Reflection Paper

Coming from a new country I had to face many challenges. All these challenges made who I am today. When I came to the United States in 7th grade, I barely knew how to speak English. The language barrier posed a serious problem for me. I found it difficult to interact with people. Adjusting to a new country was no easy task. When my family and I came to this country, we knew only one other family. It was even more difficult for my parents who knew virtually no English. They had to learn how to work and provide for me and my siblings in this entirely new country with a completely different culture. Despite having a better background in English, it still took me over two years to become fluent in English. Although coming to America and having

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.

My entire family was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. After three and a half years of living there my family decided to seek a better future in The United States. My father would go to the United States back and forth to work and earn money to send to us in Mexico. Eventually my mother was able to get a visa and my brother along with my little sister had an alternate way into the United States. We lived in Dallas Texas and Atlanta Georgia before settling in Howard county Maryland in a very small apartment. Luckily we were doing pretty well with my dad being the only one knowing English at the time. My father was working two jobs and I was getting ready to start kindergarten. I was very excited because the education we would have received in Mexico was nothing compared to the education in Howard County. I was excited for what was to come, but there were disadvantages of knowing only Spanish. Being bullied because of my poor English had an impact on me. I was in completely separate classes learning things that were simple compared to the regular course. I was excluded from certain activities, field trips and assemblies. I was clueless at first though as I slowly learned the language I understood things a lot more.

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.

When I first started school, I remember how difficult it was for me to make the transition from Spanish to English. My Mom left me at the door of the school in the morning, but since I was placed in an English-only classroom, the next time I opened my mouth to speak to anyone was when she picked me up again that afternoon. I didn't know what anyone was saying around me, and to make matters worse, my teacher didn't speak a single word of Spanish. That day, like every other day, I came home crying because I felt like an outsider. That year was very difficult for me because I ended up in the back corner of the classroom not participating. As a result, I had to take several years of summer school in order to catch up, something that

I was forced to come to America at the age of 13, knowing only Spanish. My junior year career was not pleasant because of that factor. I started off with four classes that were meant to teach me English. I was distraught and confused. I left my friends, my dad, and my life to come here. I was not comfortable at all. I felt alone, but I was not alone, there was another 12 students with the same obstacles as me. Now at the age of 18 I am proud of what I overcame and I can truly say these three strategies assisted me while overcoming my obstacle, Lifelong learning, develop mutually supportive relationship and believing in yourself.

When I arrived here, no one in my family spoke english and my siblings had a rough time getting accustomed in school. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to start Kindergarten here and

Moving to another country without knowing the language and culture at the age of 15, was one of the most important decisions that I had to make in my life. I left my mom, family, and friends because I knew that leaving them would prepare me to become an independent person. Moving to the United States gave me the chance to learn a new language, and a better future.

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

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

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.

My dad brought us to the USA at the of 10 years old, to me was really hard to adapt to this country because I came here to a new country without not knowing the language and leaving everything behind, I got to a point where I got into depression and I just didn’t want to live here I wanted go back, but my parents and my family persuade me to focus on school and through the time everything was going to be easier, through the time I was in school I made new friends that helped me learn every day, for me that was really helpful. I learn how to speak, write and communicate with other people.

I grew up with teaching myself. My mother was born in Colombia, then came here specifically to learn English and go back to her home country until she met my dad and from that moment her entire life changed.

At the of age 5 I began elementary school called "Sebetis 1150" a public school almost an hour away from my hometown ,where I was first starting how to write my 7 letter name and having to memorize all my Abc’s and colors in Spanish . At first It was very exciting knowing that I had a big opportunity to go school and learn while some of my friends couldn’t go because of not having the sufficient amount of money to pay for school or having to work with their parents .During my kindergarten year I had a teacher named Mrs. Perez who was a childhood friend with my parents. She was a very helpful and patient women who helped me prepare myself in reading and writing. There was months in where it was getting difficult for me to read but no matter what she always there motivating me to do better. After a whole a year of learning and writing, My dad decided we would be moving to a whole new country called The United States for better a successful life for my family. At a young age worrying about not being able to see my friends, cousins, family and most importantly not being able to enjoy my amazing culture that I have was very bitter to me. Knowing that I was going to start learning and adapting to a new different language was surprising and confusing after taking a lot

I never thought I was going to be in Florida. It impacted my life tremendously. I knew I had to learn a different language. My English level was steady. I knew I had to improve my English. I worked on it twice as hard as when I was in Mexico. In school when people talked to me and asked questions, I was afraid to answer back, because I was unsure if I said it wrong or not. I had to overcome it and pronto. Making friends in school was easy, because I guess they are curious where I’m from or wanted to know my name in Spanish.