Good morning my fine readers! I hope this Tuesday is finding you wide awake, healthy, and most of all, happy!

#blahblahblahgettothegoodstuff

Fine! 🙂

Typically, my grade partner and I sit beside each other at lunch everyday. We have a chance to decompress and just talk with each other about the day’s events.

Last week, my class was late (I’m sure it was because they were talking because, wow!), and as we walked into the lunch room, she’d sat with some girls and was immediately surrounded with other girls. I had a group of students motion for me to come over, so I sat with them.

It was an awesome experience, but very intimating and isolating.

I sat with students whose first language is Spanish, so 99% of what was spoken was something I could not understand. You want to talk about a humbling experience? Try to sit with a group and have no clue what they are saying. I had a couple of my homeroom students, tutoring me on sentences to say (“I have great soup. My food is great.”), and then they’d say something all whisper-like and giggle (“He has a bald head.”)

#nowwhataminute

Exactly. This is exactly how Hispanic students who move into predominately English schools feel, and it’s intimidating to say the least. I wasn’t prepared for the isolation. While most of these students could speak English, it wasn’t something they preferred to do. So if I asked a question, they reply back so I could understand, then move to a conversation in a language they knew better.

What did the this show me? Well, my Spanish is lacking, but I’ve made no secret of that one. It helped me to get that feeling of what many immigrant students feel, moving into that English environment. I had several Hispanic students over the last couple of years in my old school and they were very fluent in English. I cannot imagine that was the case when their families first started. And finally, it showed me that this is where I need to be right now. While I cannot speak much Spanish yet, I’m learning, and sixth grade is loving that I try (even though it sounds horrible!).

And Friday (if it’s not raining) I may go play soccer with a group of boys from both classes. Now, you want to see someone out of place, wait until fat, old, balding, out of shape, AND white is out there amongst all the Hispanic kids.

It will be a sight to see I’m sure.

And I’m here for it!

#justdonttripandfall