Confessions of an almost Grade 3

Linda Bansil

I haven't attended  kindergarten or preparatory class  and those fancy levels which are intended for play. Had I've known I would have a fun time before flunking. I could say that I started learning the basics of a loser just right after grade two , yup in grade two it  started and since this is a confession I might be mistaken a bit . It started much earlier. I grand slammed grade one . I took it two times.Talk about practice makes perfect . I am a loser with all it's glory if there was one . No wonder I always take the side of a losing boxer in almost any ring (except Manny Pacquiao). I also don't believe in winning the sweepstakes and that makes me more realistic than the tagline "May swerte sa lotto" or "may libreng eleganteng platito sa Wings powder soup" the last one must be a sure thing.

Grade one was a very difficult time. I was in a foreigner's class and I couldn't understand a word. The teachers were nice and polite but nothing can escape a facial gesture that spelled -are you clueless ? So one day my teacher in English teacher told us to think of names of animals that have three letters. I have two seatmates . Seatmate one said "bat" , seatmate two said "cat" . I thought of something logical and I said "dat". My teacher tried to be polite but her facial expression showed "sorry". I don't want to talk about what happens in Math class . If there was something I love with school it would be watching movies or a play in the dark auditorium. Every time we get to watch a play or a movie I felt like the smartest kid on earth! I will say that again- the smartest kid on earth!

I thought it was beginning  bad at grade one and that it will end sooner and so when I was in grade two , I flunked again and that summer I was the only grade two in remedial classes (this time I am not repeating really , its just I need to retake certain valuable subjects minus PE. Think about the consolation : no uniforms and flag ceremonies and that usual hands- forward, side- ward and jumping jacks ). Rolling my stroller filled with English and Math books when I should be having vacation or something better. Instead of going to the beach or watching cartoons I needed to make an impression to my summer class teachers and prove to them that I am learning like reading and solving math problems . Hopefully by this I get to solve my own problems which is how to move on to grade three (Oh! the ladder of success). I had to attend computer classes (this is pre- windows )  memorizing commands was one of the tortures I had to endure. Everything was a syntax error and this recurred in my dreams. I played pacman games for play before I reach insanity and focused in learning conjugation , nouns and verbs. More than how to communicate I learned how to respect my pace. I cannot  compare myself to other students and that in life there are no shortcuts are the things I have learned. I have to deal with life with my own grading system and that is something I can honestly work on.  Over and above -patience. Patience in learning and patience to others as we fit in a balance. A few weeks then I was all set to becoming a dead serious grade three.