It is a normal day at my house.

I am the only person awake at 7:30 am and oddly enough,

the serenity of this morning leaves me speechless. My home is that type of place where it can be
silent for a second, then the flow is broken because I cannot longer hear the serenity, but rather
noises. At this point, my family wakes up because the smell of Cuban coffee, freshly brewed by
my mother, penetrated the whole house. It is the dynamics of this drink that elevate the morning
energy of everyone in my house. How would you like your coffee today?, my mother asks me
with such enthusiasm. I look around and I see a red cup, sugar, and creamer on the table. The
smell of coffee stimulates my senses- I feel awake. My family gathers around the table as we do
every morning. Father takes a sip of coffee while reading the news off his phone. My mother
continuous making her cafe, yet she comments on the current report she hears on TV. She speaks
so fast in Spanish that the only thing I hear are rambling words in the air. Im still distracted by
the smell of my coffee then mother swiftly breaks my thoughts by asking what I think about the
news. De que estas hablando (what are you talking about), I respond. She repeats her entire
comment and the words she uses stimulate my thinking process. The conversation itself is
intriguing, but more importantly her word choice in Spanish keeps me engage. She uses words
that criticize politicians, words that exaggerate the weather and words that I dont fully
understand. At the same time, these words sound appealing to my ears because my mother uses
them as a linguistic choice. For example, it is her choice to call politicians hypocrites and her
choice to describe the weather with all kinds of vivid words. This is what keeps me engage: her
linguistic decisions when picking words.
Waking up in the morning, drinking coffee and talking to my parents used to be the
routine I followed growing up at my parents house. As I reflect on this, I realize how
rudimentary it may sound. The straightforward schedule of waking up and drinking coffee.
However, ordinary doesnt characterize the small changes that made every day unique at my
parents house. The coffee tasted different every time. Some days it was sweet. Other days it was
bitter. In the same manner, the morning conversations in Spanish that I had varied because my
parents made our talks interesting. As we would sit by the coffee table, we would discuss current
topics or news. One day my dad would mention politics while my mother would bring up
economics. The next day we probably talked about the weather and pollution. I suppose that the
diversity in topics is what brought into play my acknowledgment for different vocabulary words
in Spanish that benefited my overall writing. I called these morning talks accompanied by coffee
my time for vocabulary lessons. The Spanish words my parents used to describe their opinions
on topics werent sweet and mellow; their words were harsh in the sense that they created critical
arguments regardless of the topic. Because of this, when I write in English I can see the influence
of their vocabulary lessons, even though they were in Spanish. I didnt realize this until I was
asked to write more complex pieces of writing. The vocabulary that my home exposed me to
allowed me to grow as a critical writer. My home, where coffee and talks in Spanish were
present, was the basis of a journey that influenced my ability to express my thoughts by using
words as a tool.
This leads me to think about where do I learn words. When I think about where do I
usually learn new words, I picture a school class room. I can imagine rows of sits, desks, a pencil
next to a paper and words everywhere. I can also imagine a confused student that doesnt know
where to begin writing. At school, I learned basic words that only allowed to me to express
something, but I couldnt fully convey a clear message because English wasnt my first
language. This intrigues me and because of it I compare my home and my school as learning
environments. At school, the words I used were very limited. I recall sitting down and listening
to the teachers. I listened and they talked. Little did they know that I couldnt understand the
words they used. English is my second language and I learned it when I was in middle school.
The struggle to learn and master a new language is misunderstood. It is complicated to explain
the level of impotency one feels due to the small vocabulary one has. This also includes the idea
of holding back your thoughts because you dont know the words that match what you are trying
to say. In this sense, school indirectly constrained my development as a writer because I didnt
have the vocabulary needed. I was embarrassed to write or speak. I felt incompetent.
In comparison to how I learned new words at school, at home it was a different process
because I learned words in Spanish, my native language, but also the linguistic ability to choose
the correct words. I recall when my father would ask my opinion on a subject that appeared on
the news. Before I answered, I thought about my response and what words I would say to convey
my ideas. He would challenge my answers then I would reply with different words and stronger
arguments. It is this process of metacognition that I developed at my home and not at school.
This process allowed me to articulate my speech and to use words in solid sentences. I learned
that arguments can be plain words put together in an order that is understandable. Similarly,
those words can be thought out before to increase the effectiveness of the message conveyed.
This is the basis of my house teachings. My parents being the educators of a literacy in
communication and word choice: a skill that I didnt obtain by attending school, but rather in a
more important place of regular discussions, my home.
The talks I had in Spanish with my parents highly influenced how I write in English.
This is particularly a skill that I developed because as I learned to write basic sentences in
English, my vocabulary in Spanish grew. Consequently, at some point, I could fully
communicate in English and the complex words that I had learned in Spanish were also the
words I saw in my English writings. Because of the vocabulary that I learned at home, my
English benefited from this process of metacognition. As of now, when I am asked to write a
paper in English I know that I have a larger vocabulary to use. Reflecting on my word choice is a
skill that gives me the opportunity to convey my ideas in either English or Spanish. It would be
illogical to say that my complete development as an articulate individual is solely based on my
English. The Spanish I learned at home is also part of what makes me a writer. And lastly, my
parents willingness to expose me to new subjects is the basis of the rich language Im able to
use. It is why I can express myself.