Billy Chiriboga

After reading Esmeralda Santiago’s “When I Was Puerto Rican” and Howard Gamer’s “Five Minds of the Future”. I enjoyed it the most reading Esmeraldas Santiago one because it was a short story and kind of relatable to me. After all, Santiago went through the same struggles as I did when I first got into this country. she went through the language barrier and the fact that she and I always tried our best to speak English even though we were bad at it we were placed with the other kids instead of with the kids that spoke English but I persevered and didn’t get left back any grade and I thank mom for it because she would push me to read books and do stuff so I can learn the language faster and thanks to her I was able to handle after myself just enough to keep up with the other kids. and I also like this story better because it shows a different case than what we have been reading. this shows a girl trying to get over the struggles of learning and adapting to a new environment that is new to her and thanks to her perseverance she got through it.