El Primer Día (The First Day)
24"x30" mixed media on canvas
My sister was almost 2 years older and very protective of me. When she first started school, she couldn’t speak a lick of English so they put her in a special class till she caught on. On my first day of Kindergarden, when my teacher saw me with my sister, she automatically assumed I couldn’t speak English either. I was so shy, that I didn’t protest when they walked me to the special class.
I have no idea how long I was in that class for, but as I got more comfortable with the teacher and other students, I started to talk and it was all in English. I remember the teacher’s look. Surprised she asked, “When did you learn English?!” I told her I knew it the whole time, nobody ever asked. They quickly swept me off to normal kindergarden from that point on I was considered a regular student, whatever that means 
