Two student-writers came from La Habana, Cuba, to join The Miami High Times staff in the middle of the 2015-2016 school year. As ESOL 1 students, Alejandra Viera, a sophomore, and Barbara Santiago, a freshman, were just learning English, they still found many things to write about.

Alejandra, who has only been in the country for about 5 months, has already published two stories while Barbara, who has been here for a year, has published four.

2015-2016 was Viera’s first school year in the U.S while, Santiago attended Citrus Middle School for about two months before joining the Stingaree family.

Writing is hard enough for people who speak the English language at home, but to those who don’t speak English regularly, it represents a heavy duty. “Writing in English was the hardest part of this class,” said Santiago. “Sometimes I couldn’t find the right word to use.”

To Viera the hardest part was communicating with her sources. “Interviewing was the hardest thing for me,” she said. “I was too shy to even attempt to speak English, and when I did, sometimes they would misunderstand what I meant to ask.”

However, rather than a struggle, these two reporters found working for the Miami High Times to be a learning experience. “I learned how to properly write an article in English, but not only that, I learned how to write in English in general,” said Santiago. “Also I was pushed to learn more English since Miami High Times advisor Dr. DeNight didn’t speak Spanish too well.”

To Viera, the rewards were even greater. “I learned to communicate better in English with people,” she said. “I used to be too shy to even ask a question at all. Also since we do reading comprehension questions at the beginning of the class, I learned to analyze reading works in English.”

So how did they overcome the language barriers to write their articles? “I’d write with the few words I knew,” said Santiago. “When I needed help, I would either check my Spanish-English dictionary or Google translator.”

Viera would use another resource. “I would ask Dr. DeNight, who would help me regardless of his limited Spanish vocabulary,” she said.

So, overall, how would these two shining writers describe their experience as English language reporters? “It was interesting and fun,” said Viera. “I actually liked interviewing because I’d get to know more people. Also, I started to like writing more because it helped me dig into topics I hadn’t really considered before.”

Santiago adds, “Not everybody spoke Spanish too well in the class, so learning more English everyday was my favorite part. I think it was a year of learning experiences.”