Mama Arriada
“Puedo jugar con el juguete que tiene agua y un pez?” the little girl with apricot hair says. “Arantxa I don’t understand what you’re saying,” the older woman replies-- a woman that is very friendly, very patient, a teacher of preschoolers. Arantxa, looking around a room that is full of bright colors and happy faces on happy children who are already ahead of her in speaking, is trying to figure out what she must do to get what she wants. “Can I jugar con the toy con agua?!” Arantxa impatiently says. She is always struggling, but always trying. “You must speak English here Arantxa, you can not speak in Spanish...” the teacher reminds her once again, and probably not the last time.
Frustration. Confusion. Isolation. Frustrated from the amount of time wasted after getting nowhere; confusion from not knowing how to make the situation resolved; and isolated from others that surround her who can also barely understand her, leaving her alone unless someone so willing is kind enough to give her the toy with the fish in the water. The toy which can always leave Arantxa Arriada satisfied. Arantxa, being a little girl at the time, was not only very young, but also very independent due to the fact that her parents, Maria and Jesus Arriada, are immigrants from Spain. As she struggled daily to adjust to the social norms of a U.S. citizen, since she identified more with her mother and father, one of the biggest obstacles that she can recall was learning English, though that is not the biggest obstacle. If there is one major obstacle that has played a major role in shaping Arantxa, it is the fact that she is a first generation student to go to college. Now, we know her as Ms. Arriada, the English teacher as well as the AVID teacher at Los Altos High School, in room 505.
By Drianne Pantoja
There are many teachers out in the world who stick to their mandatory curriculum, never finishing the school day after the bell rings or even before the bell... never missing a single day of school. However, there are not always teachers that call themselves a special type of “mama” to their students, who are genuinely kind and caring outside of class, who defend the civil rights for those students who struggle in their daily life because of their skin color. That would be why Ms. Arriada is so wonderful and meaningful to many students and staff on campus. As she preaches about Steinbeck and Harper Lee each year, she also comforts and supports each one of her students by being her silly, sweet, sensible self. Like any other teacher, she hopes she can teach her students with the goal of passing on knowledge that they will carry for their