From the beginning of the school year, the author observed an interesting phenomenon in Ms. James' 3rd grade class: Students would eagerly volunteer to share their ideas by raising their hands or calling out to the teacher, but when they began to share, they would quickly abandon their talk and announce, "I forgot." As the author heard more students utter "I forgot" without sharing their ideas, and she noticed that "I forgot" was being uttered by the same group of students, she began to wonder: Had students really forgotten what they were saying, or did they say "I forgot" to cover up something else? In this article, the author explores how young English language learners (ELLs) use the phrase "I forgot" in small group discussions during a reading intervention and investigate how the use of "I forgot" acts as a reaction, or "front," to the restrictive language and learning contexts of these students' school. This article describes the problematic curricular contexts in some urban schools and explores the following: If "I forgot" does not actually mean that children have forgotten what they wanted to say, what underlies young ELLs' utterance of "I forgot" and what beliefs about learning and school are displayed?