 7. not too far from our home in Cypress Hills. The school was very intimidating since it was by a huge cemetery and had a train station right in front of the school. The inside of the school was full of beige and burgundy walls and light blue and white checkered tiles. Mami and the principal were just talking and from what I can remember is that Mami said, “Good morning, today is gonna be his first day here since we just moved to this area and we heard great things about this school.” The principal replied, “Welcome to our school! We are happy to have your child here. Can you tell me a little bit about your child’s educational background and language skills?” Mami responded saying, “My child speaks Spanish as his first language but is still learning English. We have been practicing at home and he has taken some English classes, but he will need extra support to succeed in school.” The principal assures my mother that the school has resources to support English language learners, such as bilingual teachers and English language development programs.

Before you knew it I was in a classroom but not a regular one. I was put in a classroom full of other kids who had little to no knowledge of English. The school was always different than what I was used to at my old school. I remember being blown away by the diversity of students from different backgrounds and cultures. The classrooms were colorful and inviting, and the teachers were always eager to help us learn. However, some challenges came with attending school as a non-native English speaker. Sometimes, I struggled to understand the teachers or communicate with my peers since we had different teachers trying to help us understand. Some of the students were Asian, Hispanic, and even African so they had many teachers in the classrooms. But with persistence and hard work, I was able to overcome these obstacles and succeed academically.