Personal Narrative: I Move To America With My Parents

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.

When I was twelve years old, that is first time I came to United States of America to study English alone. At that time,

When I first came to the United State and enrolled in elementary school in Los Angeles in second grade, I did not know a single English word except “no English.” I have to adjust to a whole new environment, culturally, educationally, and geographically. My grandma and grandpa from my dad's side live in the United State for about fifteen years. So, we live with them to understand the new experience. My mom work at a nail salon with my aunt so that she could learn the technique and concept of the job to get a license in manicure. My dad does not work because he stays home to take care of me and my siblings. Because I came late in school, I did not able to learn English so I was put in an ELD program in elementary school. Under the ELD program,

In Japanese school, we could never take out our phones during class, and we were not allowed to chew gum/candy in school. The first problem going to American school was I couldn’t understand what people were talking about at all, and nobody was able to communicate with me, so it was hard. But later on I started to understand English because everything around me was English like the TV, menu on the restaurant, but I couldn’t speak English. I don’t remember when but when I was 13 years old I was speaking English and had friends to hang out with so it was all good, speaking English was easy as apple pie. I think life is a journey, because even though it was really hard at first when I moved to the states, I’m glad I moved to the United States. Now I can speak and understand Japanese and English, so it's like a roller coaster it has ups and downs. In the future, when I graduate from high school, I want to go back to Japan and look for jobs that require using Japanese and English, like a

Every individual have moments that changes their lives. It can be a big moment or a small moment, just depends on how each individual sees it. As for me, I wasn’t born in America; I was born in Vietnam. For nine years of my life, I did not know where America is and what is America. Not until I migrated here, to America, to live with my father because he wants me and my brother to have a better and a brighter future. Vietnam and America are totally different from each other. Vietnam is a very poor country; where as America is a country of luxury. When I first moved to America, I was overwhelmed by everything; the environment, the community, and the language. Everything is unfamiliar to me and somehow I have to adapt with those unfamiliar things.

My family moved from the Middle East to United States because of a number of reasons. The primary reason was the education infrastructure. The education infrastructure available in United States is perhaps the best in the world and this is probably what my parents thought when they moved into the country. The second was job because my father was working and he was provided a better opportunity to the work in this country, seeing the salary hike and other factors he decided it was in the best part of the family and all that we moved to the United States. Earlier, it was difficult because being from a different racial background presents you many challenges and you have to somehow manage those things. My family found it difficult at the start to communicate with others and make friends but slowly it all started to shape well. There were more and more people coming for

The relentless noise of the busy streets, the cawing of crows and the chirping of the sparrows still rings in my ears when I reminisce about the environment where I spent the first 13 years of my life before moving to the United States. As an immigrant from Bangladesh, cultural differences from both countries, family, and the entire community has crucially contributed to the person I am today.

Coming to America at the age of four, I can’t say learning english was hard. It felt like my first language. Living in America, I went to

The struggles that me and my family went through while moving to the United States taught me a lot of moral lessons. I was born in India. The day I started my elementary school I was told that we were settling in U.S.A. after few years. In India I attended English Medium School and I worked hard to get decent grades in all subjects. There were lots of problems that happened during the process of moving to the United States. Soon the problems resolved and we finally were in the United States. Everything seemed so different and advanced for me. The language, custom, living style and rules were all incomparable to India. It was very difficult for me since everything was new and I didn’t know much. But I didn’t give up because I had struggled

The love for a better place for their children to learn and grow, drove my parents to move my siblings and me from Nigeria to America. The adjustment to a new community and culture along with the: education system, government, currency, social norms, and language were difficult for my family to adjust to. In elementary school, I found it difficult to communicate with other students; I tried speaking to them the way the people on old tv shows spoke, but they did not “catch my drift”. As I got more acquainted with the language I began joining clubs and playing sports. I was not placed in an ESL, English as a Second Language, program because I knew just enough English to barely pass tests. I was unable to keep up with the language and vocabulary

It has been four years since I came to the United States with my parents. As an immigrant, I realized everything here seemed really difficult for me to adjust my life. Having lived comfortably in Vietnam for over 18 years, I had to start everything from the beginning when I came here. At first, I thought things would be new and interesting in a new place. Later on, I gradually experienced the mental state called “culture shock.” For me, the difference in language and culture were among the biggest cultural barriers that I needed to overcome. However, I have always said to myself that I had to adapt to this circumstance. I believed this hard situation was a great opportunity to strengthen my capability. Therefore, I started to learn English

I recall having the hardest time adapting to the environment and understanding English when I first moved to America in 2005; however, everything changed when Jessica, my first friend, reached out to help me. I met Jessica through the friendship between her grandma and my aunt, and with Jessica’s encouragement, I was more motivated to learn.

When I was six, I moved from the Dominican Republic to the United States. What a life changing move that was. I had been studying English just a bit when I lived back in my motherland, but I honestly never took it seriously. It was just one of those things I did on Thursdays, nothing less nothing

“Mama, I hate America! All they do is speak ENGLISH.” At the age of six, I moved to the United States from the Philippines. As soon as I arrived, I immediately called my grandmother complaining about how much I disliked it here. “All my cousin does is talk to me in English and she is annoying me,” I said. Coincidentally, I am not even able to speak the Filipino language anymore. Although I can still understand it, now I only speak English. The English language has strongly benefitted me and has allowed me to do things I did not imagine myself capable of.

For now, I spent three years in the U.S. which It was a challenging time for me and my family