Knowledge Made the World

Knowledge Made the World

I came from China to America in January of 2005, when I was thirteen years old. I went to high school in August of 2005 as a freshman; however, I had no English skills. Everything in the USA was so different from China. I miss the taste of "Xi buy." It is food made with pork and mushrooms. I miss the fresh smell of rain on the island, because I came from island of China where it rained a lot. When I came to high school, I did not know anyone who spoke my language. I had a hard time finding my class, and sometimes I was late. I remembered the first day of my school I was forty minutes late. I was so afraid about what the teachers would do to a thirteen year old little kid. If I was in China, teacher would hit me with a ruler. I could not understand what people were saying. I feared that maybe they were laughing at me. I could not communicate at all. Especially at lunch time when I would be sitting by myself watching other student laughing and talking. I missed all my friends in China. Luckily, my teachers were very helpful. They put me in to the ELL Program (ELL is English for Second Language Leader). The ELL Program helped me to learn English in high school, and it is this experience that changed my life forever.

First, in the beginning of the program, my teachers taught us like we were three-year-old little kids. They taught us extremely basic things about the language. For example, it was like "How are you doing, and "A, B, C, D." but it helped me a lot. After being involved in this program, my English got much better. I could read a lot of English and do many things which I could not do before. I felt a lot more comfortable being in high school.

Second, my English was improving even more after the time I stayed in the ELL Program. I had a couple new friends. They were born here; also, they were Native American. One's name was Joe. The other was John. We met each other in Math class, because I was very good at math. They paid very good attention in the class. We exchanged names and phone numbers at the first time we met. I helped their math, and they helped me learn English as well. Joe always said, "If you have any of question or pronunciation on any of the English just ask me, my brother from other mother." I said: "Alright, same things if you have any of the questions on math just ask me." We always made fun of each other, like "you are an idiot." They made it easier for me to know about this country. Truly, they were like brothers to me. Moreover, I felt they were my God. They taught me every thing I need to known about the school. They also taught me a lot about American culture. For example, they taught me how I should give more eye contact and how to address older people. They helped me to know about American culture in high school.

Finally, the rest of my high school I continued studying