Assertion Journal: ESL

After our discussion this past Tuesday on ESL, I began to reminisce on my experience with this program that I am extremely grateful for. After moving to the United States from Venezuela in the 3rd grade, I was enrolled (through my elementary school) in the ESL program for a whole school year. Each day I would go to homeroom and sit quietly as kids around me chatted fluently in English, something I quickly felt jealous of. The ESL bus would arrive soon after and whisk us “foreigners” away to another school for our day of learning. Interestingly enough, I don't recall ever doing any solid learning, just cross-word puzzles, word searches, and countless picture books that seemed to belong to toddlers. The majority of the learning I ever did came from interacting with the students and teachers around me. This isn't to say that ESL was useless, I did learn my share nouns, pronouns, parts of a sentence, and other grammar skills that come easily to any native American. But it was the conversations with kids my own age that really taught me how to speak and write the way I do today. It is because of this that my Spanish accent is not even noticeable when I talk, and only occasionally do I stumble with my words (usually when I get exited, and is usually followed by a “Sorry! English is my second language!”). By the end of my 3rd grade year I had successfully completed ESL and become one of the most active readers in my classroom, often checking out ten or more books from the library each week. It is thanks to this program that I developed an interest in school and was placed in the challenging classes that I continue to be in today. In my experience, ESL wasn't about passing the course or the SOL, but instead about the ideas and opportunities that got me to where I am today.