My parents came to America in the 2000s, knowing no English or how to communicate. From then on, they had me and my older brother while growing up in a very Spanish household. Luckily, we went to a bilingual school, so they taught us how to write, speak, and read in Spanish as well as in English. I struggled. My brother and I struggled a lot. We had to learn a different language that we weren’t so used to. I would cry in frustration that I couldn’t be able to speak it well without an accent or say something right without screwing up a sentence or two. We both cried. This one English teacher that we both had helped us so much with our English. She was so memorable to us. I was just recently talking to my brother about how we were younger and struggled with English. My mom overheard us, and she told us about this one teacher we both had; let’s call her Ms. V.
Ms. V was so patient with us through our cries and our tantrums; she stayed calm. She was always so calm and yet strict with our sentences and our essays. Before Ms. V’s help, my English grade were so bad, and I would lie to my parents about it, saying that it was not right, but as my parents always said, “El papelito dice todo (The paper says everything). With Ms. V’s help, my grades improved a lot. I’m really glad there are teachers like her who really care about their students. Even after primary school, my brother and I would still go to her for help with our English work. We refused to have another teacher help us; I don’t remember why. It just wasn’t the way that Ms. V taught us. Looking back now, I try to do my best because of all the time and effort she put in with us. She had an impact on my brother and me doing our best in our English courses and doing our best work, even if we still have to translate things in our heads.
