The Language of Kindergarten

The Language of Kindergarten

When I was a young girl of 5 years old, and just going off to Kindergarten, I spoke only Spanish.  I was born in Puerto Rico (which is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Thus, I am a natural born citizen of the US).

My main task upon entering Kindergarten was to learn English as quickly as possible.

To help me focus on this, my mother (who was fluent in both languages) and my father who spoke mostly Spanish decided that English would be the only language spoken at home.

As a result, I learned to speak English very well but lost some fluency in Spanish.

Because of my competitive nature, even then, I strove to excel in English, and later in vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, essay writing, poetry, and I was an English major in college.


My Spanish stayed pretty much at a juvenile level, although I can understand it very well.


What I remember of Kindergarten, was some fear of not knowing what was going on, so I over-compensated by excelling in the English Language. That is why I can put two sentences together here in the rain. Though  maybe not much more than that when you consider my feature ratio, but I digress.....

 
What would I have done differently? I wish my mother and father had kept me bi-lingual at home too!

 
What I learned in Kindergarten that I bring home today is being fearless in talking, focusing on a task and a competitiveness that allows me to overcome obstacles.

On a lighter note... I was, after all just 5 years old, I loved Hostess Cupcakes, Wonder Bread, chocolate sodas from the candy store, Coney Island and ferry rides to see the Statue of Liberty. I knew Clark Kent as Superman and Lois and Jimmy as reporters for the Daily Planet. I Loved Lucy and the Jackie Gleason show as well as the Lone Ranger and Tonto. I was also a fan of the Howdy Doody Show with Buffalo Bob, Clarabelle, Howdy and Mister Bluster. My mother received tickets for my sister and I to go a live taping and there we sat in the Peanut Gallery (not in this picture).

Every morning when I left home to go to Kindergarten or anywhere really, we (my siblings and I) would ask for a blessing (bendición) and this is what  the adults would say,...... that I pass on to you......