Language: My Personal Statement Of The English Language

I walk over to the nine-year-old boy sitting across the room as I reach for my pen and sheet of paper. As I approached him, I halted. Quietly, I asked him what he needed help with. Looking confused, he asked me what the word bough meant. I froze. I didn’t know what the word meant. Embarrassed of not knowing a fifth grade word, I asked the teacher for some assistance and after she told me what the word meant I understood and was then able to explain to him that a bough is just a synonym for a branch. Noticing that David was still confused as to what he was reading, I sat beside him and allowed him to read the passage out loud to me. While I defined the words that he didn’t know and listened to him read the passage, I was able to classify him as an English learner who just wanted to be just as good as the other kids.

I am elated to have the opportunity to apply to California State University of Fullerton's Master of Literacy and Reading program. I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 2013. There, I received my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, with an emphasis in Spanish, as well as my Multiple Subject Credential. After graduation, I taught Kindergarten for two years in Greenfield, California. It was there that I learned my passion for teaching reading skills to English Language Learners. I soon realized the joy and cohesiveness literacy can bring into a classroom. For the past three years I have taught first grade at a small rural school in Shandon, California. I was extremely honored to be chosen to travel to Kansas City in July 2017, to

The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.

English 111 has made a positive impact on me as a student. I have learned a lot in English considering the short amount of time I have spent in the class. English has always been one of my strong points, but I have always looked to find ways to improve my English skills. During the class I learned several new techniques and skills to improve myself as a student. I am glad I had a smart professor to help guide me along the way.

What has my experience been with the English language? That is the question I intend to answer. English is the language of commerce, the language needed to get most any job internationally. English is estimated to be the second most commonly spoken language in the world, with many foreigners immigrating to the US for jobs the workplace is becoming more and more competitive. To keep up in such a competitive, fast-paced world an excellent understanding of the English language is of the utmost importance. In the US our education in the English language begins at age five, we learn our ABC’s by the time we graduate college we are very well versed in English. Even when I was very young I remember

English language learners (ELL) consisted of 22.3 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools (Facts about English Learners in California - CalEdFacts, 2015). Tends to be ignored or receives not quite the equality in education as their Native English speakers (NES) counter parts. Over the past few years there has been a surge in dual language immersion (DLI) programs (also known two-way immersion), which have resulted in much success (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). It has been found that students in DLI programs show a high level of bilingualism and by biliteracy as well as academic achievement and cross-cultural competence (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). Since the population of ELL students in California is so high it would appear that the best way for ELL students to get an education that is equal to their NES counterparts more DLI classes should be implemented. By applying more DLI programs California can benefit both their ELL and NES students in academic development and cross-cultural competence, which will help reduce prejudice and racism in the state.

Throughout my educational years, I had only done writings that involves in small research papers, MLA style essays, and summary essays. However, English 101 has given me a new way to look at my writing skills. Most of the writings I have been doing so far in this course were interpretative essays where we interpreted and reflected on other’s writing and then reflecting back to ours own writing. This class also has given me the opportunity to work with my classmates and a chance to discuss about the writing strategy they made in their papers versus the strategy I made in my papers. In addition, I find the in-class activity to be very useful because it allows me to see other’s perspectives and feedbacks. The in-class activities were class discussions, group works, and conference with the instructor. At the end of the semester, the class objective was to pick out two best interpretative essays that we have been working on with a final reflective essay to include in our final portfolio. So for the rest of this essay, I would like to talk about my two best interpretive essays that I have decided to include in my final portfolio: “Death of a Funeral Business”, and “No Time to think” and “Time Ain’t Money”.

As one watches the first episode of season one; one could see Sheldon as an introvert. I saw the person as a guy that tends to want to keep certain aspects in his life the way it has been; never wanting someone new to intrude upon his daily life. It does seem however that Sheldon does give in to his roommate’s ideas from time to time for the sake of being a good person, but at the same time he gives his protest in his own way by giving some form of logic to any of his roommate’s ideas. It is fairly easy to see he voices his displeasure in participating on whichever he is asked to join with others, but in the form of logic he explains is unnecessarily long when in reality all he would need to say is no; Sheldon would often outright voice his thoughts in pointing out any flaws. No one in the cast seems to be angered by this at all, so I could assume that everyone just does not get annoyed much by him.

