Personal Narrative: My Relationship With Grammar

Maya Angelou once said “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” With that being said, is it important to take in all the thing people say about you? Personally I don’t think so. We cannot control what happen around us and what people says about us, but we do have the power to avoid getting control by people’s saying. My English learning journey began when I was around 4 years old. For me English is like a second nature; I use it so often that I feel like I’m more connect to it than Chinese. By the time I finish kindergarten my parent wants me to continue my education under a system that involve English. So they decided to send me to an international school. At the start I was thrill by the opportunity, but the best part of all is that I get to study at the same school as my sister.

Arriving in this class I didn’t really know what to expect, and having a fragile background in English I was a bit concerned on how I would perform. Carrying over twenty years of discouragement stemming from my high school years, I thought I knew enough but came to the realization I didn’t. After a few weeks of settling in to class it felt like doors that I didn’t know how to open could be now opened and ignited my desire for more knowledge. For the first time in my life I was excited to learn English and eager to use it. My reading was above normal along with my vocabulary, however my grammar, and writing structure was my weakest point and that’s what I wanted to focus on.

I was ten, the most terrifying event I had been through was riding the little dragon roller coaster at the fair, but that night changed it all. The fear that started in my head spread like wildfire to the rest of my body from the tips of my fingers to the bottoms of my toes. My heart was racing so fast that it could have beat Usain Bolt in a 100m dash. Stop, drop and roll, three steps that should have come naturally, but instead I froze, looked down at my yellow and black checkered flannel in complete terror, fearing for my life.

When I started writing my first essay, I assumed I did everything correctly. I did have high expectation of getting an excellent paper, but on my writing, it had a weak body, improper punctuation , and misplaced ideas in my essay. As much this hurts me, I knew then I need more practice and correcting myself even more. I felt like my writing were more as like a high school essay than a professional college paper. All the teaching about how to write a descriptive, narrative, persuasive, or even write an expository during my high school years was a lie. I was taught the wrong idea from the start. I did learn to use other words, organize, and properly construct an essay. I have improve my ability of writer.

The experience I had with writing that I found difficult may or may not be common for most people, but for me it was. Writing has never been my strongest area in school. I always wanted to be somewhat good at it though , so I tried and still do. People have their weaker subjects and some have their stronger ones. Friends and family members of mine love to write, and I always try to keep a journal or diary. I just always found it hard to write it on paper. I’ve had so much to say that I keep in my head or want to use for a topic for a paper to share with class but could never write it. Until one day I got a reality check from one of my writing professors. Last year I was given a writing assignment to write about an experience that changed my life. To me doing that was difficult because I had to relive my past and explain my emotions on a piece of paper; at the time that was hard for me. I was given this assignment twice. The first semester I dropped the course because I had mono and was missing class, and couldn't put the effort in. The professor understood and read my idea and said, “Next time you take this class, stick with that idea and write, don’t hold back.” Now this story isn’t about that professor, but rather about the next one I had. He told me the same thing as her and thats when I knew I had to come out of my shell and just WRITE.

I consider I improved my writing in English this semester, in this sense, practice was essential. Firstly, I had an important contact with the language, which allowed me to make progress in writing and reading. The tools that professor provided us were very useful. Chapters were helpful in teaching me writing strategies and giving techniques that make it less complicated. For instance, transitional words, outline and brainstorm have already become a habit, even in Portuguese. Moreover, sites such as Corpora, Linguee and Paper Rater helped me a lot with the language in use and grammar corrections. Of all the things we learned, planning was the most relevant for me. In my opinion, it is the most important part of a text, because after I have

The other reason that makes me feel uncomfortable about writing is that what if somebody read my papers and they will laugh at me because of my bad grammars and stupid ideas. I always find it’s so embarrassing to share my papers to others, even to my teachers. However, I don’t mind my teachers that much. At least I always turn in my best work to my teachers, even if they’re bad, they’re still my effort. Despite that fact, there was a time when I was in 11th grade that I was really disappointed in my teacher. She was a student teacher. She was nice and friendly, everyone liked her, included me. But it was this one thing she did that made me feel uncertain about my feeling for her. Whenever we were in computer lab and typing essays, she always

