Foreign Language

While I was cleaning up my ornaments off the Christmas tree, my dad called us. “We have an opportunity to move to the U.S.” It was a shock. I didn’t want to lose all my Korean friends and start a new language with people I didn’t know at all. I just imagined myself studying English all day, and I suddenly got scared.

Later, my parents confirmed that we’re going to the U.S., without my and my brother’s permission. I was disappointed. That day, I was told that I have to take a vocabulary and spelling test every weekend. So, I studied 30 minutes a day to at least get half of the questions right. The first test wasn’t great. I got less than half right. After the test, I made a new routine for memorizing the words and eventually, the scores started to improve.

Weeks after I moved to America, I started to go to school. I was basically a mute during the whole school day. The first semester was complicated. My teacher had to use a translator to tell me the instructions for an assignment. Every day I came home from school, I was exhausted. I even thought, “Why was I forced to come to the U.S.?” These challenges made me sad, but I reminded myself to be brave, and not just to be a kid who’s scared of speaking.

Although communication with classmates wasn’t good, I slowly started to build confidence. I found friends to talk to, and chatting with them unbelievably improved my speaking skills. In fourth grade, I met my teacher Ms. Tripathi, who was really strict about learning. According to my dad, she said she would take good care of my English. Before school, she tutored me with something called “Jr. Scholastic.” That day, I realized, “Wow, she is really trying to help me.”

After all, through Tripathi’s teachings, I got used to speaking English and living in America. I discussed my school life with my parents, and I noticed that my feelings toward the school changed! At first, I was negative about everything that’s related to English, but eventually, I started to like this place better than Korea.

Even though moving was hard, it strengthened me. Experiencing hardship changed me from an introvert to an extrovert who not only communicates with a second language, but also stands up to strong challenges.