Monolingual Personal Statement

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.

In order to make life in America a reality, we had to sell most of our stuff and send the remaining to America. Making the move was not easy, and there was a lot of pressure on my parents, but we finally settled down in Syosset, Ny, America. Of course, getting used to the western lifestyle was not easy and the language was a barrier. Renting a house, Buying a car, enrolling in school, and purchasing new furnitures were the first things that we had to do in America, just as we had to do in China. I taught English would be difficult to handle, but since I had already mastered a language besides my native language, I was not scared of taking the initiatives. Thus, I enrolled in the ESL program in Syosset High School. My ESL teacher was very strict and a harsh grader, and I did not enjoy being in her class. However, by the end of the year, when I took the ESL exit test, and passes it with excellent results, I saw the influence that my ESL teacher had on me. To this day, I’m thankful to her for not only helping me with my English, but also for making me a better student. When I finished ninth grade and started tenth grade, I tried to challenge myself a bit more with the academics; however my counselor did not recommend me to take Advance Placement classes, nor did she recommend me to exit ESL history (Even though I was enrolled in regular English). At the time I had a few japanese friends who introduced me to Japanese culture and food, thus to speak Japanese I took one year of Japanese. My japanese class taught me the japanese alphabet, basic conversations, and above all Japanese culture. Since Syosset High School did not have any Chinese language or Chinese club, I joined Japanese club in order to be with my other Chinese

Before I turned four years old, my mother and I moved to join my father in Berwyn, Illinois. My sister ended having to stay back a couple of months so that she could finish her school year. We arrived to a nice apartment in the suburbs, it was a complete scenery change than what I was use to. Everyone seemed to have giant yards, bright green grass, large fences, and freshly painted houses. Back in Fresnillo, we had our large home, but it was rare for houses to have such large yards, so close to the heart of the town. From the time of the move until my first year in kindergarten, I had a bit of time to adjust, watching cartoons in English, I am not quite sure how I picked it up but I did. At that time my mother only spoke Spanish, my father is bilingual, but he would speak to us in Spanish.

I became interested in missions when my family and I lived abroad in Laos, Singapore, and Costa Rica; we had adopted my youngest brother and were in the process of immigrating him back to the United States. I believe that I can use my majors, Spanish and music (piano pedagogy) in evangelism and in furthering Christ and His Kingdom.

Teachers have the power to change the world and to make a difference in the student's life. Teacher is a facilitator of knowledge, motivator, advisor and a positive person that can improve the student's education. I decided to pursue the career of education because I have the desire to help others. I also have the ambition to provide encouragement and support to the people that need it. Becoming a teacher means more than sharing my knowledge to the students. It is a commitment with society to shape the performance and learning of future generations.

For the past six years, I have had the privilege of sharing my first language, Spanish, and Spanish culture as a teacher at a small private elementary school in a small rural town where diversity is almost non-existent. It has been a pleasure to open up a window to the outside world in the classrooms of this school where the students and I get to explore Spanish culture and language without having to leave town. My experience sharing my culture as well as my bilingual skills, however, extends beyond the elementary school classroom. Prior to teaching Spanish at the elementary school level, I worked as a Spanish-English translator and interpreter at various companies, and I also taught Spanish to adults.

Learning a new language at my age was a thug, people make fun of you in school if you don’t understand or don’t know how to say something. Only a few people help you. When I lived in Mexico I was always one of the best students and most of the times I was on the honor roll. Without knowing English in this country, I couldn’t the same. I start school here in Houston the 9th grade and my grades were very low, I couldn’t believe that my grades went from 100 to less than 50. Also, I couldn’t do my work, homework and tests because I didn’t understand or I didn't know how to ask. All this situation made me feel so incapable and frustrated. I started to use that frustration and courage to lose my fear and sorrow to ask my teachers and classmates for help. I decided to talk more English than Spanish with people in the stores, malls, and school. During the weekend with my cousins I remember that I used to talk to them in Spanish and they talked to me English so I could learn more vocabulary and how to pronounce the words. Listen to music in English helped me a lot familiarizing my ear to the language too, and using my free time to translate words from Spanish to English to learn more, so I could do better in

