Speaking English
When I first came to America, I was afraid of not being able to learn English. I was afraid of not being able to talk or communicate[1]. I only knew a few words as a child before coming here so learning was difficult. My mom was worse than me, she thought i would have a hard time learning so she lowered my grade level. I was supposed to go in as a 4th grader but instead, I went in as a 3rd. This really didn’t matter because at that time I was clueless being in a different environment.
In my early years in an American school, I was put in an ESL class which stands for English as Second Language where they basically work with newcomers on their English language. This class has helped me improve my English by being able to write sentences with the correct grammar. I remember being happy to be able to write a paragraph on my own for my reading prompt. I was so eager to move on from one lesson to another because the task seems easy. They had words that illustrated a picture and you had to guess the word. This ESL class has helped me speak English and communicate with others. I was able to make friends and even teach my little sister at home.
But as I moved on from 3rd grade to 4th, I was still placed in a ESL class. I took it as an advantage because I still needed improvement on my writing and reading. When it came to reading, I wasn’t that good. I would stutter and my voice would go from high to low because of the big words in the reading. My teacher would put us in individual readings where we had to read books based on our reading level (A-Z). I would be placed to read books that are lower level like D,E,F,G while my friends/classmates read books that are on higher level like, M,N,O,P. This made me feel down knowing I wasn’t as smart/advanced compared to my class. I would sometimes try to go for higher levels but wasn’t able to understand the story. I slowly had to rise up from the bottom to help me actually understand the book rather than taking it as a race.
As I grew up, I realized English isn’t that hard to learn. Compared to other spoken languages English was straightforward and easily spoken. During high school, I took Spanish, and let me tell you how difficult it was. The words and rules that you had to apply before speaking were too much at once. I didn’t have a teacher like during my ESL class to help me slowly understand. It was difficult for me to pronounce some of the words or even write with the correct grammar. I am grateful to be able to take an ESL class during my early years because, without it, I would have the same trouble as I did with Spanish.
Being able to speak English, I use it as a tool for my parents. Whenever my mom is confused on how to spell a word or even needs help translating, I’m there! Recently my mom bought an iPhone to give as a gift back to her country. She’s been planning on going on this trip for weeks and when she heard the iPhone would come in 3 days earlier, she was overcome with joy. She made me go online and order it for her. Her face was full of excitement. But as weeks went by and the plans for her trip were close, she hasn’t received an update on the iPhone .By each day, i can sense her frustration about not knowing where her iPhone is. She became confused and angry but considering she’s not a native English speaker, she made me resolve her situation.
I had to call Apple to get this issue fixed. When I called Apple customer support, I wasn’t able to get any good news for my mom. They said, “ The shipment is delayed due to Covid-19.” When I translated that to her, She was furious and wanted me to yell and shout at the customer support team for her package being delayed. I tried calming her down saying “it’s not their fault, it’s Apple’s bad system.” My mom still refused to argue with them, so I just ended the call. My mom’s facial expression was sad and disappointed that now she won’t be able to take the phone to her country. But this example of me translating to my mom made me realize that speaking English can be a gift because not everyone has the same ability. I feel great knowing that I am able to help translate English to my mom for any problem.
