CLUB CULTURE

Emiliano Cervantes

5th Grade • King Arts

*beep beep*

Another day, another alarm clock. Like usual, Michael started his day by looking at the mirror and asking himself “Pourquoi?” He puts his clothes on, brushes his teeth, and gets ready to start his day.

Michael’s life wasn’t always like this. A year ago Michael was living in a small town in Mexico. He and his family immigrated to Chicago seeking a better life. Back home, Michael was known for being very social, from singing to turning every little social gathering into a party! You would never see Mike by himself.

Starting school in a country that was new and learning a language that was different made him feel like an outsider, until he found out that one of the teachers in the school spoke the same language as him. His classmates would hang out after school, joined clubs, and ate lunch together.

One day a girl asked Michael if he wanted to join their group and hang out, but Michael just stood there with a confused, frozen look on his face. The girl waited for his response, and Michael stood there not knowing what to respond with. After a while, the girl left confused and wondering why he didn’t respond. After walking home disappointed, Michael goes to his room, looks in the mirror, and says “¿qué estás haciendo?” and for the rest of the day, he tried to learn English.

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The next day, Michael found out that a new student will be coming today. The new student arrived around the same time as breakfast, and could not find somewhere to sit until he saw that Michael was sitting by himself eating his breakfast.

The kid sat down by Michael and said, “Hi, my name is Oscar!” Michael said, “I don’t understand.” and Oscar told him “¿Oh, hablas espanol?” Michael replied saying “¡Sí!”

After breakfast, Oscar and Michael went to their classes. Michael found out that Oscar and he have most of their classes together. The one class that he has alone is with the bilingual teacher named Mr. Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez is the art teacher of the school. Michael did really well in Mr. Hernandez’s class because they spoke the same language and none of the other teachers did.

Oscar and Michael were really good friends; they not only spoke the same language, but they played together and hung out together too. Oscar helped translate what some of the kids were saying to him and vice versa. It’s the same in his art class. If Mr. Hernandez would have to explain a project, he would explain it again to Michael just in Spanish. Oscar helped Michael get a lot of friends and even invited him to his house to help him learn English. Whenever Oscar was not at school Michael wouldn’t hang out with his new friends and try his best to speak English.

One day Michael asked Oscar if he could translate what he was saying to his friends. He also asked in the afternoon three times, then when school was over, he asked two more times. The next day he asked four more times in the afternoon and finally, Oscar had enough and screamed “¡Deja de pedirme que traduzca! Ok ya no más!” And with those words, he left Oscar.

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Michael walked back to his house thinking about what he did wrong but he thought that “el es el que está equivocado yo no hice nada.”

The next day Michael was sitting with some friends eating breakfast talking to them now that he knows a little English. Michael thought he did nothing wrong so he was still mad at Oscar. Oscar finally got his breakfast and he looked over where Michael was sitting and started to walk over there with other kids. Michael was still mad at Oscar so he told the other kids to hurry up and sit next to him. That made Oscar a little mad but he just sat with some of his other friends instead. When they both were finished with their breakfast they took different routes to class. When they got to their class the teacher assigned a project to the class and they got to work with partners. When Oscar looked at Michael, Michael just asked someone else to be his partner.

After the school day was over Oscar went up to Michael and asked him “¿Estás enojado conmigo?” and Michael said “Sí, estoy enojado contigo.” Michael went to walk around Oscar but Oscar stopped him and asked “¿por qué?” Michael told him, “¡Porque mi gritastes sin razón!” and then Michael walked all the way back home and so did Oscar. That night Oscar began to miss Michael and decided that he shouldn’t be angry anymore.

The next day Oscar went up to Michael and apologized. Michael forgave him and they both felt relieved. Today Michael and Oscar shared an art room because Oscar’s teacher was gone and they couldn’t find a substitute. When Michael and Oscar went into art together it was their last class of the day so their art teacher would sometimes tell the kids about some activities that are going to happen in the school. Mr. Hernandez said that there

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are going to be clubs. He told the class that anyone can join and then he said that you can make your own club and you make it about anything you want as long as it’s school appropriate.

When Michael and Oscar heard that news they got ecstatic and almost jumped out of their chairs until Mr. Hernandez told them to calm down. After they were out of school they went to where the clubs were to sign their club in. CLUB CULTURE. After they signed their club in they went to the library and they drew a picture of what their club is about and they printed their picture and went back to their house. The next day they went to the bulletin board and posted the CLUB CULTURE papers on the bulletin board so other kids could join. After two days a couple of kids came up to Oscar and Michael and asked them if they could join their club.

Michael and Oscar said yes and told them “Come by any time, whenever you like!” The two kids told Oscar that they will come to their club on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oscar told the kids “Hey, don’t forget to tell your friends about CLUB CULTURE too!” The new club members said “Okay!” and ran back to their classroom.

Come Tuesday, Oscar and Michael found out that the kids' names were Jackson and Teddy. When they got there, they all sat down on the floor and they talked about where they’re from and if they speak any other languages. Jackson said that both his parents are from Canada so he speaks a little French. Oscar had the idea to draw flags about where they’re from or where their parents are from. They put their names under the flag picture and any new club members would do the same. Teddy had a suggestion and it was that they got to speak their language if they wanted to.

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It was 2 months so some other kids signed up. It was about to be the end of the school year, so they walked back past their sign up sheet. They saw that the sheet was almost filled up with kids. When they got to the club they saw that there were a lot of kids. Oscar told them to write their name on a piece of paper and go to the wall and place their name under the flag.

After they did that they got around in a circle and they talked about where they’re from or what language they speak. After they are done with the club they say their goodbyes and everyone leaves except Michael and Oscar because they stay and clean up.

Oscar looked at Michael and said, “Hey, Michael, see you tomorrow for the big last day party.”

Michael said, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

The next day they threw a party for the last day of school and at the end of the day they all got together and some of them brought some food and Oscar and Michael pitched in for some pizza with some other kids. When the food arrived they all got some and they sat around in a circle and they talked about what their favorite part of the club is and why.

Teddy said that his favorite part of the club is that they get to talk about their culture and Jackson said that his favorite part is that they get to speak their home language. After everyone spoke, Michael stood up and in English he said, “My favorite part of the club is that I get to meet new people and spend time with my best friends.”

After they all shared they got up and Oscar said, “Today we will not speak the different languages because Michael and I

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decided that today we can do whatever you guys want.” Most of the kids decided that they just want to dance. The kids that did not want to dance decided that they want to draw whatever they want.

When they decided to dance, Michael asked them, “What kind of music do you guys want?” Some of them said that they wanted pop and some of them wanted country music. So Oscar said “Okay, we can listen to some pop and then some country music.” Everyone danced for pop and rap. For the last five minutes before the program ended they all got together and said their goodbyes and when everyone left Michael and Oscar had to clean up. So they danced while they cleaned and Oscar turned to Michael and said, “How did you like the club that we started?”

Michael said, “Yes, I loved it.” After they were done cleaning they walked home together and Oscar said “It was cool sharing a club with you.” Michael said “Same with you, it finally felt like I belonged.”

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