Personal Narrative: Adapting To A Whole New Culture

Moving from Jordan to the United States was challenging for my family. I was the only child at the time and my parents primarily spoke Arabic in the house. The elementary teachers I had described me as a timid student, because I could barely speak English. I had difficulty with simple reading and writing, while other students went through class with ease. Needing extra tutoring classes and years of being in ESL was exhausting. However, learning how to read, write, and speak English fluently was only the beginning of my journey.

I was excited to learn a new language but initially Spanish was very difficult for me to grasp. After a certain point during my freshman year of high school, I could not keep up because I was struggling with the basics. This made it hard to focus on my other subjects. I reached a

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.

At first, speaking English was a bit difficult because I did not feel confident using it with others. The most advanced students sometimes made fun of my English. The students who spoke my own language made more fun of me than the ones who were fluent in English. The teasing by the students made me feel embarrassed and shy to speak the English language, giving me a fear of being made fun of or looked at differently. Practicing the English language with my own siblings and playing with the neighborhood kids who already managed the language gave me more confidence to speak English. Taking Spanish courses in school was also an advantage, which helped me to get better at my native language and kept me from losing it.

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

My high focus and dedication in the classroom helped me to succeed in learning the language. Also, even by just watching Sponge Bob on television somehow helped me learn the language just as well. As with the cultural problem, I managed to overcome it with my strong will and character as I broadened my horizons as I met newer and better friends that understood my pain and helped me go through with

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

What Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci coined "The New World" was now overrun by man-eating zombies. It all started in Chile and Argentina; news of a highly infectious pathogen had begun spreading at breakneck speeds. By the time epidemiologists had discovered the cause of this pathogen it had already spread to the Western half of the United States and was making its way east.

I immigrated to the US with my family six years ago. At that time, we had a hard time adapting to the new environment because of the new language and the differences in culture. During the first few weeks after I started school, I felt really frustrated at myself as my inadequate english skills were not good enough for me to communicate with my teachers and peers. However, my parents were the ones that suffered the most. The language barrier made it difficult for them to find jobs and get through their daily life tasks. I still remember vividly that one time when my dad and I went to a pharmacy to pick up his medications. He struggled to communicate with the pharmacist and recieved juding stares for his broken English. For the first time in

If I was a European thinking about moving to the New World, I would base my decision based off the images and descriptions that were available. One of the images that would deter me from migrating away was a piece of artwork done by Jacques Le Moyne. His picture entails a group of natives who are trying to fight off a fearsome looking alligator. Theodore De Bry describes them plunging a pole into it’s mouth and turning it around so they can stab their stomach. He goes on to say that the natives have to watch out for them day and night because of how frequent they appear. Since I don’t really know how to defend myself against such creatures, I would be afraid to live somewhere where danger is constant. I also would not want to deal with vampire

Being the first generation in America wasn't easy, I had to learn both custom. At home, we only spoke our language, because my parents were not fluent in English. My parents were not able to assist us with any of our school assignments. I got extra at school because English was not my primary language. I struggled for years and years at school, I had a difficult time comprehending school assignment. I knew my parents had a difficult time adjusting to this

They called me an apple. Since I was supposedly red on the outside, but white on the inside, I was automatically a walking bullseye. Being one of the many oppressed Aboriginals, I understand their need to hurt someone else in an effort to release some of their internal pain. I understand why so many give up or turn into raging alcoholics in an effort to numb their pain. Coming from a reservation, my greatest challenge was proving to everyone that all the stereotypes about my people were fallacious. However, the need for a government and an education system that won’t keep on failing us repeatedly is imperative. The only way that I can make my voice heard is to break these stereotypes and to reach a higher education; hence my application for

I was born in Hong Kong and I grew up in the Philippines. I went to a Chinese school and had to learn four different languages (Mandarin, Fukien, English, and Tagalog) all at the same time. I learned Chinese because my dad planned for us to live in Hong Kong in the future; however, there was a change since my grandma petitioned my dad to come to the United States. Schools in the Philippines teach English since it’s the most common language in the world, but the English curriculum in both countries are different. The language barrier was always, and I had to adjust to the language when I moved here to the US. Because of my previous experience with learning a second language, it was not difficult for me to adjust. However, growing up in an environment that mostly speak Chinese or Tagalog, it felt strange for me to speak in English 90% of the time. My cousins who were born here helped me adjust to the language. They helped me practice my English and taught me the proper way to write essays in English. However, since I was new in the neighborhood and in the country, I was afraid to speak because of my heavy accent. I was scared that other students might make fun of me. Despite my shyness, I was able to make some friends who made me

I followed my parents and transferred to another school called Woodrow Wilson Middle School. It was very strange but on the first day at the new school, I made some friends and because of that, I could have adapt to new environment faster and could communicate better with other people. I think this was my turning point in my life. By my experience, I could understand many other people who are struggling because of different cultures and languages. I also could advise people about how to go through in this difficult time.

The sociocultural perspective is especially related to my life because right before I started high school I moved from a school with five hundred students in the high school to a school with five hundred kids pre-k through twelfth grade. First hand I experienced what it is like trying to fit into a place where it seemed like everyone else is inside on a joke about me. No matter what, it is always hard to fit in. It doesn’t help that I was a teenage girl when my parents decided to move us. Even now after being here for four years I still feel the ache that means I still do not fit in or that I am not good enough to fit in. Going from what I thought was a small town where since there were more kids I had an easier chance of fitting in.To a town