More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on teaching english as a second language
English as a second language essay
Essay on teaching english as a second language
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on teaching english as a second language
My life had been always full of interesting ironies. Before I became eight , I had prohibit the contact with trees, dust and bugs. Today I practice urban exploration as well as running and hiking as hobby. But the most relevant irony would come three years ago when I moved to the United States. I was an ESL (English as Second Language ) student and english kept me awake at night as a painful reminder that this was not my country neither my culture. I hated English with the heart since it symbolized my isolation and prompt my misery. As a challenge I decided to defeat English. Not to take back my old life but to create myself a new one. I achieve conversational English in less than a year and joined my first English class with my peers in
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
Do you know what it is like to have English as a second language, coming from a Palestinian-American family? Learning Arabic alone was a difficult task to achieve, but with the help of my parents and the Arabic classes my parents enrolled me into, I was able to master it in a reasonable period of time. My other task was to master English as I was enrolled in English- only schools. My parents pushed me through this process by putting me into multiple programs for foreign students, and they also pushed me into reading and writing at least one book and one essay a week, whether it was a paragraph, or more than one-page long. It required much patience and concentration, but it was a very attainable goal that required a satisfying amount of dedication.
Finally, the experienced you faced in life are the only ones who make you improve in life. These three experiences have made me more powerful, more secure of my self. Now I’m in 12th grade and I have learn more and a better English, is not perfect, but, I understand more then before, and I can write better then in 8th and 9th grade, everything thanks to the friends who help me out, the teachers and my motive to make it possible, ignoring all the ignorant people who always have to think on you. I have learned that in this country for be someone is important to learn and speak English, but you always have to be positive and make that come true. My goal now is to speak, read, write, and understand more by putting more of my part so I can defend my self from everything.
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 very well. I had to depend on my husband for dealing with my personal business, such as making a doctor’s appointment, calling to the bank, or questioning to DMV officers. Douglass says, “being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart” (62). For myself, being a dependent and helpless adult is a shame. Moreover, I lacked of extra money to go to school to improve my English. Thus, I stayed home all the time to avoid embarrassment of talking to strangers. After a while, I realized that improving English speaking skills are the essential to gain my self-confidence. So, I spent time to read various articles on the internet and watched English dialogues’ videos on YouTube. As a non-English speaking immigrant living in the U.S., I inevitably encountered a series of difficulties to integrate myself into a new
Over time, my English improved. I moved on to regular sixth grade classes; some of which were
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
Few weeks after I got here in the United States of America, I finally started my life as an American student. My heart was beating so fast as if it was being played as drums heavily. I was panting quite ponderously, do not know what to expect. I closed my eyes as I carefully stepped outside my car, and then finally opened my eyes. It surprised me how enormous my new high school is. Not to mention, how inappropriate our school building seem to be. The architect of my new high school decided that it would be appropriate to create a phallic shaped school for high school students. Ironic, I thought. I disregarded the fact for a mere second, as I carefully entered my new school. Everything felt weird. People here were so different I thought. I felt as if I was in a box of crayon. Everyone’s color seems to vary from one another. It was such a diverse place. From blonde hair blue eyed people, to black hair slanted eye Asians, to big black afro haired, voluptuous lips Africans. “Interesting”, I whispered. I waltzed in towards my new classroom as I shyly entered...
Yet my greatest challenge was learning how to speak English, this was a heavy challenge because I had to learn how to work with different students from different countries. I also had to adapt to a new learning environment, I had to learn how to operate with computers and internet because in my country students were not offered internet facilities. It was an interesting adventure learning from other people experience, but very challenging because we all had different levels some students were beginners some were intermediate and some students were advanced. After spending two years in ESL classes I felt like I needed a change in learning environment because the teacher spent the entire class period explaining to students and I had to stay late after school in order to get notes. As a student of a poor background I was so determined to make my destiny I wanted a better life for
...tely, my test was not very good so I was put in the beginners level. I struggled at the beginning, but as time went on, I became more comfortable and started speaking little by little. The more I spoke, the better my communication in English became. One year passed and I became comfortable in the city, with my host family, and new international friends, all because I spoke better English.
When I first started school, I really didn’t know any English. It was hard because none of the kids knew what I was saying, and sometimes the teachers didn’t understand what I was saying. I was put in those ELL classes where they teach you English. The room they would take us to was full of pictures to teach us English, and they would make us sit on a red carpet and teach us how to read and write. When I would go back to regular class, I would have to try harder than the other students. I would have to study a little more and work a little harder with reading and writing if I wanted to be in the same level as the other kids in my class. when I got to third grade I took a test for my English and past it I didn’t have to go to does ELL classes anymore because I passed the test, and it felt great knowing that I wouldn’t have to take those classes no more.
During the final year of middle school in Hong Kong, I decided to study in America, the land where I was born. I arrived at the San Francisco International Airport, and met my new host family. I began my new journey as a high school student in America.
New languages are always overwhelming.English is difficult language to learn, especially if it isn’t practiced often. The english language includes rules that can be frustrating to get a grip of. Many International students face the fear of not being understood or not pronouncing something correct...
English was extremely foreign to me when I first began to learn the English grammar. I could not comprehend what I should write and not write because my use of words did not give the same effect as what I wanted to say. In result, my sentences became run-ons, and I did not know when to stop a sentence and how to start a new one. It may sound really simple considering how I am doing essays now, but in the past, I could not get anything out of my mind. It made my grades take a blow from this disaster, and it looked highly improbable that I would bring it higher than a C. Another addition to my grammar problems is the new words I confronted through the years. I love to read books, and I could not take my attention away from one. It was difficult
My desire and craving to write and speak better is what helped me overcome my negative attitude towards my skill level of writing and speaking and to return to school. When I signed up for school, my first class requirement, Peak Performance, was aiming to teach me and to cause me to become aware of whom I am and how to create new healthy habits. The results of my studies taught me that I hold the keys to my success as I train myself to create healthy habits as I take charge of my life. One way that I was learning how to create healthy habits was by visualizing my success, and being positive with confidence, as I was guarding my mind from negative thoughts.
The morning of August 25, I woke up with a feeling of dread. It was official, I was a college student and I had to attend my first serious English class. Despite the fact that I always did somewhat decent in my English classes in high school, I always loathed attending them. I always managed to come up with some type of excuse and skip it as much as possible. But now, skipping a class would be like throwing away my money. I never really focused on any subjects, school was never an area that I excelled in. Although I took many more classes that I strongly disliked, I felt as if English was especially useless. I spoke it on a daily basis, I can read and write it fluently, it was a skill that we just had. There was no point in me having to take it, in my opinion, I used to always