Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania, relates one instance where her lack of English language skills was frustrating for both her and her son:
[There was one bad experience], in the first year when my son takes the 2nd grade, but he was supposed to be in the 3rd grade, and he had the teachers. And I went in the afternoon to pick him up and she try to explain me about my son work, and I said yes, yes, yes, and I don’t know if I understand like ten words of whatever she told me. And I come home and my son started crying because he didn’t understand whatever she asked him to do on his homework, and we took the dictionary and we were looking for each word what it is meaning. And it was really hard, because he didn’t know any English and the teacher put him in the line with the other kids that were in the class. It was hard. I took I think the second grade with my son at the same time, learning words in English [laughing]. […] I think that one I suffered a little bit, but I forget already and now you reminding me.”
