How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Mr. Lema was sitting at his desk correcting papers. When I entered he looked up at me and smiled. I felt better. I walked up to him and asked if he could help me with the new words. "Gladly," he said.
The rest of the month I spent my lunch hours working on English with Mr. Lema, my best friend at school. (9.29-30)
It's been tough for Francisco to learn English, mainly because no teacher has taken the time to help our main man. But when Mr. Lema comes around, that changes. He spends oodles of hours with Francisco, and helps him with every little bit of learning a new language.
Quote #8
I was behind in English, Miss Martin's favorite subject. Every day she would write a different English word on the blackboard and ask the class to look it up in our dictionaries as fast as we could. […] So I got the idea of writing the words down in my note pad, long with their definitions, and memorizing them. I did this for the rest of the year. And after I left Miss Martin's class, I continued adding new words and their definitions to my note pad. I also wrote other things I needed to learn for school and things I wanted to know by heart, like spelling words, and math and grammar rules. I carried the note pad in my shirt pocket and, while I worked in the fields, memorized the information I had written in it. I took my librito with me wherever I went. (11.35)
Miss Martin has found a cool way for Francisco to learn English, and we're seriously impressed with how hard he's working to memorize new words and grammar rules. Having help at school makes learning English a lot more feasible for Francisco, and pretty rewarding too. We'd call that a win-win.
Quote #9
I glanced at Papá and Mamá. They were beaming. "You got a job!" I cried out.
"Yes. Mr. Sims offered me the janitorial job at Main Street School," he answered, grinning from ear to ear. (12.74-75)
Sometimes you don't even need words to say how you're feeling. When Francisco comes home to see his parents grinning ear to ear, he just knows that his big bro got the job. Did you notice how Francisco doesn't even have to ask what's happened? And no one needs to tell him before he figures it all out. This little detective sees all the smiles and knows what's up.