Humans of Westminster: Meet Milagros

"My Language" 

English will never be ‘my’ language. I’m very conscious of my accent. If I’m speaking to students, I always hear that inner, quick little voice reminding me “to articulate more,” “to concentrate” on the different sounds etc. But, somehow, during my interaction with students, I forget about the imperfections of my pronunciation and find myself submerged in conversation with them. I feel like a great swimmer moving smoothly through foreign waters. It gets even better at the end when someone shouts, "By the way, I love how you speak!” or “I like ‘your’ English!” With a big smile, I take that gold medal and whisper, “I love my students! They teach me.”

Milagros Swerdlow is a lecturer of Spanish at Westminster College. 

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