District 12, Eugenia B. Thomas Elementary School

Narratives and drawings by the students of Eugenia B. Thomas Elementary School.  Click an image for larger view.

Fernando Alvarez (Miami), age 11

One day I went to the pool with my uncle and my brother. We had a lot of fun. When we were walking home we saw a man fishing in the lake so we stopped and asked if it bothered him if we watched. While we were watching, the man was talking, but he was talking Portuguese. I felt very confused. I also felt a little frustrated because I could not understand him. I only understood a little of it because it sounded kind of like Spanish. Whenever he was talking to me, I just said “yes” and nodded my head. When we were leaving, the man said a little bit of English. This meant he learned a little English and we learned a little Portuguese.

Jessie Young (North Carolina), age 10

When I was four I went to swimming class and was taught by Arturo. The aqua sky was streaked with silver, the green was grass, and the air was sweet, with the windy noise I hear when I run. I covered myself in a soft, warm towel, threw off my sandals and jumped into three feet of water. I gasped for breath as the water pulled me down. I felt a hand grab hold of my shoulders and pull me up. It was this man with a purple bruise and black sunglasses that said “Dude Yo!” “I we’ll be yer swimmer teach,” he stammered. He placed his arms on the side of the pool, jumped up and let go, then held out his hands. I clearly saw he had done push-ups. I tried doing what he did and not long after that I got to dive in five feet. The weird thing about Arturo was his accent, the way he swam and the way he jumped. I could barely hear him, and he had to repeat everything. He wiggles all around the pool and he also spits all this water, and his ankles somehow looked like they were getting bigger and smaller. The way he jumped? He jumps at least three inches, toes first, bends then finally lands. As I learned to swim, Arturo became my friend. 

Ashley Foure (North Miami Beach), age 11

Ring, ring, ring. It was seven in the morning. It wasn’t like any other day. It was the first day of school. I was going through the halls of education when I reached the classroom. It was a special room because it was the room I was going to stay in for a whole year. As I was taking my first step inside the room almost all the desks were filed with young learners. I didn’t know where to sit so my teacher sat me down where she thought I would fit in best. I was scared that I wouldn’t have any friends until I met her. She was so different than me. How she looked, how she talked, how she ate and how she was. So I soon was her best friend. Michelle and I were always together. I went to her house one day. I thought it was going to look different than mine but it wasn’t. Then came lunch time. I ate at her house thinking the food would be nasty. Wrong again. It was delicious and I eat the same thing as her. Maybe she and I are a little different but we are also a lot alike. 

Yooro Yoon (South Korea), age 10

When I first came to Brazil from South Korea I didn’t know Portuguese. At the airport I was scared because everyone was saying something like “Que um bonitinno minion.” I couldn’t understand anything and since that day I didn’t like Brazil a bit. “No!” I shouted. It was my first day of kindergarten. Everyone was staring at me. When I tried to answer a question I felt everyone was making fun of me. After about a month I was no longer scared and school turned out to be fun. Then my family moved to Miami and I was put into a new school. I didn’t know how to speak English. But I learned. The people in my class are nice to me.

Nathalie Chybik (Argentina), age 11

I am made fun of a lot of times, mostly when I speak Spanish. I am from Argentina. The kids from Columbia, Venezuela and other Latin countries speak sort of the same. I speak differently. I sometimes feel left out when I speak Spanish with people from other countries. If they are from Argentina, I feel right at home.

Juliana Martinez (Colombia), age 11

At the beginning of the school year all the students that were going to be in my class were coming in when I saw this girl who was walking kind of awkward. During the year I never talked to her. One day I noticed that she was always by herself. So at lunch I asked her if she wanted to come and sit with me and my friends. Later on in the year she invited me to her birthday party. I told my mom that I would go. When I was on my way to her house I was kind of worried that her house was going to be weird, but it turned out that the house was like any other house, even inside. At her party me, her and some other girls were talking and she told us that she couldn’t do many things because she had back problems. After she told me that I started to talk to her more often, but not because I felt bad for her, but because I figured she is a normal person and it doesn’t matter if she has a few problems.

