English Is Not Native Language

1113 Words5 Pages
As an immigrant in America, the hardest thing to do is learning English. It is survival for immigrant to live in America. I came to America without knowing any English. I’ve been through a lot of funny things on way to America, and school because of lack of English. I stepped into airplane with excitement and fear going to another country to live. While I was flying to here, the stewardess saw the fear on my face, and she decided to calm me down by talking to me. She asked me “what is your name?” but at that time, I couldn’t understand English at all, though I could tell it was a question by the tone. I thought about possible questions the stewardess could ask, such as “Would you like to have something to drink?” or “Do you need anything?”. Then I finally guessed my answer, “Yes”. Everyone sitting around me was laughing, but I didn’t know why. I got into middle school; it was really hard for me to learn new language. One day in English class, the teacher asked me a question but I didn’t know what the answer was, to be straight, I didn’t even understand what she said. At that moment, a classmate next to me gave me the answer. “Say, Bitch” I didn’t know what bitch meant, but since the white classmate gave me the answer, I felt it was the right answer. So I stood up and said “Bitch” loud. And I had to spend the rest of say in the office. I was really sad that day. However, I always tried to learn English and speak better. I never gave up. For the next two years, passing the ESL (English Second Language) exam and proving my English skills to myself had been my dream. In my class and staying in the ESL class only became harder and harder for me to bear. I knew I could speak, but being called out every day for the ESL class reminded me of my struggle. Without question, I always read, I listened to everything in English and I also joined an after school-tutoring
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