In A Nutshell XXXIX

In a Nutshell

A place set aside to answer 201 autobiographical questions
from a mother for her daughter. This may take awhile...join us if you like.

39. I really enjoyed this grade in elementary school:

I really enjoyed school. Never had a year that I didn't love. There was always something wonderful to learn and I usually had good teachers. I probably enjoyed the years at St. Mary's the least, because I was away from my family, but otherwise they were great.

The second half of third and first half of fourth grade were in Puerto Rico, and that was a lot of fun. Math and geography were taught in Spanish; that was the year we learned the multiplication tables. For years, I could multiply on paper very fast, but orally I had to translate the numbers from English to Spanish, do the math, then translate back. Not so fast. And my teachers didn't like it. "Four times three. Quatro por tres. Doce. Twelve." And I would look at geographical features and identify them in Spanish and have to translate that as well. Teachers weren't any more thrilled to hear me call that lake a lago than they were to listen to me translate my multiplication. If they didn't speak Spanish, they didn't know if I was pulling one over on them or not.