Growing Up On My Own

Growing up in a Latino household is hard. My parents only spoke Spanish therefore my first language was Spanish. For the first few years of my life this was not really a problem, I enjoyed life as any normal little girl would. I got to talk to all of my cousins and all of the neighbor’s children. It wasn’t until I got to school that it became real that I was going to learn English. Don’t get me wrong I always knew I had to learn English my parents always talked to me about school and helped me as much as they could. It was also around this same time where I started to understand that it was not only hard for me it was hard for them as well. My parents had to live in this country not knowing the main language spoken.

I was born in a small ranch in Mexico, and raised in Oregon .My first year and a half I grew up with only my mother and grandmother, my father in the US trying to raise enough money to send to my mom and me . I came to the United States with my mom at the time in only understood Spanish. The Spanish language stayed with me up until I was 3 , I was the only child but my older cousins taught me a new foreign language. From the moment I learned to speak English to almost 14 years later, being a year away fro graduation its been a big struggle. Fighting against the "I cant's" and "failure" it's been a bumpy ride. Something that has really shaped my life is, as I grew up I didn't quite understand the meaning of immigrant, my 7 year old mind didn't

After so many incidents, I was determined to learn this foreign language and prove to people that I wasn’t not lost in this country. Every day afterschool I would ask my family to help me with my English. One year later, I was able to understand what people around me were saying, and I could do basic communications with people. School came to me as an enjoying part of my day, something I looked forward to when going to bed, and an opportunity, a gift for me to learn the language of this new country.

Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.

Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.

Furthermore, Vonderlack-Navarro suggest another beneficial way to support English language learners is to involve parents in the students’ education. Because of the language barriers, education levels, and culture, this goal will not be a stress-free assignment; however, once the parents have “buy-in” and trust the school systems, the goal would be accomplished (Stover,

For as long as I can remember learning how to read and write was a real challenge for me. When I first arrived in the United States I was enrolled at the nearby elementary school. Being from another country I was scared and embarrassed because I was different then the other children in my class. Talking and communicating with others was something that wasn't in the interest of what I wanted to do. I sat far away from others depriving myself of what they were doing or learning. Coming from Mexico and going to a school where no other children would speak the same language that I would or even play the way I did made me believe that I was some sort of thing that didn't belong. All these contributed to a low esteemed child that was

Despite having researched the educational challenges ESOL students face, it was only by actively engaging with students that I came to understand the disjunction between the resources available and the requirements for progress in the educational system. ESOL students, lacking familial support and economic resources, are deterred from advancing in their efforts to learn English, thus leading them to become discouraged and

My dad was an orphan, and is yet to relocate his family. He immigrated to America in 2000, with nothing but the clothes on his back and immediate family. His purpose was to resettle, raise a family, and see his kids pursue an education to be the best of themselves.Working in ignominious jobs in factories to provide. Life as a whole was a problem. Places like grocery stores, public airports, and the fast economy of America were complications. Indoor plumbing, electricity, television, showers were all a brand new concept to comprehend. Learning English was the biggest challenge my family overcame. In my household growing up, my father emphasized education. He always said to me in our native language Dinka, “Lino, you get out of life, what you put into it”. Those words evoke nostalgic memories of my youth. Up until 3rd grade I was in ESL because I was struggling learning English. How did I get out? My dad would point and ask me to read or spell out objects to practice and become fluent. After one I excelled drastically passed the ESL exam and moved out of ESL. This was meaningful to me, many of the influences in my life can’t be able to say they hold a diploma, but they’ve showed me if you work for it you can achieve anything. Currently I'm the second in my family who will be going to college to get a degree, and it's the second greatest achievement to my father. I plan on improving the lives of my family, and my

