“It’s a New Life”

Have you ever migrated to a new environment and faced a language disability? I am a native Chinese speaker who totally unfamiliar with English. Before I came to America, I only understood the alphabet and some simple greetings words in English. My new immigrant experiences are engraved on my soul. I was like a deaf person trying to survive in a strange environment with hopeless because I faced an unknown situation. It made me realize that being a fluent English speaker was very important to me. The only way for me to achieve this was to be a student. When I received Fahrenheit 451 in my first class as a second language student who only knew surface level English, this experience changed my whole life.

At sixteen, attending a new school was a significant turning point in my early life. I still remember how restlessly impatient I was to start preparing for the first day. I went to the store to purchase a pencil, notebook and other supplies. I walked with a bounce, hummed cheerfully. I have a hazy memory of that night as I tossed and turned in bed until early morning. Images, like greeting my teacher and sitting in the classroom were flashed in my mind. I wondered what the school looked like and what kind of classmates would I meet. I was very excited and my heart beat like waves washing against rocks as I fantasy those images.

The day was dawning. I woke up early and tried to prevent myself from being late because first impressions matter. As I got off the subway, the school seemed to wave to me.  I opened my eyes wide and gazed around while I stepped into the school. I noticed it was a completely different style to the school that I attended before. Discomfort and apprehensive feelings started to scramble up my body, and I noticed my hands were sweaty. Meanwhile, I found my classroom and took a seat in the corner. I heard my new classmates, fluent and confident in conversation at English, a strange and unfamiliar language for me. They turned to face me and tried to engage me in conversation, but I was silent. I felt uncomfortable, scared, nervous, and confused. I wanted to share my emotions, but I was like a newborn baby who couldn’t explain themselves. I realized that English would be my survival and I aspired to be a fluent English speaker.

The teacher came in and turned on the smart board, but I was stupefied with grief. My classmates pull out their pens and concentrated, wrote in their notebooks with speed. The “ssssss” of their writing surrounded me. I knew I must write something, but I was at a loss. I felt flustered and hopeless and noted that I had a hard time with comprehension. About twenty minutes later, I heard an intense discussion around me and the teacher passed the book Fahrenheit 451 to us. That book was like a heavy stone for me because I could barely read some simple words from the text. My first day of classes passed with my muddlehead.

It was a long day for me. I spent it in despair. When I got home, I tried to complete my first assignment and sort through my feelings. I locked myself in the room and tried to read the book Fahrenheit 451, but most of the vocabulary was new for me. I didn’t understand the information and could not read in English. Depressed from the lack of English and the encounter at school, I cried hysterically. It was an unprecedented, hopeless feeling I never saw before. My mom came in and patted me gently on the back. Then she showed me a video of a blind man reading his book in braille. I felt hopeful and inspirational because I picked up the book Fahrenheit 451 with regained confidence and decided to attempt to learn. I noticed that if I read the paragraph multiple times, I could predict the meaning of new vocabulary. I wrote down those new vocabulary words and tried to remember them. As the book Fahrenheit 451 mentioned, if people could not read, everyone in the world would be blindness and lack of ideology. The book inspired me to learn. I was confident and tried to ask questions while I returned to the class. As the years passed, I had a great improvement on myself under my tireless efforts.

We should not abandon education or reading in our lives even though we face struggles. Reading has improved my English and communication skills, and it widens my vocabulary, gives me great opportunities to work on differences position like a librarian and teacher assistant. Now, I am an enlightened teacher who teaches children who learn Chinese as native English speakers. Without reading, I would never have this breakthrough.

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