Leonardo Fernandes (Puerto Rico), age 9

I know a kid named Jay. At first I thought he was from China then I thought he was from Japan. But he told me he is from Korea. I asked him what his favorite food is and he said cupcakes. But he likes almost every food. I asked him what he likes to do, but I don’t remember.

Sofia Westin (Sweden), age 10

It was her first year in Sweden. She was from Africa. I wanted to talk with her and know about her. When I asked her if she wanted to talk, she said okay in a low voice. So we went outside and started to talk about ourselves. She said she celebrates Hanukkah and not Christmas like I did. She also lights nine candles, four red, four green and one black in the middle. I felt like wow, how cool. They do different things than what we do in Sweden. She was black. We had fun talking. 

Juan Vena (Caracas, Venezuela), age 11

When I met Erian (he is on my soccer team) I asked him “Where are you from?” because he didn’t seem like me. “From the USA,” he said. After that he invited me to his house and I said “okay.” I was a little nervous when I said okay because I didn’t know how to speak English so good. When I went to his house he asked me if I wanted to play video games, but I didn’t understand. Still, I said yes, so we went to play the games. Half an hour later we went to eat. On the table there was chicken and eggs for dinner!! I felt super weird because usually I eat waffles for dinner. I also felt as if I didn’t fit in at the dinner table. 

Carlos Perez (Maracaibo, Venezuela), age 10

When I met Juan I thought he was one of those kids who got bad grades and was in one of those gangs, but when his best friend from the class left to gifted, I met Juan and I found out he was a great person and he became my best friend. I found out he was smart and friendly and funny. We always have a great time together. We have a lot of things in common. Now I love him in a friendly way. He’s from Venezuela, just like me. We eat the same things, like empanadas and tequenos.

Maria Camila Franco (Colombia), age 10

It was the first day of first grade. I was sitting in a little chair. I was feeling so different from the other kids that knew how to speak English. I didn’t know how to talk English because I came from Colombia. I felt so left out. I couldn’t read or write. Everything anyone said, they had to translate to Spanish. It took me a long time to work or do my homework. Then I was put into a program where I learned English. Before long I understood the language. I still had trouble pronouncing the words. After a while I got better. In the program I was taught how to read and write. Pretty soon I was speaking, reading and understanding. First grade gave me an amazing experience. That wonderful experience helped me in second grade.

Stephanie (Colombia), age 11

It was the first day of kindergarten. I looked around the room and saw a bunch of little kids looking at me. Good thing my dad was there by my side and told me to go right ahead and play with some of the kids. I did not feel like playing. I just wanted to go home and hide under a bed and never come out. But of course my dad didn’t let me. He pushed me in and said that he would be back for me at 2:00 o’clock. He left and I started crying. Soon, a kind lady came in and said, “He’ll be back for you, I promise.” But to me that wasn’t good enough and I started crying again. Soon class started and the teacher told us to make a name tag and decorate it. That calmed me down a little because I love art. After that she told us to draw a picture of someone. I understood that because I had someone to translate for me. I drew my mom and the teacher hung it up. After that I would look at the picture I drew and say, “Mom, I love you even though I will never ever see you again.” That day at lunch I didn’t eat but I had a snack. About half of the day I didn’t cry because I was doing art. When it was time to go I started crying, but my dad came and after that I loved school and I learned English. 

Alejandro Rico (Bogota, Columbia), age 10

When I met Arturo I thought he was from Peru. When I asked him where he was from he said he was from Venezuela, which is very close to my country. I realized we were different. He likes cheese sticks while I like beans with rice and meat. And he eats lentils with sugar. His accent and language has many different words, but in Spanish it sounds very cool. We are very different but we are very close friends. 

Lyda Zatarain (Mexico), age 10

“Oh my God!” said one of my friends. “Your sister is a little pest.” He was talking to me and that made me feel sad and embarrassed. I felt that way because, first, my sister is my sister and she is supposed to be the one that I love the most. Secondly, my sister sometimes does things that are annoying, but I figured that he should like her the way she is. My sister is in my family and I don’t want her to prevent other people from bothering with me, but my sister is my sister and I am always going to love her the way she is. 

