Yiovani Luque

English 99 Online

Narrative Essay

A Terrible Day

I still remember that day that I was really sad, but at the same time I was completely

angry at her. The substitute teacher was a very stern and bad person. She was the only person I

did not want to see ever again in my whole life. She made me feel as an unimportant human

being because of my inability to speak English. All negative thoughts came to my mind and I

felt inferior compared to other people that were around me. My classmates made fun of me and

that was the worst thing that caused my self-esteem went down. Nothing could stop those horror

feelings and make me feel better. I felt as bad as the worst day of my whole life, and I almost

cry. I felt very humiliated; I still see flashbacks of what was happening that day.

I remember when I was in middle school in Calexico. That was my first year here in the

United States and I was petrified with the idea of a new culture which included a new language.

It was hard for me to learn a new language because some of my new classes were bilingual and

those types of classes did not help me sufficiently to learn English. Everytime I came to each one

of my classes I got desperate because the classes were completely different from my native place

and my English was not good at all.

I remember when my friends and I were in our physical education class, but our teacher

was absent that day. We had a substitute and she was teaching the class in her own way. She
gave us a writing assignment that we needed to complete in like 20 minutes, but for me 20

minutes was eternal. I did not understand that assignment and I did not want to ask my friends

for advice. Even though they knew English very well, I felt that they would laugh at me because

of my ignorance and I felt inferior.

The time passed and I did not complete any work at all. The teacher checked the work

from every student in the class and then she checked mine and she realized that I did not do it. I

felt terrible and I did not know what to say. Then, she wrote a referral and called the security

officer to take me to the main office. The worst thing was being driven in the little car from the

gym to the office. Usually, when people got in that little car, you got a bad reputation.

When I got in the office I talked to the principal, he asked me why I got a referral and I

told him that I did not understand the assignment because of my lack of English. It seems that the

principal did not care about it. Then, he said that I have to wait the whole recess in the office. I

wanted to destroy everything at that time. After that, I went to the restroom just to hide my ugly

and angry face from the other people. I remember that I wished the substitute all negative things

she could ever have. That was my first referral I had, but for me it was not a good enough reason

to receive it. I got frustrated for that event and that is why I still remember it. I still remember

the substitutes face and the principal’s words.

This event in my life had a lot of impact in my self esteem. I felt petrified when my

friends and almost everybody made fun of me. I still remember the ones in the left corner of the

classroom yelling at me on my way to the principal’s office. Others just wanted to treat me like if

I were a fool boy at lunch time. The time passed and I defend myself of those guys that made fun

of me. I got involved in a fight with a guy after school, and nobody spotted me when I hit this
guy named Paul. I would say I felt better after the fight. Everybody saw me in a different way,

and I think I earned enough respect. The days of that fool boy ended and all turned to a better

quality of life. I could walk the cafeteria with my head almost looking to the sky. Nobody yelled

at me something that made me feel like a fool boy.

Now, time has passed and I am an adult and understand English better and I do not fear to

be next to people that know English. I think I have more ability in my classes than before. I do

not know why I felt that way when I was in junior high, but now I think different from that time.

I still question myself why I did not ask my friends for help. It was that easy, but I could not do

it. People ask for help when they do not know something, but I realized that every person is

different from others. Also, I still remember why I wished that substitute those negative things.

It was a really bad action from me. Now, I think positive when I have problems like this one.

Maybe that substitute had a bad time and discharged her fury on me, and I didn’t take it

that way. I realized that sometimes people make mistakes and don’t even know their

consequences. I would say I learned a lection, “This is part of life, and that people have to be

mental capable tolerating some each other’s mistakes”. One day you can be in the other side and

commit one mistake like the one the substitute committed to me. On the contrary, I would try not

to humiliate anybody like she did to me.