A New Perspective on School

Kabir Vega Castellanos

HAVANA TIMES — I started a new routine five days ago. I get up at five in the morning and go to my new school.

Since public transportation in Alamar isn’t exactly marvelous, to get to my class on time I have to walk a three-bus-stop distance, all the way back to the first stop of the P-11 bus, and take this bus to almost its last stop. Then, I have to walk to my new school, where I take intensive English lessons Monday to Friday.

The school has actually surprised me: every day, I go back home satisfied with what I’ve learned. At my old high school, we had entire periods that people slept through or used to do a bit of mischief. It was distressing. I would go to school as though it were a kind of punishment. Here, however, students show a sincere interest in learning.

There’s barely even time to get to know one another. We devote the entire time to learning and expanding our vocabulary little by little, so as to gradually master this language, spoken in 51 countries and immensely valued in the commercial world.

I don’t have to take down notes like a medieval scribe or copy signs on a TV screen that contribute nothing to my knowledge. I only take note of what I’m not sure about or consider important. Our teacher, who’s a bit strict, makes our classes truly special, dynamic and motivating.

It’s the first time in my life I enjoy going to school. I feel a little strange, being the youngest student in the class, but this doesn’t keep me from enjoying myself fully.

English is taught here at school from primary school and all the way up to senior high school, but in a single week in this course, I’ve learned more than what I did in all the schools I have gone to.