I didn’t know how damaging it could be to live in an all Portuguese-speaking household until the results of my very first MCAS came in back in 2008. I was looking at the scores and saw that there was an “A” under math, which made me pretty happy knowing that it meant advanced. Then in the English section, a “W” was shown and it confused me in what it signified. Reading through the papers, it was found out that it meant a warning in the subject, which is a more diligent way to tell a child that they failed the section. At the last MCAS test, I achieved an advanced grade on both subjects, realizing that any obstacle can be turned into a great opportunity to improve oneself.

Upon entering this class I was completely at my wits end, I quickly learned that anything I learned in high school English classes could be thrown out the window. From citing your work to writing about the same subject in many ways college courses are different on many levels. They always tell you as a teenager that they have your best interests in mind and that they are preparing you for college or what lies ahead, but, in all honesty? I don't believe anyone really knows what lies ahead or what they should prepare you for. The last couple of weeks I have learned that it is okay to not know what you’re doing in school, work, or life in general sometimes, but never be afraid of the positive and negative feedback. Everything is always said to benefit who you are as a person and to help you continue to grow.

You can fold anything into me and it’ll blend. I can write research papers and do group projects, not that I like either of them, but I can do them, without complaining. I can go watch Angus’s band play; I can play pick up ball with Dekalb. I can go to Target on Friday night with Brandy. I can live in Oak Prairie: I can live in the city. I can live here with you, Dad, in this wreck of a house, and I can live with Mom in her mansion that feels like a hotel. I can be your only son, and I can be a big brother. I can be with Angus; I can be with Brandy.

Life can be hard when you think you have to be perfect. At home my parents always told me to do my best and they would be happy. Doing your best is one thing, but in my mind, I had to exceed even more. I had a goal to have 100% for all my overall grades. Well if you think about it, I was letting it bother me a little too much.

How many times have people tell you “I am sorry I could not understand you, it’s because of the accent”? Unless English is your native language, this can happen pretty often. The reality is that learning a second language is hard. Specially with an inconsistent language such as English. Even after spending eight years learning it at my bilingual school in Mexico, I was prompted to fail the English I STAAR test. Which then led me to attend summer school so I could retake the test.

I have never been a loud person, and because of that fact I have always loved to read. I find comfort in curling up with a good book and will almost always take staying in reading over going out to see the latest box office hit. In my tenth-grade english class, it was the first time participation through speaking up in class would impact my grade significantly, and consequently I was forced to voice my opinion. The first time I spoke up in class I remember being very nervous to do so. I was afraid my opinion would be wrong or people would not like what I had to say, but as I spoke, I slowly saw heads nodding towards me, whispers of agreement, and finally a positive remark from my teacher for my analysis. From that moment on, I felt comfortable

From elementary school to the beginning of middle school, I loathed reading and writing. It was undeniably my worst subject and my teachers could tell. With each piece of classwork and homework I turned in, they made notes on how I needed to be more descriptive, check my grammar, and try to engage my readers. I simply did not understand parts of speech, sentence structure, diction, and everything else involved with articulating sentences in the English language. As I continued getting criticism on my work, I decided that this subject was not for me. I felt defeated, and my plan was to do what it took to get by and accept my failure in English. This negative mindset continued until the middle of 6th grade when I learned about the Future Next program.

I currently live with my parents, younger brother Bill, and grandmother. My grandmother visits us often from Taiwan. My younger brother Bill is a sophomore and my parents are both medical doctors. Though my mom no longer practices medicine, she was a Traditional Chinese Doctor in Taiwan for over ten years. My dad is a physiatrist and has an office in Westchester, IL.