Ruth Callado

ENG113A
Professor Lewis
September 11, 2015
The numbers and letters in English
I was born in California but was raised in Mexico. I lived in Mexico for 5 to 6
years so Spanish was my first language. I lived with my uncle, aunt and grandma in a
small house in a small city near a lagoon. I remember going to the lagoon every Sunday
singing the same Spanish song, El Rio de Yautepec. It was the song my friends and I
will sing every Sunday nights. The Spanish I grew up is a Hispanic country where
Spanish is the official language, like for example Mexico. English was a language I never
had the chance to learn until I moved to California. I came from a family who taught me
Spanish as my first language and realized that I came to California not knowing a single
word in English at all. Entering school and meeting new students was kind of an
embarrassing thing because I came from a whole new world, and knowing that school in
California focused on English, I understood that I needed to put an effort on learning the
language. It was something I needed to accomplish later in the future. Speaking English
was a bit hard but learning the knowledge and skills behind it helped me improve the
language through experience.
I remember moving into Los Angeles, California when I was about five years
young and started second grade at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. This school both
spoke English and Spanish but Spanish was a language that teachers would speak to
elementary kids who just started school. Spanish was a language I known for a while but

realizing that there were plenty of Spanish words I didnt know was one of the hardest
parts of my life since Spanish was my first language I was expecting to be more aware of.
For my first day of school, I felt like things were going to be different because of the fact
that I will meet more people than usual. I remember learning the numbers and colors. The
color yellow was one of the hardest words that I could never memorize nor pronounce. In
Spanish yellow is translated into amarillo which was quite difficult to say because
Spanish was a professional language Ive already known, which made the language
English sound different than what it is supposed to sound. In English I would pronounce
yellow as Jello. This is one of the memories I still have in mind.
Learning about the numbers gave me a quick flashback about a memory I
remember. Counting numbers in Spanish was easy, however counting and memorizing
them in English was really complicated. I remember skipping numbers or counting
numbers out of order. Spanish numbers sounded way different in English and learning to
put them in order was also one of the challenging times back in elementary school. I will
always think, why do other kids know the numbers in English already? I remember
learning the numbers one through ten in both Spanish and English making the rest of my
classmates saying it louder than me. It was one of the worst times because other students
would stare at me probably thinking if I knew the numbers or not. It was a bad feeling but
needed to repeat them as the other students will sing it along, so that I can improve.
One of the most embarrassing moments was when I needed to present my 100
things project. The whole point of this project was to gather 100 small objects and know
what they were called. Since my first language was Spanish I would name my objects in
Spanish and when it came to presentation day, I had no idea what they were called in

English. I knew some words in English but needed more improvement. This was one of
my most embarrassing moments because not knowing to say things in English gives me
that idea of feeling less than the other students in class and made it seem like if I did not
learned anything at all. It was a day of where families were invited to watch presentations
and when it was my turn to come up, I was really nervous. Many parents watched so I
tried the hardest in pronouncing each word carefully and at the end, everything went well.
English was not my best subject but I also noticed that during that time, some Spanish
was also a difficult subject to memorize. Like for example I came to this state knowing
new words and having a full understanding of it.
From the basics of English, translating Spanish to English was something I did
expect to be uncertain about since I had a lack of understanding the colors. However,
counting numbers made me feel more confident to memorize, but still needed
improvement. At the end, a presentation made me become better about the language and
improved in so many ways. Spanish was my first language. I have many memorable
moments where I remember that Spanish was the first language I spoke in my life.
Spanish is one of the most wonderful languages in the world. It allows people to express
their deepest feelings in the most beautiful way. There is nothing more beautiful than
hearing someone talking to you using the Spanish language. English can be difficult to
remember for people who start speaking it but is a language we should all consider to
speak. Right Now I am attending college feeling confident speaking English with my
professors and classmates and I no longer feel distressed about it.