When I first moved to the United States of America seven years ago at the age of fourteen, life was challenging. I did not speak English and had to immediately start my first year, as a freshman, in high school. I always enjoyed challenges, which was one of the reasons I moved to the US, and decided to opt out of elementary English classes and jumped right into regular classes along with my English First Language Speaker classmates. Not only I had to learn Basic English to be able to communicate with people, I had to make sure I understood academic language used in classes such as Chemistry, Physics, History, Biology and etc. to pass them. I spent many hours studying English and doing my homework after school. Then, when I started to feel

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to write you as I find it necessary for you to accept this statement as an affirmation of my background, values, and integrity. It brings me great pleasure to share with you, my story and how lifetime registration has affected my life.

The Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School stands out to me over other liberal arts colleges due to its unique classroom dynamic as well as strong focus on academic freedom and social justice. I am excited that The New School gives students the ability to personalize their major and pick classes appropriate to their interests. I value this academic freedom since it will allow me to explore and expand my interests as well as enlighten me in fields I am unfamiliar with. Lang’s focus on intellectual freedom will allow me to expand on prior knowledge, but also allow me to branch out and take more academic risks. Lang encourages this risk-taking by giving students control of shaping their own major. With this ability I will be able to learn from risks I take and find new values to my education, and

My first encounter with English was at my mother’s workplace. I picked up some words when my mother spoke to customers, but had no idea what each word meant. When school started, I didn’t talk to anyone since most of them spoke English so I felt like an outcast. Still, I tried my best to do well in English, however in fourth grade kids found it humorous that I struggle when I spoke English and they would bully me. When they teased me I would get frustrated and would sit there sobbing and feeling morose for hours and hours. Finally elementary school was over and its time to go to middle school

At the age of five, I spent my nights running through my house screaming "I don't like English and I will never learn it!" as loud as I possibly could in Spanish. I had just arrived to the United States and was so terrified by my new environment that I sought solace in my native tongue. My preschool teacher coaxed me out of my timidity and continually extolled the virtues of knowing several languages. Within a year, I was able to speak and read English at a sixth grade level; it was only then that I saw the value in living abroad and participating in the foreign. The ardent feelings I experienced at five years of age resurface whenever I leave my home. However, the fear that once plagued me in my immature state is continually being replaced by excitement and gratitude.

I don’t exactly remember learning how to speak English, it’s like one day I can only speak Spanish and next thing I know I am speaking both English and Spanish. Not only am I speaking English, I am reading and writing it almost fluently. I don’t remember if it was difficult for me when I first started school, I assume it was, based on what my mom told me. I was a shy little girl who didn’t participate in class, so the teacher assistant was kind enough to come after class to tutor me at home. Pre-Kindergarten is the very first level of school where you learn the basics to expand your knowledge into reading or writing. I have no idea if the teacher assistant tutored me to learn the English language or if I just caught on. In a mexican

When I first began my college search, I quickly realized that not many schools offered what I hoped they would. I had no idea that it would be so difficult to find a university that has programs in American Sign Language and Visual Communication Design, two things I am passionate about. I was elated when I discovered that Western Oregon University has incredible programs in both.

My journey began as soon as I was put into my first “American” classroom (1st grade). It felt as if I was an alien that somehow got airdropped onto a foreign planet, everyone around me spoke in weird sounds and wrote strange symbols on paper. Days went by very slow as I struggled to keep up with the class, all the while trying to make sense of things and adapt to the new environment. One day the class was asked to copy down the alphabet as instructed by the teacher. This was when I got my first taste of writing in a different language. I found out that drawing letters and numbers that correlated with my native language (in aspects of shape and flow) were much easier to replicate. With the help of my supportive teachers and countless hours of practice and repetition I started to recognize letters for what they were and began to formulate simple sentence. Little did I know the importance of this stage as it was crucial in setting a solid foundation of understanding of grammar and vocabulary.