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Hi! I am new in your school; in fact, I have not had much schooling even in my country. I guess that means I will be behind other kids here that are my age. But I want to learn what they do anyway. Please help me!
I can rather quickly learn the simple things, like names of objects or places because they are repeated often. But names of people are hard for me. Everyone's name is different. They are not names I have heard before. And if I am not sure of them, I hesitate to use them. Sometimes this gives you the impression I don't want to get to know you. Sometimes your words have double meaning. We have words like that in my language also, but when you hear someone say a word like this, they don't stop to tell you how they mean it. So by the time I have figured it out, I have missed part of the conversation and just stand there trying to catch on like a dumb-bell.
Some days I do pretty good when the talk is about something going on in the classroom where I have been a part of it. But if the talk refers to the things outside of school-like movies, records, teams, or lessons-well, I just get lost. My family doesn't have money for those things and even the stories and songs my parents share with me aren't the ones you know. I never catch on if the jokes are about fairy tales, elephants, ethnic groups or politics because I don't seem to have the same values or prejudices that you do. I guess really there are only two things we understand the same way: the belief that living and being loved is important, and the use of television.
We learned in science that living requires us all to have the same things. They call it basic needs. They are things like food, clothing and protection from the elements. I'm glad we have basic needs. I'm glad we have hunger and feel cold the same way, but I wish you wouldn't laugh at me when I can't enjoy your food or my clothes seem a little different. It makes me feel inferior to like something you laugh at and to be treated as if I'm different.
I guess the very hardest time for me at school is after I've been in your country a few years. By then the memory of my country is fading and I feel as if your country should be my country now. I've made it my home. But you seem to remember I came here from somewhere else so I can't seem to catch up.
Even though I'm reading now, I don't comprehend the meaning in many of the assignments because my vocabulary is less than yours. You use yours all day. I can only practice mine at school or with friends. My parents speak to me in our old language because they are busy working instead of going to school.
I have learned to compensate in some things, though. I can read body language. I can tell if you really like me by the look in your eye. I know when you want me with you. I can tell by the look in your eye when you find me a pain. I can tell by the way you move when you think I'm dragging you down. I find it easier to spend my time with others who are also from my country. Especially those who have been here less time than me. They seem to be more on my level-sometimes I even feel they need me.
I'm older now. Soon I will be sixteen. The law requires me to stay in school until I'm sixteen. Mom and Dad are having such a hard time earning the money for food. Food is expensive here. I'd like to get a job and at least earn the food I eat. If I get a job, I will have to quit school. My teachers tell me I will be able to get a better job if I stay in school. My teachers say they'll help me.
I don't really like school very well. I don't know what to do. If only I could take harder classes, but I can't seem to understand the way the teachers talk in those classes. I do poorly when it's like that. I'm so tired of doing poorly, I wish I were smarter. My teacher says I am smart, I just have a language handicap. I wonder if all handicapped people fell inferior. Oh well, at least my body is strong. I can work with my body. My body is not behind my age. I am well built and co-ordinated as anyone in my grad. I think I will get a job where I can use my body. That way I'll never be behind again.