Spanish-to-English transition happened fast
Watching American TV helped Monica Gutierrez learn English.
“I was born in a border city in Texas, but then we went back to Mexico because my dad was a preacher. We moved around a lot when I was very little. I have bits and pieces of memories of different houses and places we lived as my dad was working for the ministry.
“After that, they sent him to Mississippi where there was a growing Hispanic population. We went from living in Mexico where we only spoke Spanish to living in America where everyone spoke English.
“I was turning 4 at the time, but I quickly picked up English from watching TV. So very fast, it scared my mom. She had lived in the U.S. for a while — she graduated from Robert E. Lee High School here — so she knew English. But it still kind of surprised her how fast I learned the language. Then she would buy me Precious Moments, which helped me learn my ABCs and everything. Because of that, my cursive is amazing.”
— Monica Gutierrez
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