Meet Esmeralda:

Learner and Published Author!

Learning, Improving, and Reaching My Goals 

I am from Aguascalientes, Mexico. Since I first came to the United States in 2017, one of my priorities was to go to school and focus on learning English. For this reason, I decided to go to the Manatee Technical College to ask for information. I enrolled in the ESOL class.  My experience was a bit difficult because when I took my first exam, I did not understand anything. It was frustrating for me not to be able to communicate with people. My biggest fear was speaking in front of a group. I remember that some classmates helped me to translate and, in this way, I could understand and learn to communicate in class. 

When the semester ended, I was going to have my baby and I was sad because I thought I would not be able to continue my studies. I remember that I went to speak with the counselor at the school to discuss my situation. She gave me options to continue studying and this time I was taking classes online.  For me, it was important to be able to continue studying, but at the same time, it was a bit difficult. I had to study by myself. I did not have a teacher to explain grammar to me. I continued without giving up and focused on listening, which was very challenging for me. 

I had a beautiful experience when my online teacher chose me for being a good student. She invited me to participate in the National Adult Education Honor Society. On April 22, 2019, a ceremony was held with other students.   For me, it was a great experience and motivation to continue learning English. 

 Now I am studying in person in the ESOL program already at level 6. I am also in a very interesting program with the  Manatee Literacy Council. I am taking conversation classes which for me is a great opportunity because I can continue improving my speaking and my pronunciation.  There are many volunteer tutors who do a good job since they support us and encourage us to be confident. They help us to pronounce, read and have a good conversation and at the same time lose our fear of speaking. 

I am happy now with one more reason to continue learning because I have a volunteer tutor named Ann Day, who is helping me to read and to improve my pronunciation.  We are on a very interesting subject where I am learning about the history of the United States. She has motivated me a lot. It is very important to me because my great goal is to become an American Citizen. 

One of my best phrases that I have learned is “We are always learning something new.”