Johnny asked Dotty how her first day in Duarte ESL class was. It was terrible, she him. She understood little of what the Level teacher said. He spoke too fast for her. had struggled through a Level 3 class at Monrovia school.

When the teacher asked if there any questions, she told him that she didn’t most of what he had said. He told not to worry; she could take the class if she failed it the first time. She ’t want to fail it the first time, however, any time.

He gave them homework the first , of course. They were supposed to write a -word essay supporting gun control. Of course, Dotty said, could write that essay in her native language. there was no way she could write it English. She showed Johnny the textbook. The print so tiny that trying to read just a pages gave her a headache. On top of was all the new vocabulary on each page. “'m going to drop the class,” she said. She to cry. When was she ever going to this language?