My Essay

Mr.Zapata

Cynthia Newman Something New

01/26/15

English 9

Learning something new can be a scary experience. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was learn how to swim. I was always afraid of the water, but I decided that swimming was an important skill that I should learn. I also thought it would be good exercise and help me to increase my physical strength. What I didn't realize was that learning to swim would also make me a more confident person. New situations always make me feel a bit nervous. All I could remember is staring at my new kiddie pool and it inspired me to be a swimmer like my big sister. She came outside to check on me because I was by myself. I had told her that I didn’t want to be afraid anymore. My sister pleaded with my parents to sign me up for swim lessons.

My first day of swimming class was frightening as I witnessed older kids getting to swim along with me so, I had panicked and my best friend Aaliyah came and told me that everything was alright. After I changed into my bathing suit in the locker room, I stood timidly by the side of the pool waiting for the teacher and other students to show up. After a couple of minutes the teacher came over. She smiled and introduced herself, and two more students joined us. Although they were both older than me, they didn't seem to be embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. I began to feel more at ease. We jumped into the pool, and the teacher had us put on brightly inflatable colored water wings to help us stay afloat.

One of the other students, May, had already taken the beginning class once before, so she took a kickboard and went splashing off by herself. The other student, Jerry, and I were told to hold on to the side of the pool in order to be shown how to kick for the breaststroke. One by one, the teacher had us hold on to a kickboard while she pulled it through the water and kicked. Pretty soon Jerry was off doing this by himself, traveling at a fast clip across the short...