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Personal Narrative: Immigration To The United States

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“Papa, no te vayas!” (Daddy, don’t go!) Those were the words that I said with tears streaming down my face every time my dad left our home in Mexico to return to California. I recall this fractured family existence, this inevitable sacrifice of separation in order to survive for seven long years, until my parents decided that it was time to reunite in the United States and finally become a stable family. While the United States was a new setting for my family, it was not a new place for me as it was my birth country. Yet, I remember feeling harassed and excluded, common emotions among immigrants to the U.S. and this new emotion created a fear I was unaccustomed to; I felt scared of this new lifestyle and of the limited possibilities.
When I …show more content…

All my teacher did was asked me, “Le entiendes (Do you understand)?” I would just nod “no” while millions of thought were exploding on my head. I didn’t understand why he was a teacher. Most likely he didn’t even know what to be a teacher meant. All I wanted to do was learned I didn’t want to be isolated and send to the blue carpet to read Clifford while the other kids where either playing games in the computer or doing their work. The inability to complete daily tasks that my classmates could complete often left me feeling as though I did not belong. I felt that I simply attended class to ruin their perfect picture, but when an opportunity arose I took advantage of …show more content…

After the transition, everything became the opposite of how it was in the original classroom. My new teacher dedicated his time to help me learn English; his kindness inspired me to commit myself to learn. He wasn’t Hispanic and spoke a little Spanish. He didn’t isolated me, he would involve in the class discussions. When he assigned work after dismissing everyone he would go with me and made sure I understood what I was supposed to do. One day he had a meeting with my parents and told them that I was a smart kid and the only thing holding me behind was the language, so he offered to help after school every day to give me English lessons. I had an opportunity right in front of me and I took advantage of it. I started with the alphabet and made my way to getting reclassified in five years, by the end of my eighth grade year.
I began high school as a fluent English speaker yet there were still many vocabulary that I did not understand. However, I did not give up and when I finally reached the eleventh grade; I took an AP English Language class. This class proved to be more challenging but I did not give up; in fact, I enjoyed the challenge. I knew that if I accepted the challenge, my only option was to successfully complete the course. This was when I realized that I thrive on academic challenges, as they make me grow. I passed my class and I learned that the

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