Christian Giraldo (Miami), age 9

When I went to Colombia I didn’t like it one bit. I couldn’t talk English there because all they speak is Spanish so I had to talk Spanish. Sometimes I had no idea what was being said. I didn’t like that because every two minutes I had to ask my mom what they meant. When I was playing hide and seek, they told me to touch base. They also count different and they also have different money. That was one weird experience.

Thais Correia (Brazil), age 11

“Thais, hi! You’re just in time.” Three other girls were sitting around a game board waiting for me to start the sleepover. As I sat in the circle, I noticed a golden statue in the shape of an elephant with six arms by the doorway of the kitchen. I also saw that the game board had squiggles where letters should be. “What does this mean?” I asked, pointing to a card with squiggles and a red X. “Oh, that means lose a turn. It’s in Indian. By the way, I’m Roxo, from India. This is Carmi and Monica, also from India. Kriti said you’re from Brazil. If you want, I’ll help you understand the game.” This was pretty weird. How could someone understand squiggles? Later on in the night, while having dinner, Kriti’s mom brought in some dishes. One with salad, another with a roasted, oddly-shaped thing I later found out was a root. “Our family isn’t allowed to eat meat. Hope you don’t mind,” Kriti whispered in my ear. “No, no. Of course not,” I replied even though chicken was my favorite food. At night we watched a movie in Indian. Everyone in the movie talked so fast I couldn’t understand a thing. Once we changed into our pajamas, I really felt strange. They were all dressed in a type of dress and had their hair covered with some cloth. “Come on Thais, we’re going to talk with our Gods.” I followed them as they ran into a closet with mini statues of monkeys, elephants, even people with numerous arms. Everyone began reciting a chant. It was like praying. When I went home I told my family about my experience. Even though it was fun, I was glad to be home. 

Sergio Loos (Mexico), age 10

Sweat was running down my face. I was dribbling a basketball down the court. I shot the ball and it missed and she caught the rebound. She was black, spoke differently and last of all, she was a girl. Before the game, I didn’t want to be with someone different. Now, I felt like we were the same. Even though she had a different skin color, a different accent, and a different gender than me, I felt we were the same. Dribbling the basketball we were one. We were becoming friends. All the difference didn’t matter any more.

Nick (Brazil), age 10

When I was eight, a new neighbor moved in. I wanted to be his friend. I knocked on his snow colored door. When he opened the door I shouted, “My name is Nick and I would like to be your friend.” He said something to me in French and I couldn’t understand him, so that was an enormous problem.

Then I went home to get my bike and went to the library. I tried to read a book about how to talk French. I tried so hard but I couldn’t get the language. I wanted to know French so bad that I checked out almost every single French book. Afterwards, I went to his house to teach him English. It took about a month. Then he finally got the hang of it. We’ve been friends ever since.

Andree Cristiani (El Salvador), age 10

After moving to Miami, I finished unpacking and went outside to play with my little sister Sofia. We were playing ball when Sofia kicked the ball into my neighbor’s garage. I went to pick up the ball and a girl about my age, was playing teacher with her big sister. When I said, “Hi,” they just ignored me and kept on playing. That made me feel left out and bad. When I got back to where my sister was I told her what happened and she said, “Man, they must be so mean!” “Yeah, they are,” I said. So we kept on playing. When they came out and asked if they could play with us, me and my sister just ignored them the way they ignored me. But when we saw them frown we let them play with us and from then until now we haven’t fought.

Alexis Cantillo (Miami), age 11

The first time I was with an African American I felt comfortable because I knew we were all people. I would actually like to thank him. If it weren’t for him I would be a dork. He taught me how to talk like kids do now a days.

Arturo Rincon (Caracas, Venezuela), age 10

My friend Alejandro who is from Colombia always invites me to his house. The first time he invited me they served me spaghetti for dinner. It was good but it was really different than the kind from Venezuela or from the kind my mom makes for me. The lemonade they made was also different than the way they make it in Venezuela. It had too much water instead of sugar. When we were playing with his toys I saw some of them were from Colombia and I had no idea what they were. Finally, after we played we went outside and all the kids were from Colombia. It seemed as if I was in Colombia, but we had fun. It was cool meeting a friend that is from a different country from me, but it was also weird.