Fearing Spanish by Kaden

Fearing Spanish by Kaden - December 2024 Scholarship Essay

For me, one of my most challenging experiences academically was taking Spanish class in high school. I thrive pretty well in all areas of academics, but learning another language was new to me. My family and I are strictly English speaking, and I have no relatives who speak Spanish either so I had no understanding of it heading into these classes. My Spanish teacher also happened to not be very understanding that some of us might not pick up the new language as easily and gave me no room for error. Lucky for me, I had friends who were in the same boat as me and clueless as to how to attack this subject. So what we did was formed a study group together. We made quizlets, flashcards, and tried speaking in Spanish phrases to each other to get it all down. I had never had less than an A in a subject and I wasn’t about to lose that achievement to anything. The tests came along and me and my friends were acing them, proving our hard work was paying off. We all ended up finishing with an A in that class, but I remember that was my first time I ever feared a class so much. In retrospect, this challenge was good for me I believe, as it pushed me to try harder than I had been in class. These study methods my friends and I had made still remain to this day for me in college. So am I grateful my Spanish teacher was hard on us? Yes I do. Am I a better student because of it? One hundred percent I am. Challenges are needed for growth and growth in new areas breeds success in so many ways!