From the first day attending that international high school in Shanghai, I knew what I need to do is try my best to speak, read and write in English as my first language. I was anxious, because the English I learned in middle school was just words and sentences. I never wrote an essay more than even a hundred words and I neither read even a single article more than one page. I sat in the classroom, facing the first foreign teacher in my life, Mr. Fine. I knew deep inside that what I had on English learning was almost zero. During those two years, Mr. Fine gave me an impetus to keep me learning English hard, and that is why my reading skills and writing skills improved rapidly.
In the first year, we took English as a Second Language course, which the main purposes were to let us improve reading skills and get to know the phrases commonly used in English. Mr. Fine made the copies of “Animal Farm”, a fun novella by George Orwell, for everybody to read daily. It was very hard to get started. There were too many new words need to be looked up in dictionaries and long sentences need to be read many times to be understood. In order to help us accustom to this kind of study method quickly, Mr. Fine made a list of words and phrases everyday
We focused on writing various kinds of essay, like narrative story, argumentative essay and descriptive essay. At very first, Mr. Fine taught us to do brainstorming before writing, so that we could have clear outlines and ideas. This is a significant strategy for me to start writing long essays. However, only strategies were never enough for a person to improve writing. Interests are also very important, because when we like to do something, we can always do
Prior to immigrating to America, Nicole attended a public school in China where all of her teachers were Chinese natives. At Nicole’s school in China, however, English is a required course of study taught mostly by emphasizing English vocabulary, completing short one-page writing assignments, and practicing spelling. Learning English pronunciations and engaging in realistic English conversation wasn’t the goal for educators in China. The goal in China was to prepare students to pass their post-high school exam, which was their ticket into attending a university. The exam is highly demanding for Chinese students because it requires knowledge of English reading, comprehension, spelling and writing. For Nicole, the most stressful part of this exam was that students taking it
Authors have done many essays on learning and teaching. In two particular essays, the authors focus more on reading and learning to speak good, which is also associated with reading. The narrators in Frederick Douglas’s essay “Learning to Read and Write” and Maxine Hong Kingston’s “Learning to Speak Like and American Girl” not only tell the reader about their conflict of relationship between society’s dominant culture and their own sense of identity, but educate the reader and explain the choices the characters make which determine the direction of their lives.
..., power, and manipulation are the aspects of language substantiated in Animal Farm. By fabricating with a precise and sensible illustration, language can be deceptive. Words can carry power or influence with the use of terse and persuasive dictions and repetition. Finally, Orwell describes how manipulative the language can be using the examples of mottoes controlling the animals and being the foundation of their personal conducts. The reason for Orwell presenting such abilities of words this book is to highlight the importance of one’s education and mastery of language. The author writes this fable in order to deliver the message that those who do not do so will be susceptible to such deception or manipulation. The proficiency in speech, writing, reading and listening comprehension and the flexibility in lexica determine one’s capability of living in this society.
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.
My mother would occasionally take me to work with her at the nail salon while sitting at her station I would notice how rudely customers would treat her due to her lack of English. At that point, I realized that my mother did not sacrifice everything to be ridiculed all because she could not speak English. A sense of determination washed over me. With the aid of my ESL class, in addition, to listening to other people’s discourse of the language, I gradually became fluent in the glorious English language. While learning English, it sent me on an unforgettable journey each step I took felt like I was paving my own pathway to success. After years of feeling un-American, I was committed to teaching and changing myself with knowledge, soon enough, learning the English language allowed me to adapt to my environment. Growing up as an immigrant kid, I lusted for eloquence and fluency after discovering the significance and strength of communication.
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
...far from traditional as he couldn’t have any evidence of learning so he wrote with chalk or coal on board fences, brick walls, and pavement. When his mistress would leave Douglas to tend to the house in her absence he would take the discarded notebooks his master Thomas would bring home from school and continue to practice in the empty spaces left behind. Soon he Fredrick was about to write similar to Thomas and after years of tedious effort he finally learned how to write. With little outside help it is a great accomplishment to self-learn the English language. Even though It is my first language, been thought it my whole educational career, and not forbidden to learn I can still find it our language difficult. Although with practice and continue efforts and encouragement from teachers I am finding it easier as time progresses to express myself through literature.
During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called, "Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing elementary phrases which were commonly taught in the second and third grade. With the motto, "Improve your child's reading and writing skills in just four weeks!" I was bound to become the next Mark Twain. The method of this course specialized in the improvements of word acquisition rates as well as reading speed; however, it lacked in the area of teaching comprehension. At a young age, I was instilled with the dire need to be highly educated and although I was unable to experience a fun and adventurous childhood like many other children, I am grateful for being raised with a greater knowledge and wisdom than that ingrained in many.
I clearly remember my first day in an American school— a little thirteen-year-old boy, who was shy to speak and tried to avoid any questions. Some of my classmates understood that English was my third language and tried to support and encourage me. However, others
Writing an essay often seems to be an overwhelming task for many individuals. For students like myself, who came from another country, writing can be more difficult and challenging. It can be very frustrating to fully comprehend an idea, and being unable to express it proficiently in English can be excruciating. For these reasons, assistance is often needed to become an effective writer. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate the process on how I organized and accomplished my most recent essay, and to identify the struggles I encountered when writing the paper. In addition, plans on how to improve my next paper, based on the teacher’s feedback from my previous essay, and topics including methods on how instructors can help develop my essay
In our modern society, we have forgotten the art of writing. When we write, we think to ourselves, the longer the sentence, the more intelligent I will sound. Many may say it is by writing long sentences. But is it all that true? In this piece of writing I would like to focus on an essay written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing. In this essay he explains how and why when we write, we should keep our sentences short. he also explains why students should be assigned essays that are not determinate on other sources as evidence. I will also be comparing this to a piece written by Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness. I will be comparing these two pieces on their writing style, and their essayistic ideas. My belief is that we need
Throughout this essay, Orwell acts as a teacher and does not ridicule the writers. His writing is to inform the reader of the problem, the reasons why the language has become ugly, and the bad habits of writing. He used specific examples and goes on to give his solution to bring English writing and speaking back to a clear, concise, honest work.
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
Over the period of time that I was in this course, I thought it would be a very simple and easy to finish class. But as time went on, I found myself to be demanded more of what I think, what I feel, what must be relied on my ability to understand the concepts and conventions of not only the essays, but of what goes on in the writers mind when writing.
I never had any interest in writing before entering high school, I never enjoyed writing essays. I believe the reason was I did not find it necessary to write a 5-page essay on 'To Kill a Mockingbird '. In the real world we will write a page or two for job opportunities and some for the job itself, but hardly ever will you need to write an essay on some book or event in time;