Synopsis "I was an American but i did not Know it (in English)"
The story you are about to read is a true story of my life. I was born as an American in a small village in Lebanon. That village, like all other villages of that time, was lacking the facilities we usually expect in a house. There was no inside plumbing, no electricity, no running water, no telephones, and no roads. No, I was not born in the 1800's but in 1935. Schools in Lebanon were not conducive to learning. Corporal punishment was common, and I got my share of it. It was never using a paddle on one's "behind," but a hard stick used on one's open hands. Students lived in fear. If you raised your hand and gave the wrong answer, you got punished; if you did not raise your hand, you got punished for not knowing the answer. I was not a good student under that system. Coming to the U.S. in 1948 at age 13 was the best thing that ever happened to me, in spite of the obstacles I faced. I was a stranger in a strange world, but I loved it. I was given a chance to succeed. I went through junior high, high school, and college, and became a teacher in ten years. Those ten years included one year in Mexico to study and master Spanish which became my life's work as a teacher. If you judge by what my students say or write, then I was a very successful teacher. Read what former students wrote to me, and that would tell you who I was or what I did. I have enjoyed everything that has happened to me or that I have done since my arrival in the United States of America, my country.
