Personal Essay
In our English classes, we were asked to answer the question “Who am I?” in an essay format. The goal of the essay was to tell a story or a montage of events that showcases who we are as individuals. I chose to reflect on a narrative that I experienced over the summer. The following is my Personal Essay.
As I entered my Spanish teacher’s classroom, the once boisterous students fell silent and glared at me. I was expecting my teacher to be there to greet me, and I also anticipated much younger tutees. However, he was nowhere to be found, and these students were my peers. After ten painful seconds of silence and confusion, an unfamiliar teacher approached me and led me to the back of the classroom where two desks displayed various children’s books. When I looked at the books and noticed the simplified language, I realized how little English proficiency these students had. When Mr. Campbell initially asked me to tutor his students, I expected them to be almost fluent in the language.
With no time to panic, I began to call students up. With each conversation, I grew more comfortable and confident with my new position of authority.
And then came the final student: Oscar.
When he sat down, I introduced myself and asked him to choose a book. His reaction was different than the rest: First, no eye contact. Then he grabbed a book titled “Planes” and forcefully and silently handed it to me. After multiple attempts to encourage him to begin reading, I quickly realized that he was more interested in using hand gestures to communicate with his friends behind the glass door than he was interested in listening to me. I, on the other hand, would not give up so easily.
I became stern in my teaching methods that first day, not knowing what else to do. But after the session, I left with the realization that my method of teaching would not work if I used my place of authority over him. If he was going to trust me and allow me to help him, I knew that I needed him to see me as his equal, which, in every way, I was.
Every day after that, I made sure I worked with him last. I knew that it would take patience and time to establish the relationship necessary for him to trust me. I started asking more personal questions. Then, I asked him how to say certain English words in Spanish to show him that I was far from perfect at the language he knew well. I described some of the academic challenges I faced in high school. I noticed he always choose the book about airplanes and asked him what he liked about him. As the weeks went on, his attention faded away from his friends and turned to me. His sighs and frowns turned into grins and laughs. I had completely forgotten about my anxiety surrounding the whole experience because I saw myself in Oscar, and I wanted to help him just as I would hope someone would help me.
On my last day with the class, I waited to finish with all the students until calling Oscar up. Before I was given the opportunity to speak, he greeted me first. As I watched him reach for the book, I could not believe what I was seeing: for the first time all summer, I knew that he was eager to learn. My eyes began to fill with tears as he started to read in English. He had completely transformed into a different person right in front of me.
Throughout my whole life, I have always had trouble asking for help. I would usually prefer to figure a question out of my own rather than raise my hand and ask, but during my time with Oscar that summer, I realized that we need each other to learn. We need each other to grow. Collaboration is just as important as independence, and from that summer on, I promised myself that wherever I go in life, I will never be ashamed to ask for help.