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Angelina Pazmino

Miss Latson

ENGL 1101

17 September 2019

Young Assimilation

As a highschooler, I got involved in a few things that reached further than just my school.

My senior year, I became a peer leader, and as a peer leader, I went over to our local elementary

school and tutored two fifth grade boys. Yoel and Yowel had recently come from the Dominican

Republic and only spoke Spanish. My goal was to help them assimilate American culture and

learn English, and as I helped them, I learned a lot about not only their experiences, but also

about what goes on above them.

Before meeting the two boys, I met their teacher, Mrs. Bales, and their ESOL teacher,

Mrs. Wilkerson. In my meeting with Mrs. Bales, she seemed happy to have my help, and she told

me about the issue with the language barrier. She also said it could be a little hard differentiating

the two because they “look the same”. This took me off guard, and when I did meet them, they

did not look the same. As I continued my meetings with Mrs. Bales, I felt she treated me as

someone who worked for her, instead of with her. Her ignorance and sense of superiority is what

made me question what kind of impact she was having on her students. When I first met the two

brothers, they were apprehensive about me and what we were going to be doing together. I, on

the other hand, was really eager to get to know them. We started out by playing games and

talking about the changes between here and the Dominican Republic, and I got to see just how

sweet and driven Yoel and Yowel really were.

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Mrs. Wilkerson was a great ESOL teacher, and I got to know her just like I did Yoel and

Yowel. After talking with her, she told me about Mrs. Bales, and other teachers who teach kids

in ESOL. I learned that a big problem in these schools is that teachers become ESOL certified

without taking the courses. So when children come into their classes, their teachers aren’t

actually equipped to help them. On top of that, these teachers get upset when these students

perform poorly on tests, even though they don’t even understand them. It was disheartening to

hear because when I learned about this, I had already gotten closer with the boys, so I knew how

smart and capable they were. It was frustrating because their teacher wasn’t aware, and it was

clear that there was no effort on her part to reach out and see what I saw in them.

Regardless of this, Yoel and Yowel still loved being at school. As I saw them over the

months, I was able to watch them grow and truly feel comfortable in our community. I helped

them with every subject, and I felt a little unequipped when it came time to explain fractions to

them. We worked through it though, and they really began to excel. Yoel and Yowel held so

much potential, and as happy as I was to see them living up to it, it hurt me to know that it wasn’t

being recognized by everyone. Even though they were progressing in ESOL, it wasn’t the same

case back in their class with Mrs. Bales. ESOL provided the children with the tools they needed

to succeed because Mrs. Wilkerson was qualified and knew what tools were necessary for the

two. When students like Yoel and Yowel are in classes taught by people like Mrs. Bales, they’re

often left behind, expected to catch up on their own.

Their biggest task with me was the exam that decided if they needed to stay in ESOL or

not. As they prepared, I could see them stress over what the exam meant for them. Seeing them

progress was satisfying because it made all of us proud, and it made them feel good about

themselves. Encouragement meant a lot to them, and it felt good to know I was able to boost
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their self esteem in doing so. Knowing how self conscious someone can feel in learning a new

language, I knew it was important for them to recognize their progress and feel proud of

themselves.

It was great to see how far Yoel and Yowel had come, and as they were nearing the test, I

went to go see them. It was that day when I found out that Yoel and Yowel had to move back to

the Dominican Republic. I felt sad and shocked because I knew how hard they had worked to not

only excel at school, but also feel comfortable here in the United States, so for them to not see

the outcome of their hard work didn’t seem fair to me. Talking to Mrs. Bales about it put me

down more because she wasn’t aware of that at all. What made it worse was that Mrs. Bales had

more students like Yoel and Yowel, with the same struggles, but with less resources. After

seeing the levels Yoel and Yowel were rising to, it only made it worse to know that other kids

were going through the same thing and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Throughout the whole experience, I saw things from more than just a student’s

perspective. As a student, it wasn’t something I was used to after growing up in the school

system. I think I took a lot from seeing it all so differently because I could relate in multiple

ways. From my parents coming to the states not knowing english, to feeling powerless in the

school system, it was a lot for me to see it all combined into one situation.

What I did with Yoel and Yowel may not seem significant to some, but it’s representative

of what happens all over. It’s important to me that I did this with them because even though they

ended up leaving, I made a connection with them and I at least got to see them succeed as long as

they were here. I can only hope that students like them here get the help they deserve with some

changes in the system they’re in.