Cordova 1

Romario Cordova
Professor Lewis
English 113A
11 December 2015
My First Words
What I remember about my childhood when it comes to reading and writing is the
memory when I attended kindergarten. Going into kindergarten was a difficult phase for me due
to the fact that I never went to school and my first language was Spanish because my parents
only spoke Spanish in my house. I attended an Elementary school named Alexandria; the mascot
that represented them was a cougar. I wasnt nervous or scared of meeting new people or not
seeing my parents for seven hours. Nothing crossed my mind at that time. I didnt show fear
because I was going to be left alone with strangers in a room and not have my parents there to
comfort me; I thought it was just about meeting new people to play with just like in parties I had
assisted with my parents. I didnt know I was going to be introduced to a distinct world where a
new language ruled but I was not able to speak it.
When I found my seat Mr. Barnie, my Kindergarten teacher handed me a book but I
expected it to have a Spanish title since I had only been taught that language. The bold English
words on the title of the book gave me chills I thought I was in the wrong class and didnt belong
there. Mr. Barnie asked us to open up the book but I didnt know what that meant. I saw the other
students opening the book so I followed along. Mr. Barnie assumed that I knew how to read
because I followed his instructions. What was most unforgettable of my first day was the

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moment I was called on among the whole class to read. I remember my hands starting to get
sweaty and I could feel my cheeks turning warm because I was turning red since every student in
the classroom was staring at me. The classroom quickly turned chilly and a complete silence
followed.
He noticed how embarrassed I felt and assumed I didnt know how to read or write in
English so he approached me and talked to me in Spanish. It amazed me that he spoke Spanish
since I had labeled him according to his appearance. He had light skin with blue eyes, so I
assumed he was American. He asked me if it was my first time attending school; I answered with
Si which means, yes in Spanish. He quickly called an assistant over and she took me to a
different classroom. Inside the classroom there were more kids around my age that also only
spoke Spanish. I felt like I was at home talking to my parents because everyone spoke Spanish
there.
After talking to my fellow classmates for about twenty minutes I assumed that we were
just waiting for more people to be added in our classroom. I remember the classroom being so
full that many of us had to sit on the floor because we didnt have chairs or desks. My head
started to hurt do to the fact that there was so much noise going on. I also started to sweat
because the amount of people in the room was making the room warm with body heat. I later
smelled an unpleasant smell because my classmates started to sweat as well. Ms. Lopez was the
woman that was in charge in selecting the classrooms the students were being sent to. I took out
my sandwich my mother prepared for lunch and began to eat because I felt it could help the
headache I had. Ms. Lopez called my name ten minutes after I started eating. When she saw me
eating my sandwich. She jumped out of her chair and rushed to where I was located and stared at
me. She yelled, Put it away right now, but I didnt know what she was saying. I knew I had

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done something bad because my mother would yell at me when I would do something wrong. I
didnt know exactly what she meant nor what I was doing wrong, or her anger made her forget
that she had to talk to me in Spanish. She told me again to put my sandwich away, this time in
Spanish I listened to her and did as she said but then I asked her why was she yelling at me. She
stated that the school was dealing with ants and thats why she acted how she acted towards me
but she still wasnt clear on why she yelled at me. I thought teachers wouldnt have the right to
yell at students this is why I was confused, but I was wrong.
I was eventually given a new classroom with a new teacher named Ms. Martinez. She
was this sweet old lady that greeted us very nice with donuts and Capri-suns. After waiting so
long to get my class I only had one hour left to learn a few words, which were good morning,
good afternoon, and good night. That same day I came home and taught my parents how to
pronounce and learn what each of them meant. It was kind of difficult to teach them because I
thought I was also pronouncing it incorrectly.
Despite struggling to learn how to speak English, I later learned why my parents didnt
talk to me in that language. My parent werent born in the United States and never went to school
to learn that language because they didnt have spare time to do so. It took me about five years to
be comfortable with the English language. Despite of all my hardships I am grateful that I
learned how to speak English and I was able to then teach my mother and father a couple of
words. I would have liked to have gotten some classes before hand to learn a few words before I
attend kindergarten.