Areli is a Dreamer Flashcards
At Abuela’s house, Saturdays were filled with family and sunshine.
When evening came, she sat around a noisy table and ate mounds of tortillas and pollo con frijoles for supper - her favorite!
Briiiiing Briiing
But Sundays were different.
Did you get the toys we sent you?
When are you coming home?
We’re trying to get you here to America.
Your mama and I dream of the day we will all be together.
We will send for you soon.
They want us to have a better life.
You were born here, so it’s harder for you.
But they weren’t all together as a family that year.
He flashed her a big grin and gave her a drawing of the two of them in the yard with the chickens.
So you won’t forget me, he said.
She was so proud to be at school.
She learned to tie her shoes and write the letters of the alphabet.
If I could take care of you here, I would, my sweet
You don’t understand now, but someday you will.
The next Saturday night’s dinner was very sad.
She said goodbye to the mountains and the chickens.
They held each other very tightly.
Then she left for her new country.
Her hair was a different color, and it was curly.
They held each other for a long time.
I can’t wait to show you our house!
Everything in New York was bigger and faster and noisier than in the mountains.
It wasn’t home at all.
She couldn’t speak English and when she tried, the words came out all wrong.
But she couldn’t stop kids from teasing her.
She’s so backward!
Her mom cleans my house. She’s our maid!
She had never felt this way before.
Illegal means against the law.
I’m not against the law!
Do I get to be a citizen someday?
She wasn’t sure she wanted to har the answer.
She did not want to break the law just by being who she was.
By second grade, she could count by fives.
In the third grade, she learned about the Constitution.
By the fourth grade, she could write a book report and read it aloud.
They got on a boat and sailed into the Hudson River.
Almost every one of us has family that came to this country from a foreign land.
She felt like she was part of something very big.
She might be a writer and tell her story.
She might be a teacher and help children who found themselves in this new land.
I could do anything here.
