Painful and Pleasuarble Memories

Things can be both painful and pleasurable at the same time. They help us in two different ways because we learn from them and we also see how we can use them for our convenience. One thing that really was both painful and pleasurable was when I was put in an English only class.

I was always in ESL, which was a program for kids who were thought to only be able to speak Spanish and no English. I think that when I was put in this I was really happy. I felt that I did not want to be put to the side anymore with the other kids who spoke a lot of Spanish like I did. I was finally able to share with all my classmates what they were being taught. I remember that even my parents complained to the school principal so that they could put my in a class with children my age who only spoke English. Another thing that I was able to experience with this was that now I could learn to speak more English than what I could.

I remember that my dad was the one who took the initiative to speak to my teacher and ask her to put me in an English only class. The day of my parent-teacher conference was when he talked to my second grade teacher. I could still remember sitting next to him and as they were speaking of how well I was doing he said," I do want to talk about something that has to do with my daughter's learning skills". It was surprising for me because I felt that he finally said something so that I could be a part of my classmates. He then said to my teacher and it is something that I never forget because he said it to another one of my siblings teachers. This is what it was, "I want my daughter to be in an English only class because if I wanted her to learn Spanish then I would teach it to her at home". M teacher understood and said that she would try to start by giving me homework in English. Then he said," I send her to school to learn English because Spanish is taught at home." This was the start of a new future for me which was to start doing everything in English.

Speaking English was something also painful because I felt that my other classmates put me down. They did not call me names, but they did look at me funny because I now was at their same level. I was not at their level before so even though I really had no accent, I did do something that was not expected of me before. I believe that what I felt was anger because it was not fair that they did not like me for being able to share with them what I wanted to be able to share with them.

One thing that I remember I would do now that I was in English only class was read out loud to the class. I think that because this was not expected of us Spanish speaking kids the other kids did look at us funny. When I read out loud my teacher encouraged me to really keep reading because she liked when I participated. Also now instead of separating us from the English only kids, now they had to join us in our circle and spent more time with us. I know that this bothered them because they always thought that they were superior to us.

Sometimes we are able to experience new things but we don’t always receive the rewards that we would like from the people around us. I think that I was able to grow as a person with this experience because I was able to understand that all the people that we consider our friends really are not. I not only learned to speak a more fluent English, but I also learned to be able to choose whom my friends really were and know if I could trust them or not.

"Fighting For What You Believe In"

I felt that the Malcolm X piece was a really good story. It helps to really understand his life and why he fought for his rights. His story showed me that when you believe in yourself and what you want to accomplish that it is the best feeling ever. It has also showed me that we should never give up and always fight for what we believe in. Also that learning and reading are the most important things in life that will make you the person you want to become. With these things you are able to really be a somebody. I feel that this story has inspired me to want to read because I know that it will help me through out life. I also feel that sometimes we ourselves need to beleive that our hard work will end up being something pleasureable in life. Also that our dreams are the most important things to look forward to and ignore the negativity of others around you. I feel that this all gets combined to help with our development in life.

Today I Feel...

Today I feel like I have to look at everything I need to do for the week and am worried. I really feel stressed out and it is only the third week of my second semester. I really am happy that it has stopped raining because even though I like the cold weather, I just don’t like the fact that it rains and my dad who is a truck driver is out there driving in such a dangerous weather. I am so tired and I know that I need to sleep more but sometimes I just can’t go to sleep early. I really feel like I am alone in what I feel and I need help but am afraid to get it. In me there is something that is telling me that I need to let out what I feel and talk to the people that are hurting me in a painful way.

I feel that today is a brand new day and that hopefully I could be able to just finish all of my homework and go to sleep early. I am happy that I am going home earlier than usual because one of my classes was canceled. I also feel sad because the only reason why I am going home early is because one of my professors is sick and I just hope that she gets better. I feel hungry right now and even though I am in class I really can’t wait until my class is over so that I can go and eat before my next class.

I am also happy because I know what my speech is going to be about and even though I don’t like speaking in front of people I feel like I have to get over it and work hard on what I am going to talk about. Today I just am happy with what I have and though there are days were I want to get out of my world, it has just come to my attention that I just have to live with it. I might not like it, but I really have to deal with it.

I also feel that I am happy that my eye looks better because I was getting tired of looking as if though I had gotten into a fight. I feel that I need to get into a diet plan because I want to feel healthy. I really don’t feel like I know enough about the candidates for the primary elections and I really need to learn more about them. I feel like my vote will make a difference and that is why I am going to the talks about who the best candidate is and listen to the debates between the candidates.

My Holidays

Holidays are days that I always look forward to because they allow for my family to at least spend some of their time together. The past two holidays I felt were the best ones of all because they helped me to realize why they really please me the most. Two things that pleased me during the holidays were that my family really bonded together and that I also received an unexpected present from my parents for Christmas.

I was very pleased to see my family spending time together because this only happens on special occasions and sometimes not all of my family is present. My family has a special tradition for Christmas Eve that is really fun and even allows us to connect our feeling of happiness with one another. The tradition we have of Santa Claus' existence when coming to our house and giving us presents really is a lot of fun. My uncle has been dressing up as Santa Claus for years because he knows the children are not afraid and believe that Santa really does exist and that they could ask him for things that they would like. This tradition begins at midnight when my uncle comes in and all the kids get really happy because they all want to be his helpers. He passes out the presents that we have bought for each other and once or twice he will stop to dance with the kids because it also always seems as if we had a party going on. We have so much fun and it really brings my family together.

Even though it sounds selfish to say that I was pleased in receiving and unexpected present from my parents is because I really did not ask for anything. The only thing that really makes me happy is seeing my brother and sister receive their presents that they think are from Santa Claus. I know that sometimes my parents don’t have the money to give me everything that I would like so that is why I really appreciated their gift to me. It was something that really made me happy because it was the IPOD Nano.

My end of the year holidays were the best and I really enjoyed them a lot. I wish that we had a holiday all the time because that is the only way that my family can come together and really spend as much time as we can catching up with everything that we have missed in each others’ lives. I hope that from now on we can come together more often and really become a united family.