Juan Camacho English 1103-011 It was nearing the end of my sophomore year of high school and I was getting

ready to sign up for my classes for the following year. All of my AP classes had been finalized and it was time for me to choose my elective. I walked into my counselors office and took a seat in front of her. While she spoke to me about my other classes, all I could think of is which elective I would take. Should I sign up for art? No, I am terrible at art. Hmm, how about networking? Oh wait, I know! French! Ill continue my French as I have just finished French III. I was now more excited than ever to continue my French and all I had to do was request it. Okay, Juan, Which elective have you decided to take for next year? asked Mrs. Hallman, my counselor. Id like to continue onto French IV! That sounds like a great idea! Ill be sure to sign you up for- Oh wait, youre not fully in IB, are you? No, Ive decided to only take select IB courses, is that a problem? Unfortunately, French IV will only be available to IB students next year as the only time slot it is being offered for interferes with two of your other AP courses. But there are other languages you can take, let me know once you have made your decision. Did I really want to start again with a new language? I had been able to grasp French fairly easily and quickly, maybe a new language would not be a bad idea. But what language would I sign up for? Japanese? Chinese? Spanish? No, I already know Spanish and learning it over would not be worth my time. It would be an easy A, but it would not be a something I would enjoy to do daily. Latin was my final decision as it is the basis for the Romantic languages and I figured I would benefit to learn the basis of the languages I speak. I had also heard that the teacher, Mr. Beagle, was laidback and easygoing. I reported back to Mrs. Hallman and it was set. I had fixed myself to learn yet another new language!

It was now late summer and schedules were being mailed directly to the students. I anxiously waited for my schedule to arrive to ensure I got the classes I had signed up for. Finally, my schedule arrived and I eagerly opened it. I quickly scanned piece of paper that I had just attained and to my surprise, I had been granted all of the classes I wanted! This is going to be a great year, I thought to myself. I put the copy of schedule away and did not look back at it until the day before the first day of school. This time, I noticed something weird about my schedule, my Latin class was not with a Mr. Beagle, but with a Mrs. Ferrell instead. How could this happen?! Why did I not check the teachers I had been assigned beforehand? I had missed the day to change my classes and would now have to take Latin with Mrs. Ferrell, of which I had no idea who she was. I texted some of my other friends who had also been placed in Latin with Mrs. Ferrell and learned that she was going to be a new teacher at my school for the year. I now had no idea what to expect from her or the course for the next semester. The first day of school came and I made my way into the Latin room. It was the far left wing of the school and would be a long walk each morning from the entrance located at the far right wing of the school. It was my first class of the day and I knew that I would have problems getting to class on time each day. I could walk to the far left of the building each morning before the bell rings but that would be sketchy- thats where kids go to smoke on campus. I walked to the door of the room and that is where I was greeted by Mrs. Ferrell, a very tall, classy, and elegant looking woman. Welcome to Latin! What is your name? she asked me. Hi, hello! I am Juan! Its nice to meet you! I replied. Hello, Juan. Your seat is right over there as she pointed toward the middle of the room. Oh great, assigned seats. I thought to myself.

I walked over to my seat while thinking about who would be seated next to me. I looked up at the projection on the board and was relieved. Luckily, I was seated between two twins whom I had known since I moved to North Carolina but never got a chance to get to know them. Their names were Megan and Morgan and they were identical, but had different haircuts. I was never able to tell them apart, even though they had different haircuts and had class with them for a whole year. Ironically, my best friends right now are also identical twins who get their hair cut the same way but I am able to tell them apart. The bell rang and Mrs. Ferrell made her way to the front-middle part of the classroom. She introduced herself to the class and informed us that it was her first year teaching at High Point Central, my high school. She had previously taught at a school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County that was, according to her, a public private school. High Point Central was the complete opposite of a public private school. The school was located near the urban part of High Point and thus had a very urban culture to the school, or as some people might put it, ghetto. For the first two weeks of class Mrs. Ferrell did nothing but complain about how she had no set classroom for herself. All of the language teachers did not have a set classroom and would have to travel across the long wings of the school to get from classroom to classroom. A classroom opened up in one of the extensions building of the school and she took it immediately. She informed us that class would now be held in the Tomlinson basement, room 03. She received the keys to the room during our class period and decided that it would be a good idea to head to the classroom right then. The class walked from the far left of campus the extreme back-right of campus, where the Tomlinson building was located. We finally arrived at TB03 and she unlocked the door. Oh my Mrs. Ferrell exclaimed. The classroom was in very rough conditions. It had the most peculiar smell that lingered for the first few weeks of class and was very dusty. It seemed as if the classroom had not been

used, or opened, in years and had been neglected when it was occupied. Being disgusted by the condition of the room, Mrs. Ferrell asked us to help her clean up and decorate the room for extra credit. All of us were happy to help and got the room to sparkling conditions in no time. Now that the class had been settled into an actual classroom, it was time to start learning Latin. The language and its concepts were not hard for me to grasp. I was one of the few students that were able to write sentences in Latin using the correct sentence structure. The class was not challenging, I was able to breeze through it with minimal effort while still being able to speak and write the language with excellent marks. Learning Latin helped tremendously with my literacy and understanding of the English language. Mrs. Ferrell made sure to emphasize the connections between Latin and English words and would often quiz us by making us recognize English words and their derived Latin roots. Mrs. Ferrell would also emphasize the connections between Latin and Spanish words for me as she was also fluent in Spanish. This was one of my favorite aspects of the class because while learning one language, I was also expanding my knowledge of my other two native languages. Mrs. Ferrell recognized how easily and quickly I grasped the language and held me in high regards. She would often ask me to help those around me if they needed any assistance. She quickly became one of my favorite teachers at school because she saw what each student was worth, and would swiftly assist them to get back to their feet if they ever went below what they were worth. Many of the students did dislike her because she could be a bit harsh at times, but it was always for the improvement of the student. Her workload was also a lot more demanding than that of the other teacher, but the extra work meant a better understanding of the language. I had Mrs. Ferrell for the duration of my junior year for Latin I and Latin II. She taught me English language components which I had not been directly taught, but had been exposed to. Most English

classes refuse to cover one of the main concepts of a language, conjugations. Conjugations are not directly taught in English because they become implied and require minimal cognitive processing throughout your childhood. You are taught that you say I am, They are, not I are and vice-versa. I think this lack of exposure to conjugating is what causes so many students to not be able to grasp a language fully. They were not taught the English verbs via conjugations and thus have a hard time learning conjugation of verbs in other languages. Another concept which I feel some English classes may skip out on are the different tenses of verbs and when/how they are used. We all know the different conjugations of the tenses, but students lack the ability to determine which tense is being used. This is a concept I did not really in into thought before covering it in Latin class with Mrs. Ferrell. Being able to identify verb tenses and how to use them has assisted with my literacy. I feel like I now get a better understanding of certain readings when I pay close attention to the emphasis on the verb tenses. I had been exposed to all of these language concepts before taking Latin as I took French beforehand. I never made as clear as an understanding of the concepts in French as I did in Latin. This may have been due to the constant switching of teachers and teaching methods. The first time I took French, I had an outstanding teacher, Mme Greiner who could have probably made the connections for me as clear as Mrs. Ferrell was able to. Unfortunately, Mme Greiner had to leave between semesters to be closer to her son, who had been suffering from a type of muscular dystrophy. Mrs. Ferrell has honestly been one the best teachers I have ever had. Not only did she teach me a new language, but she also helped me expand my understanding of both English and Spanish. Since Latin is the root language for both of these languages, my acquisition of basic Latin concepts has assisted with the expansion of my knowledge of English and Spanish.