Workplace Reflective Report

Shahid Khan comments his own experience in an interview with Serena Solomon: “I can't conduct a conversation in three minutes. Maybe I take ten minutes. I don't think in English. This is how an immigrant brain works. I talk in my head in Urdu, but then I have to speak in English.”(Serena Solomon). Do not speak the same language is one of the worst situations that an immigrant has to face with. This is exactly what happened to me when I came to United States. I was looking for a job and I needed to speak with the manager of a store. In Spain people learn English, however, most of them don’t use it and when the time runs they forget important concepts. I couldn’t have a normal conversation with the manager, because all what I wanted to said my brain processed it in Spanish. I didn’t get the job because I did not know how to speak in English. Unfortunately, this is something that every immigrant with a different language have to face

Being an immigrant is not easy, specially when you have to adapt to another environment. Learning english was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. Every time someone spoke to me english, l began to get frustrated. Sometimes I used google translator to do the assignments and projects that they give me, and sometimes my classmate would translate for me the english sentence my teacher spoke, And it would help my english get better.

Even though I have mastered the language, I still become apprehensive after meeting somebody new, or speaking in front of a new group. Fortunately, the anxiety ease soon after I warm up to the new setting.

As a first generation immigrant, everything is new here; new culture, new language, and a new society . I think the most difficult thing I have faced in the United States is the language. Learning a new language is not that easy, but language is the most vital key of being success, and it is also an important key factor for communication. I was afraid of speaking English because I am afraid of making mistakes, which had made me to become introverted or even feeling depressed during the first year in the United States. But after a year long study in high school, I have realized that, making mistakes is fine as long as I am able to express what I want to say, as mistakes and failures are also the keys to success.

When the immigrant’s native language is not one of the general population, certain difficulties arise. For immigrants to be functional in society, it is highly important for them find a way to communicate with the culture around them. One way of doing this is learning the language of those in the surrounding culture. If immigrants decide to not go through the trouble of learning a new language, they often find that when they apply for jobs employers are, “discouraged by the fact that [they know] hardly a word of English” (Fox

Throughout my childhood, it was a normal occurrence to hear three different languages in a single conversation. My father’s native language is Korean and my mother’s native language is Chinese. From my upbringing, I got to witness one of the struggles of an immigrant, which is learning English. Although my parents’ English is very good now, it took many years of practice. I often had to serve as a translator for my parents in public settings early on in my life. Not knowing English should not have to be a source of shame for an immigrant. However, I saw the embarrassment on my parents’ faces when I had to translate publicly for them. They worked endlessly every night in their college classes to become proficient in English, a skill that is easy for native speakers to take for granted. It made me realize the obstacles that immigrants face. To this day, my parents are still self-conscious about their speaking abilities. It has even influenced my mother’s career prospects. She has decided not to progress in her career, which requires teaching because she is afraid people will not like being taught by her because of her accent. Language is required to gain friendships, good jobs, and ultimately the power to

I have been a Resident Assistant (RA) for about five weeks. Training to be a RA was tiring but very educational. I learned how to handle multiple situations that could happen with me being RA. After training, it was a series of task that I had to complete as a RA. Those task included: completing forty-four Room Inventory Form, putting in fix it tickets, etc.

In 1980, S.F. Scudder proposed that all living beings existing on the planet communicate in some way, even plants. We need to communicate to survive. My paper discusses various communication theories that relate to things that I observed or experienced over the course of my internship.

In addition, my rationale for choosing this topic was myself as second language leaner. I understand what children are going through in their school to learn English. The learning process is not just about the language but it is about the new culture, food, habits, social differences and many other sides of being immigrant in a new part of the world. When I’m in contact with English leaners, it is very instinctive for me to find ways to explain with gestures or simple word what they are trying to understand. I totally can understand their anxiety and frustration since it is a normal process for those who are learning a new language. I felt that so many times when I moved here. I felt less than everyone and stupid many times that I tried so speak and explain some points of view that I had, and I couldn’t express my view or feelings on specific topics. I got very frustrating. It seemed the American society was not welcoming my culture since I didn’t speak the language. It would be great if the policy makers could understand more how hard and how much energy takes to learn a new language. Then they could be more careful about laws they create for the

As an immigrant, I faced the difficulty of adapting to the American culture. The incapability of communicating with anyone who did not speak my native language, in addition to the cultural barrier between the American community and me, was my motivation to use the available resources to learn the English language. Vowing to be the top student in all my classes, I enrolled in after school programs throughout elementary school to surround myself with my English-speaking classmates. As a result, I achieved my goal of becoming proficient in English. Since then, I acquired grit to strive beyond my

. For centuries, America has continued to grow into a culturally diverse nation. Everyday immigrants come into the country with the goal to become successful, and for many this success comes through education. In many cases, children and adults have to learn the English language or improve on their English speaking skills in the first years of being in the country. The process of being successful in a language is a process that happens in more areas than school. People are able to pick up languages from television, shopping, listening to the language and practicing speaking and reading the language. According to Cummins’ dimensions of language proficiency, this process can take over 5 years of penetrating second language exposure.

Living here as an immigrant is not easy. In this strange place, I had to learn a new language, fit in a new culture and fit in a new group of people. The most difficult one for me is to learn a new language. I remember when I first came here, I only knew some words of English, and I barely spoke to anyone. I am used to speak English after thinking the Chinese meaning of it and it took twice of the time of a normal speaker, which makes me talk less. However, after a long time practice, my English is getting better and better. I started to ask people questions with English and develop English thought in my mind when the questions

Empowering English as a Second Language (ESL) class for immigrant parents, I chose this topic because the ability to read, write and speak is to communicate within the environment, most immigrant parents needed to improve their English language. In addition, most immigrant parents do not understand how to read, write or communicate in English. In the United State, there are people from different countries throughout the world which mainly focuses on people’s race, culture, and more significant on their languages. Moreover, It is very difficult to communicate if you cannot speak English, read or write it. It is a major stress, which pushes immigrant parents unsociable, unfriendly, and uncommunicative. Many places, meetings, activities,

My job in the project is to identify the objectives and come up with the timeline of the training session since I am very organized and time-orientated.

What is communication? It is “the two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which, participants not only exchange information, news, ideas, and feelings but also create and share meaning”(Communication). Communication is a very important aspect of every living creature. It is how we make known our wants and needs. A newborn baby cannot speak but will cry to get its parents attention. Often times, the baby desires to be fed, changed, or just held. Toddlers begin to form words and phrases expressing their requests. As they grow older and develop friendships, one begins to notice the communication with their friends is unlike the way they communicate with adults. One comparison is how students communicate with friends and college instructors. Once a student has graduated from high school and learned how to drive, they tend to think they know a lot. There are two ways to gain knowledge. The first is by getting wisdom from an older adult. The second is by making mistakes. As college students, many think older adults are out of touch with the world of today. The mentality is that anyone born twenty-five years or more before them is too old to understand the things they are dealing with. I believed the same as them when I was that age. In the same way, relying on the opinion of friends is more acceptable than that of parents. According to college students, instructors are not current with the modern day language. When told to turn off cells phones and not to take them out until the class is over, the murmuring begins. Not having the cell phone accessible at all times is like taking away their oxygen. Multi-tasking defined by a student is entertaining themselves via phone and taking notes at the same time. There is a huge difference in communication when it comes to college students and instructors.