Why I Deserve Extra Credit

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.

As a child I have always loved English and wanted to excel and impress others. I loved to write short stories and would read for several hours. I would spend several consecutive hours reading books to impress

I started watching English news, movies, read magazines, read all sort of English related book like, “English learning For Dummies” and suf internet for online English Tutor. Having a ELL teacher help me through my hard time helping me to learn English and doing good in school. After knowing how to speak and communicate in less than 2 months my life had become much easier. Now I am being able to communicate with people not that fluent as then can but try my best to speaks fluent as them and be able to make new friends. Also I am a helping hand to my parents as they do not know how to speak English. My sister help me a lot because she was older then me and was better than me in English so she help me through my study . Now slowly adapting the American style of living in some aspect of my life. English was a very challenging language and I had a very difficult time learning it, however, my hard work did pay off when by the end of first quarter my GPA was

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

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.

The day I stepped off the plane and landed in America, I knew that I’d have to face a great challenge. Being a first generation immigrant from Vietnam, I would have to learn English as quickly as possible. Although I’ve arduously prepared for this transition by learning basic vocabulary and grammar in my native country, I quickly realized that my practical aspect of using the language such as listening, conversing, pronunciation to be insufficient. By immersing myself in an English-speaking world, I finally addressed my lingual deficiency within a year.

I watched my mom somehow get 2 jobs and go back to school to provide for my family and to also learn english. I learned a lot of English by watching movies before attending school in America , but still had difficulty talking to my peers and them understanding me. That did not stop me from challenging my self and bettering my english. Though out the years I now realize that here

When I arrived to the United States I faced a challenging situation in my life, I didn’t know English. This challenging as I didn’t know how to communicate with any of my teachers or classmates, and I wasn’t able to do any of my work. Not being able to participate in class upsetted me because in Mexico I was use to doing all my classwork and homework. Therefore, I decided that I was going to do everything in my power to learn English quickly. So, when the my ESL teacher announced to my parents that they were going to have to take to school during the summer, I didn’t mind at all. When I was in summer school I learned a lot of English due to my determination and my hard work. Looking back I wouldn’t do things differently because I know that

Learning English seemed impossible; I felt I would never be able to understand or speak it, but I was determined to learn the language and get

I moved to America from Albania when I was little. English was not my first language so, I had to learn it by practicing my fellow classmates' example. I was a part of HILT, High-Intensity Language Training, in elementary school to help my language barriers. Before middle school began, teachers thought I no longer needed HILT. It was because I had worked hard to get be in the same place most other students were in. In high school, I found things I was passionate about. In my sophomore year, I joined Future Business Leaders of America and became joined the mentor

did not speak English, I used to be short girl and simple. In which my friends used to be well

Why do I deserve an A as a grade? I deserve an A as a grade for this class for many reasons. I think I deserve this grade because for one it’s a good grade period and teachers tell me they appreciate me doing their work they give me. Then I try to get all my assignments in, and most of the time I try my hardest, that’s what makes what my grades are now, and lastly I try to pay attention even when something isn’t interesting because I want to show my younger brother that life is hard but it doesn’t hurt to try in school and to not give up.

the day and English at night, but my transition was harder due to my poor foundations of the English language. I now had to speak, write, and read in English, when I preferred my native language, Spanish. Immaculate Heart Elementary School provided a tutor to help me read from the textbooks in my third grade class. I had difficulty communicating with the teacher and classmates. I felt embarrassed for not understanding English, and sad knowing that it was hard to speak with my Spanish accent. Even though I was placed in such an unfamiliar and difficult situation, I enjoyed the educational atmosphere. I felt safer in an environment where I had some individual attention. I began to write essays about various social studies related topics such as the 41st President of the United States and the Statue of Liberty. I recall spending a lot of my time thinking about the ideas I should mention in those essays, but I spent even more time trying to get those thoughts on lined paper. I wondered whether I was saying things the correct way. I felt behind compared to the other student in my class. I didn?t know the basics of grammar, like when to use ?is? and not ?are?, when everyone else had mastered that area of study. I struggled thinking in Spanish and

When I was growing up, I remember my family situation as extremely chaotic. I was one of eight children and my father and mother had little time to devote to me individually. Most of the time they spent trying to earn enough to support us with their meager resources. I was often called upon to act as a surrogate mother to my siblings. I felt I had little time to develop my own unique perspective and voice when I was very young. Even as a preschooler I remember doing chores to help out at home. However, this situation did foster some positive aspects of my character. I learned to be mature at an early age and gained a sense of competence because of my responsibilities. But I also was taught put the needs of others second to my own. I feel that I did not learn to value my own, legitimate desires to an adequate degree as a young girl and have only recently acquired a true sense of worth [THESIS].

It has been 10 years since I started learning English. During these 10 years, I have been taught by many English teachers, and all of them helped me a lot in learning English. However, I think my elementary school English teacher, Mrs. Huang, helped me the most on my language development. She helped me start learning English and introduced the basic rules of English to me. Moreover, she motivated my interest in learning English.