Yulissa Gomez Roblero

Professor Cyphers

English Composition 1101

September 11, 2020

Culture barrier

“Yulissa can you please read the first page.” There I was struggling with the thought that

I would mess up or that they wouldn’t understand me because of my ascent. With some kind of

trembling in my voice, I began to read and when I noticed I had already gotten to the last word of

the page, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined and it went perfectly fine, however, let's backtrack a

little.

I was born into a family of two different countries but very similar cultures. My dad is

from Guatemala and my mom from Mexico. I went to school at a very young age earlier than

both of my older siblings. I truly don't remember how head start, preschool, and kindergarten

went but I do remember 1st grade. I remember how enthusiastic I was to go to school. I loved

school, school was my favorite place to go. I would wake up very early in the morning, without

my mom having to wake me up. I would dress myself and wait for my older siblings to head out

the door.

In first-grade things get a little more difficult than just coloring, you learn to read longer

books, do more math, and learn to spell. Being bilingual has its ups and downs. When you

fluently know both languages it is great because of the advantages you have because you can
communicate yourself with 2 different types of people from very different cultures. However,

when you are just beginning to learn your second language it can be very difficult at times.

However, I truly don't remember the process I went through to speak English. What I do

remember is the difficulties I had with bettering my English.

I remember sitting criss-cross applesauce on a mat with all the letters of the ABC’s,

listening to my teacher give a lecture. All I could think to myself was the difficulties of

remembering all the English rules she was explaining when it came to spelling and the

pronunciation of words and letters. “This week we will have a reading log, you must read 30

minutes to one of your family members.” said my teacher Mrs.Whitehead. So I get home and

read to my sister, and as I’m reading I approach the word “ISLAND”, so I go on to read it as

“IS-LAND”, my sister stops me and tells me that wasn’t the correct way to pronounce the word,

I was confused not knowing why it was incorrect and she explains to me that the “S” is silent. I

didn’t understand why it was so hard to read in English and why the English language had many

rules. This was one of the moments in which I realized that reading was difficult and I truly

wasn’t good at it. My major strength was math. I was great at math. I was always the first one to

get done with my math work. Yet reading was not my strongest subject.

They put me into a program called ESL which is for kids whose English is their second

language. I didn’t like the program because they would take me out of class and it made me feel

as if I was different and not like the rest. They would take out the couple of kids that were

Hispanic or kids from different countries, making me feel as if I wasn’t capable of doing things

like the other kids. However, I had no choice but to remain in the program because my English

wasn’t good yet.

 When I turned 8, my uncle from Mexico came, his name is Uriel. He was one of the

many people that made me realise how important school was and how important it was for me to

learn english. He would tell me “ yuli ponte las pilas tienes que aprender a leer y escribir en

inglés, porque aquí en los estados unidos prósperas si tienes estudio y si sabes inglés, tienes que

crecer y tener tu carrera, tienes que hacer a tus papás orgullosos de ti.” “Basically meaning that I

had to work hard and learn to read and write in english and learn to speak it more fluently,

because in the U.S you prosper if you have an education and know english.” He would tell me

that I had to grow up and have a career to make my parents proud and that stuck with me till this

day.

Since I didn’t like the ESL program my goal was to get out of it and the only way to do

that was to pass my English reading, writing, and speaking test and meet the requirement to pass

the program. So I studied harder, began to read more, and spoke more English. I passed the test

and passed the program in 3rd grade. It was a relief because I knew I was capable of doing the

same things as other kids whose English was their first language.

I strived for the best and to achieve honor rolls. My parents were so proud of me every

time I brought home my report card because they knew I always had honor rolls on it. Seeing the

look of happiness my parents had on their faces made me happy. This was so because I knew the

struggle it was for my parents to come to the U.S. All they ever desired was for their kids to have

a better future than what my grandparents were capable of giving them.

That’s what will stick with me for the rest of my life. My motivation to learn to read and

write and do math is for them. For them to be proud of who I am and for them to realize that all

the struggle they had to go through to get here was worth it.
 Until this day I write essays and still struggle because there are times my mind blacks out

and doesn’t remember some words in English. There are times where I know what I'm trying to

get across in Spanish but just know how to do it in English so google translate has been my go-to

sometimes when moments like this occur and sometimes my vocabulary isn't as strong as others

but I strive for it to become better.

This is where I want to leave off that no matter how hard things get or how difficult

something may seem to accomplish as long as you have the power and strength to overcome it

and better yourself that's all it takes. Family has always been very meaningful to me, they’ve

been the strive for my motivation and will always be. All I have achieved in my education and

plan to achieve has and always will be for them. For them to be proud of who I am and who I

plan to become as a person. Not too long ago my brother passed away. It was something very

hard for me because of how close we were. However, it was another reason for which I plan to

accomplish everything I promised him I would be. He always knew how to make me try harder

and achieve my goals. He pushed me to be someone better and that last thing he said to me was “

be someone in life, have a career and make my parents proud, be an example to Maricarmen.”,

and that is what I plan to do. Striving in reading, writing, math, and all school subjects will allow

me to accomplish what I want. Yet even though there are some setbacks and difficulties there just

obstacles I must face, like my dad, always tells me “ si esta facil y no te cuesta es porque no lo

estas haciendo bien y si te cuesta y lo ves imposible es porque lo estas haciendo Bien y al final

verá una gran recompensa.” , “Meaning if it’s easy and it doesn’t challenge you it's because

you're not doing it right, however, if it’s hard and seems impossible it’s because you're doing it

right and a great reward will be received.”