Thankful

Thanksgiving is the only festivitie or event we celebrate as a Family. Here a few events, people,  I am thankful for:

Im thankful for my health, both emotional and physical. 

Im thankful for my immediate family in Alamosa.  My sister, brother in law and my nephews. They allow me to be a sister,  aunt and sister in law on daily basis. I love and enjoy those roles in my life very much. 

I am thankful for all my brothers and sisters. Without them I would not be me. Thanks to them Im more understanding towards others. 

I'm thankful for all my  friends here in the USA and different parts of the world and their health. 

Im thankful to have a close relationship with my mother. She is the person I admire the most. To have her as a friend is the greatest blessing there is. I enjoy our long distance conversations and look forward to spend quality time with her now that Thanksgiving reunited us one more time. I look forwardto another dose of  endless stories of wisdom and survival. 

Im thankful for In The Arena. I Love having the opportunity to create, share, implement, teach, learn, bond with our youth and adults alike. Sharing this passion for life and making dreams come true is fascinating. Thankful for all of you involved with the In The Arena. Thank you for keeping ITA moving forward!

Im thankful for L.L. Bean and its partnership with In The Arena. Having its support means a lot the entire organization. To witness an amazing production click HERE

Im Thankful for this amazing Thanksgiving week where we got a chance to travel to Oklahoma to reunite with my sisterAlicia and her husband Luke, Luke's grandmother,my mother, and friends from our childhood. It was wonderful to remember our adventures. 

Thankful to be back home rejuvenated and excited to keep after my community work with the English as Second Language classes, the after school program and marathon training. 

Im also thankful to Be, Dream and Believe! 

What are you thankful for? 

Back to Where It All Started

Learning English was not easy nor impossible. Happy to help adults learn. Where: Tierra Nueva Apartments, Alamosa When: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:00a.m-12:00p.m Aprender Ingles no fue facil ni impossible. Feliz de ayudar a adultos a aprender. Donde: Apartamentos de Tierra Nueva Cuando: Lunes, Martes, Jueves 10:00am a 12:00pm

A photo posted by Zoila Gomez (@zoilagomezita) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:14am PST

In 2006, my first community work initiative with In The Arena was to teach English As a Second Language. It was an experience that left a special mark in my heart. I loved it all. I enjoyed every minute of it and I knew that once I had the opportunity I would do it again.

It is amazing to sit down and rewind the tape. To go back to the early beginnings with In The Arena. If I recall well there was a question somewhere in the process that intrigued me and made me wonder, daydream.  What do you want to be when you grow up?
At that time I wanted to be so many things. Well, I still want to be and do so many things like: I want to get that master degree in Counseling, a Teaching License or that idea/dream of one day helping build an English as a Second Language Center or School fires me up. Why? Because, its a subject that hits home. Im an ESL student. I know what it is like to be humiliated or ignored for not speaking English.  I also know the amazing feeling to speak up, give  your opinion, to be outspoken or share your views and personal stories on a blog in a language you were not meant to speak.

Like I explained to little Olivia, a sweet, blonde hair, blue eyes girl I babysat, when she asked:

 "Why do you speak weird English?"
"I speak weird English because I was born in Mexico, Olivia. There people don't speak English we speak Spanish. I am learning English and it is very difficult. The sounds and words are very different, if you hear me speak weird or wrong English please correct me" From then on she corrected me here and there and even asked me how I would say something in Spanish. 

 Needless to say, 14 years later, little Olivia is now a Junior at the University of Arizona where she is majoring in Special Education.

English has not come easy. I still at times speak weird English and guess what? I love it! I don't think I ever want to lose that. It feels nice when others appreciate and understand your weird way of delivering a message. To me, being able to communicate in another language is extraordinary and I believe we all are very capable of doing so.

With this in mind, I am happy to announce the partnership with another non-profit organization in town, La Llave (TheKey), to teach ESL at the Tierra Nueva Apartments in Alamosa  to our home stay moms.  So far, I have 10 moms signed up and an average of 6 attendees per class.  I am on my third week and I love It!

When: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

Time: 10:00a.m

Where: Tierra Nueva Apartments

Book: Side by Side

PD: If you know of anyone that has Side by Side Book 1 and would like to donate them, I assure you, we will make great use of them. Please send me an e-mail at:
zoila@in-the-arena.org


Be, Dream, Believe!
Se, Suena Y Cree!