Victor De La Cruz Blog Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Victor De La Cruz and I am a graduate student in the MAT ESL program at NSCU. I was born and raised in a small town in the foothills of N.C., and attended UNC-Chapel Hill for a B.A in journalism and a minor in creative writing. However, shortly after graduating, I took a position as an English teacher assistant at a bilingual elementary school in Madrid, Spain, and soon realized that I was better off pursing a career as an English teacher for speakers of other languages because I enjoyed it so much; thus leading me to this program.

As a former ESL student myself, I know firsthand how it feels to be an ELL in the classroom and how limiting the learning experience can be when having parents at home who do not speak the dominant language (English) proficiently. Therefore, I want to help students who come from similar backgrounds to succeed in school, because teachers really do play a huge role in these vulnerable students' lives whether they realize it or not. Thus, I am excited to learn more about children's literature and I hope to gain more knowledge about children's literature so that my students can see how fun and rewarding reading can be, especially as they continue to learn and improve in their English acquisition.

One of my favorite children's book series definitely has to be the A Series of Unfortunate Events books. Although the books are considered to be a little bit dark for children, I absolutely related to the books in the sense that sometimes bad things can happen to good people, but those circumstances can be changed with determination and creativity. The books also included great allusions to other works as well as interesting plot twists and vocabulary.

I look forward to seeing what this course brings and I am excited to get to know my classmates and their views as well!