It was hard to adapt to the system. I was, and still am an outcast. The language was the hardest thing to learn as a child. It was hard because as a little girl I couldn’t ask my parents, the only people I trusted, for help. They were clueless about the language also. Because of the great language barrier, my full potential wasn’t shown and I was held back. At the same time, my parent’s matrimony wasn’t going so well and they separated. Soon after the separation, my older sister and I moved with our mom away from the west coast. It was just us now. Times were rough. My mom was always working. Her three jobs didn’t permit her to bond much with us. Back in that time I didn’t understand the circumstances, but today I am extremely grateful for her and her determination to never give up and her only reason was me and my sister. Moving to away from the west coast benefitted me a lot. There were less hispanics so I had no option but to learn English. After I mastered English, it would bring me great pleasure to see my name in the honorary roll. I loved the look my mom gave me when I received recognitions from my schools. It was a look of proudness. Our different skin color, language, and culture were motives enough for American people to make us outcasts. I would get so angry when kids would make racist comments about me and my country. I have learnt that some people aren’t educated to know that people are people no matter the culture, the differences. They weren’t taught to respect. I’m forgiving to those who made me feel less because of my

September 28th, 2004 came by all too quickly. That is the day I landed in the United States of America at SeaTac airport. I remember growing up in Kenya and my dad used to call me and my sisters “American ladies”. He would constantly say that if he doesn't get a chance to come here he would make sure that my sisters and I would come here for a more suitable education. Growing up in Seattle life never came easy for me unlike my sisters. I barely knew how to speak English let alone my own language, Kiswahili. Juggling between the American and the Kenyan accent was a tedious task. furthermore, not being able to communicate with others turned me into an awfully reserved individual and practically branded me an outcast. Likewise, at home my supposed “safe place” also felt like I was in isolation from the other members of my family. At the moment I wasn’t at the top of my parents priority list but to some extent my parents feared for how I would be able to assimilate in the culture without being able to speak the language. Two months after our arrival I was enrolled to John Stanford Elementary, an alternative school, specifically to learn English. Going to an alternative

Since I came from Cape Verde, things have been so hard for me because I had to deal with new things every day until I got used to them. Even after 5 years, my English is still not perfect. I still struggle understanding some things in English. It was funny when everyone was complaining about not understanding Shakespeare’s play in my literature class. They said that Shakespeare’s language was hard to understand. I did not say anything to them but I said to myself, “If it is hard for them, how it is going to be for me since English is my third language.” But I didn’t let it bother me because since I came from Cape Verde, I had been dealing with struggles. I had problems learning English, building a relationship with my new family and adapting to new environment. Three years ago, there was one day that I was so mad and I was complaining about my homework because it was so hard to understand, my dad came up to me and said, “you’re very lucky to go to school, to get the chance to learn English.” He continued, “when I came from Cape Verde, I tried to go to school but I ended up quitting it because I had to work two jobs to be able to survive because I had no one to provide for me but you don’t have to work. I work for you every single day so you can get take advantage of every opportunity.” I stopped complaining since then. I realized that my dad

My parents and I immigrated to America when I was three years old. Back then, I did not realize how dramatically this move would change the course of my life, all I wondered was why I couldn’t understand a word anyone spoke. With the support of my parents and teachers, I was able to quickly catch up to my peers both socially and academically. I was aware of the size and diversity of the world from a young age because I frequently travelled back to Russia to visit family. At school, I described the journey to my friends and we all became engrossed in learning about unfamiliar cultures and languages.

“The hardest part about growing up is letting go of what you were used to, and moving on with something you’re not.” Growing up can be fantastic. Growing up can also be scary. Many people do it on their own time. Others must do it quickly. Some have a nurturing family and a wonderful environment in which to do this. Others still are not as fortunate. The point is that everyone’s situation is different, unique. No matter how similar one situation may seem from another there are countless other things that affect how a child might grow up. One’s own life may seem perfect to those on the outside looking in when in reality, there could be a constant struggle that is known to few or even none. For myself, growing up was something that had to

Before I was born, and as they were displeased with the impoverished conditions of Vietnam in its post-war period, my parents, shortly after their wedding, decided to emigrate to America in hopes of more opportunities. Being that they had lived in Vietnam for the majority of their life, at the time, my parents traveled over with little to no familiarity of the American culture or language. And as they had no close relatives or friends living in America for the time being, they initially felt no desire to adapt to the culture and language that would soon play such a large part in determining their role in the American society. Instead, my parents brought over to America the Vietnamese culture, including the Vietnamese language, that they were raised with and had grown so adapted to. While this helped them in retaining a sense of ‘home’ in such an unfamiliar country, they faced a plethora of barriers in their efforts to successfully sustain their newly found lives. At attempts to adapt to to the foreign society, my parents decided to familiarize