My Views On The United States

Firstly, I was really poor at speaking English. When I go through the gate for foreigners in airport in USA, the officer said to me "Do you have food in your suitcase?". Of course, now I can see his point but then I couldn't understand what he said and I was confused. So it took a half hour to get the gate since I landed in the USA. And fortunately, I finally reached the International English School, FLS but I couldn't follow their class. That's why I study a lot more than other students. Nevertheless, I couldn't feel my English was getting better. I was struggling with the situation. If I would love to communicate with other students or native teachers,

The first and second year after moving from China to the United States, I was afraid to talk to strangers because my English was not quite well. I had to depend on my husband to deal with my personal business, such as making a doctor’s appointment, calling to the bank, or questioning the DMV officers. Douglass says, “being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart” (62). Being a dependent and helpless adult is a shame for me. In addition, I did not have extra money to go to school to improve my English skills. Thus, I stayed home all the time to avoid the embarrassment that happened when I did not understand strangers’ conversation. Meanwhile, being silent at home leaded worries to my future. I realized that I had to improve my oral English to gain self-confidence. I spent time reading various articles on the internet, and I watched English dialogues’ videos on YouTube. As a non-English speaking immigrant living in the U.S., I challenged myself to overcome difficulties to integrate myself into a new

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

Coming from a foreign country where english is a second language, I didn’t know how to communicate. How was I going understand the information in school? How will I create new friendships without speaking? All these questions plagued me. As I sat quietly everyday trying to avoid making a sound, hoping not to get called on to answer a question or speak out loud in the class, I was trying to make clear of what these people were saying. I realized that just sitting there and listening wouldn't help me better speak English; I had begun trying to speak english with my father so I can become more fluent. After months of dedication, I was understanding and speaking a language completely different to mine. That was by far the most difficult

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.

Contrary to what many people thing, the dramatic event that happened in New York on

Moving to America, was a difficult transition for me. I had come to the realization that I wasn’t going to see my friends any time soon back in Iran and that was hard to overcome at a young age. I was alone as a child because my siblings are a lot older than me, and my parents’ had the challenge of starting over because they had left everything behind in Iran. However, that wasn’t going to get in the way of me succeeding in school. I have always been a fast learner, by the age of eight I had already learned four languages. Also, I was voted most improved by my classmate every year I was in Elementary School. This might not seem like a big achievement, but as a young student in a new country it was a huge motivation boost for me to improve every

Arriving in a new country was exciting and discomforting. America is a wonderful place to live, which is full of adventure and challenges. I was attracted by the Western culture. Meanwhile, different languages also troubled me. Although I began to learn English in elementary school from ABC, my listening and oral abilities tend not to be adequate. I have to study hard to improve my English, so that I can understand what the people said.

After arriving in the United States, things weren’t as wonderful as we had planned for. Coming to such a unique place in the world was a blessing, but it brought many obstacles to me and my family. It was truly one of the greatest obstacles I had to face learning a new language and getting used to the American life. Getting placed into the ELL program made me feel like I had to work harder than everyone else just to get simple things done. I was made fun of due to the lack of my abilities in speaking English. This only pushed me to work harder and become the best that I can be in everything I do. One thing that stayed the same was the level of support my family members here in the U.S. were able to provide me with to help me get through the

In my view, the United States is the land of opportunity where everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard. Furthermore, there are many good schools here are also a powerful force for students entering an amazing career. Honestly, I like to live here and set up educational goals for my life. Therefore, seventy-four credit hours of college are my treasure which makes me proud of that for studying hard, evolving things, and resolving problems with any conditions to survive in school and life. Also, I have changed from things have ever happened to me, and realizing that every different stage has every different circumstance for dealing with, and obstacles or conflicts in life cannot stop me reaching to become a math professor. Moreover, my exceptional hardships and opportunities have just shaped my abilities better. It is not easy to describe how I can get through my obstacles in which have made me today. However, I will do my best to inform readers some of my personal information that I want considered as a part of my admissions application of the University of Texas at Austin.

After the first couple of months, improvements in my school work were beginning to show, and I liked it. My vocabulary abilities were revealing themselves as well. For example, when I would read homework in other classes the words that would sometimes confuse me began to make sense. I would also listen to other people’s conversations on the street and it seemed as if the vocabulary words that I had just studied the week before, could be heard. It was the weirdest thing. Likewise, my grammar was developing nicely. For instance, when I would read books I could see the different ways sentences were portrayed. Things that I never picked up before were coming to me so much easier. This class that

Ever since I was a little girl I didn't like reading, doing homework or taking exams. I only enjoyed lunch time, gym time and after school programs. I was always in the top classes because of my mother's connection with teachers in the school until I got into the third grade. That's when you start to take a state exam test and if you failed you either get left back or get put in a class based on your grade score. That's when I went from being in top classes to the bottom classes and realized I had to get it together in school because I didn't want to look like a fool or be a fool. That all changed in middle school, I was always put in programs that helped students who wasn't on top of their work and I started to see my name on the honor roll

Back in my high school in Malaysia, I was not really a good speaker. I rarely practiced speaking in English because I used my national language, Malay, most of the times in most of the situations. After getting a pretty decent result for my final examination in high school, I was offered by my government to further my study in United States. During the preparation before flying to the United States, I thought that I was very lucky to be offered a scholarship to the country that uses English as its native language because I have taken English classes so language is no longer a problem. I thought that if I could excel in writing, so I could speak fluently. After completing my preparation, I flew to the United States in August 2013.

Essentially, not every foreigner that comes to the U.S is prepared to handle the stress that comes with communicating with one another, that can be experienced as a result of not knowing enough of the language to speak English and be understood. This problem is presented, creating multiple obstacles for a newcomer to achieve their goals, either to obtain a good job to support their family or hoping the money in the United States is better than what they earned in their original country. But because many lack the skill to communicate with others, people who speak fluently English may get frustrated with those who can’t connect or have difficulty understanding what one is trying to get across to the other, decreasing the chance of the migratory to be granted a job, able to ace a job interview, open opportunities to find a home, make friends or even struggle with great difficulty getting the information they need. Struggling with their fluency will impact dramatically their self-esteem, causing one to feel ashamed and afraid due to them knowing they don’t have the ease of speaking freely their broken English without being laughed at or criticized.

Last summer, I went on an incredibly fun family vacation to Jordan. However, I have to admit that I definitely was not expecting to have that level of enjoyment during my trip. One of the biggest reasons why I felt this way about returning back to Jordan was because I spoke formal Arabic. Additionally, since all of my family in Jordan only spoke and understood informal Arabic as well as a Jordanian dialect that I was unfamiliar with, I knew that I was going to struggle to communicate with them. Moreover, given that Jordan is a country that primarily speaks an informal Jordanian dialect of Arabic as its first language, I felt as if I was going to be hopeless stranger. In fact, I never really understood the importance of speaking two languages growing up. I had always thought that learning English alone was sufficient enough. Quite simply, I did not realize the impact the Arabic language played in shaping my identity.