Reading Comprehension

This reflection is dedicated to every student who courageously comes to school, day after day, week after week, year after year, while understanding less than 30% of what they hear or “read” in class.  This is a celebration of the moments when, finally, they do understand and rejoice because of it.  Specifically, this remembers the moment this past Tuesday, when Carmen, a student in her fourth semester of Beginner ESL, finally understood and was so delighted and determined to continue that she cursed the loudspeaker when it interrupted her oral reading.

As I stand to light a candle,

         two of them, in fact,

                  just to see them flicker

                           back and forth like that,

The movement rewinds me in a flash

         to Tuesday’s third period English class.

Where instead of by a tiny yellow flame,

         I am awed to tears, captivated,

                  by a bright and shining rubia dame.

Though it’s been two-and-a-half years

         since she first told me in español, “Me llamo Carmen,”

                  and I learned Carmen was her name,

now, despite four semesters’ worth of fears

                                    (and occasional jeers from her peers),

                                             she has timidly decided to resist “the same.”

So, like the sun, she rises,

         and her delight floods the room.

         There she stands, her sonrisa beaming,

                                     her surprised eyes positively gleaming,

                                     as out of her mouth English words come streaming.

But more than that—

         her eyes are reading!

                  independently, words from a page,

               lines from a script;

as though on center stage,

her on-point, theatrical gestures

are silently, joyfully, ecstatically screaming:

                                                     

“I UNDERSTAND!”