The English language shows a sense of beauty in its own right through its myriad of words that can be used to paint a picture in the mind of its user. Some concede that the language is declining as older words are replaced by newer slang and the media spreads such colloquialisms to its viewers. Even the writer Thomas Lounsbury claimed that “the English tongue is always in the condition approaching collapse” (Bauer and Trudgill 15). In reality, workers in the media reflect the changing language to keep up with the common speech of their readers and viewers. This is clearly evinced in the common practices of newspapers and television as they adapt their speech in order to fit that of their target audience.

Realising this experience, through self-funding, took hard work and organisation as I worked doing odd jobs, sold cakes in a wide variety of venues, appealed to businesses for support and ran community quizzes. Achieving this goal took determination, but I have always been profoundly interested in how foreign cultures and societies operate, so I persevered. Being the youngest person in the team, I had to be independent and this helped me to work on my communication skills. Whilst there, I experienced many aspects of life from talking to the children and staff at the orphanage to helping at the hospital, it has also been interesting to me to find out about the political and economic situation of the country and the impact at a local level. This trip drastically changed my view of the world and inspired me to want to find out more about how life can be improved for people living in developing

Everyone has a different interpretation of the word, “invention”. However the word is simply defined as; a new device, method of process developed from study and experimentation. An invention is just a mental fabrication; it’s a falsehood (Dictionary.com 2013).1 Although in the essays, “Why I write” by Joan Didion, “Life in a new Language” by Eva Hoffman, and “Basmati Rice: An Essay about Words” by Audrey Thomas, each author has their own view on the English language, how they each began inventing their own writing styles, and also their reasons for why they chose to become writers. These are the three things that make their definitions of invention very particular and their own.

     If I say that I am currently employed with a major petroleum distribution center, you may think that I am a highly qualified person making limitless amounts of money. However, I am using the power of language to merely say that I work at a gas station making minimum wage. Great historical figures throughout history have used the power of language, the ability to use words to their advantage, to inspire people to unite under one common cause and to change the world.

Language is a prominent part of society and is crucial to the communication of news or media to a mass amount of people. English linguistics explains why the human language operates the way it does. This field investigates the reasoning behind sounds, words, and syntax along with historically how language has evolved. The foremost scholar under this realm of linguistic studies is, Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky’s central contribution to the academic world is his unparalleled perspective in regards to the roots of language, in other words linguistics; along with this Chomsky greatly contributed to the availability of factual based media to all parts of the population.

My work constantly revolves around contradictions and the theme of trying to represent myself through gesture, language and emotion. My interest in vernacular led me to writing in a style which I can understand but makes very little sense to other people: I write how I speak. When I’m speaking, sometimes I talk so fast my words turn backwards and slur and collide in my mouth and I try to represent that in the way I form my sentences. This idea is also influenced by my lack of verbal articulation, where I have trouble relaying how I feel. This inability to express myself leads me to pushing all of my emotive language into my work where sometimes I get so overwhelmed that I cry while I write. This is also evident in how I to some degree destroy most of my work to obscure my feelings further because I am ashamed to show other people that side of myself. My immediate emotional response to these ideas determines how much I obscure and damage my pieces. In asunder (2016) and desquamate (2015) my willingness to conceal myself led me to severely tear them whereas in quiet essay (2015) I did not feel the need.

Language is important because it's one of the main ways to communicate and interact with other people around us. It keeps us in contact with other people. English language is an example for the importance of a language because it is the international language and has become the most important language to people in many parts of the world. It is most widely used in communicating around the world, Also it is spoken as the first language in many countries. English is playing a major role in many sections like education, medicine, engineering and business. There are many reasons that makes English is the most important language in the world.