Personal Narrative-Overcoming English As A Second Language

Before I turned four years old, my mother and I moved to join my father in Berwyn, Illinois. My sister ended having to stay back a couple of months so that she could finish her school year. We arrived to a nice apartment in the suburbs, it was a complete scenery change than what I was use to. Everyone seemed to have giant yards, bright green grass, large fences, and freshly painted houses. Back in Fresnillo, we had our large home, but it was rare for houses to have such large yards, so close to the heart of the town. From the time of the move until my first year in kindergarten, I had a bit of time to adjust, watching cartoons in English, I am not quite sure how I picked it up but I did. At that time my mother only spoke Spanish, my father is bilingual, but he would speak to us in Spanish.

Moving from Jordan to the United States was challenging for my family. I was the only child at the time and my parents primarily spoke Arabic in the house. The elementary teachers I had described me as a timid student, because I could barely speak English. I had difficulty with simple reading and writing, while other students went through class with ease. Needing extra tutoring classes and years of being in ESL was exhausting. However, learning how to read, write, and speak English fluently was only the beginning of my journey.

I plan to become a Cardiovascular Surgeon, since my goal is to help cure patients with heart disease and find alternatives to certain medications for people with heart problems. While this is a difficult task to accomplish and will require a tremendous amount of effort, education and discipline. The education I have been receiving from the outstanding professors at Lone Star have greatly influenced me towards accomplishing my goal of becoming a doctor. In addition, the advisors have been extremely helpful towards placing me on the right path towards success. Both the professors and advisors on campus have greatly influenced and encouraged me to succeed in both inside and outside the class

My family’s euphoria refueled our motivation to chase the American Dream. I finally started kindergarten after 5 months in the United States. I had already finished kindergarten in Mexico, but due to my birthday being after August and because I was yet to learn to write and speak English, I was forced to repeat kindergarten. I was learning to speak English at a surprising rate. Everything was going more smoothly for the family. Although not as an electrician, my father found a job and I helped him with some of the English I knew to fill out applications and communicate with people. I finally started to feel that life in the U.S might be worth

Being part of the Dual Language program is an experience I cherish because of how it molded me into the person I am today; someone who appreciates their two cultures. I was apart of the Dual Language club in high school, that was a club for bilingual students and for Dual Language students. Further, being part of a diverse program made me realize that I want to continue to celebrate and appreciate my two cultures. The Dual Language program exposed me to a culture embedded in my roots, for that I am thankful for it. Being active and part of two different cultures has impacted me more than any other experience.

On July 20, 2012, a major tragedy happened in Aurora Colorado during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes willingly without showing no remorse entered the movie theater Century 16 at Town Center. He was resembling the Joker with red hair wearing a gas mask and body armor murdering 12 people and wounding 70 people. A jury found Holmes guilty on 24 counts of first degree murder, two counts for each of the 12 victims. Also, he was found guilty of 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded (Biography, 2016). James Holmes’ life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre, the significance of the case from a behavioral and security management perspective, the response time by the theater staff and law enforcement, the legal and ethical considerations in this incident and what learning outcomes are relevant to this case study will be some of the highlights covered in this case analysis.

In fact, throughout the years, I have wanted to be nearly every kind of doctor that there is: family practitioner, pediatric surgeon, neurosurgeon, cardiac surgeon, oncologist, and so on. However, for the last three years, I have been intent on becoming a pediatric surgeon. The thought of saving children’s lives someday has motivated me to excel not only in my school work, but also in every extra-curricular activity I participate in. Over the past four years, I have overcome every obstacle and trial set before me and have accomplished many dreams that I never thought I would achieve. I ran a half marathon with some of my greatest friends, became one of the valedictorians of my graduating class, and achieved the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout after six years of interminable work. Each of these accomplishments taught me one invaluable lesson; I can achieve anything that I set my mind too. Unfortunately, the road to achieve my goal of becoming a surgeon is long, arduous, and costly. With mounds of debt in the foreseeable future, my parents and I are diligently searching for scholarships to help me along the way. That is why it would be an honor to receive the American Legion Scholarship; so that I can once again overcome the odds and achieve my impossible

I was born in Kerala, India and was raised in Chicago, IL. I came to America at the age of three hoping for a better future. My father came to America first, and he lived with my Aunt who had three sons. After two years my father saved enough money to bring my mom, sister, and I to the US. During this time he would work as a dishwasher at a nursing home to support my family. After a month of living with my Aunty and her kids my dad found an apartment to rent. Eventually, we moved into a tiny one-bedroom apartment with my family. That was the hardest time period for me due to language barriers. My sister and I started to learn English. However, my parents were struggling to learn a new language so we would have to go everywhere with them to translate. Another, difficulty that we faced was financial issues. At that time we were making ends-meet and we were scraping every penny that we got. Afterwards, my mom got her CNA license she started working two jobs when I was only four years old. Even till this day she is still working two jobs to support the

All of my life growing up I dreamt of being a physician. I wanted to be able to help individuals who like myself had never had access to health care because although my family was on the federal poverty level never received Medicare benefits. Purchasing health insurance was out of the question, because the odds of getting sick were way lower than not being able to pay the rent. To achieve this dream I took baby steps, I attended a technical vocational high school (MLEC) in which I received a vocational degree in Firefighting and

On September 1, 2012 I moved to Virginia, United States. Many can say that, but to me it is one of the greatest things I have done in life. Being born in Puerto Rico, an island in which Spanish is the main language, the wish of learning English was constantly in my mind. As I grew up I started to take English courses in school; however, the courses were not as effective, since I only learned the basics of English. Later on after graduating from sixth grade I was enrolled in a bilingual private school. The fact that the school was mostly in English and that it was private challenged my learning even more than in a public school. Although the school was a great one, I was doing badly accademically. It wasn’t until the school year was over that I decided to move to the state of Virginia in order to begin with my journey. A journey in which I learned many things from life and because of this experience I am preapared to overcome anything that comes between me and what I want.

Coming from a new country I had to face many challenges. All these challenges made who I am today. When I came to the United States in 7th grade, I barely knew how to speak English. The language barrier posed a serious problem for me. I found it difficult to interact with people. Adjusting to a new country was no easy task. When my family and I came to this country, we knew only one other family. It was even more difficult for my parents who knew virtually no English. They had to learn how to work and provide for me and my siblings in this entirely new country with a completely different culture. Despite having a better background in English, it still took me over two years to become fluent in English. Although coming to America and having

Some students are fortunate enough to be offered English as a Second Language classes (abbreviated ESL) or bilingual programs in school. Sandy Yanes, a third grade

Zeus, god of all gods, it must be hard to control all the Greek gods. I personally would not be able to handle all those gods, I can barely control my dog! So anyway, I thought “hey wouldn’t it be nice if Zeus came to the school and controlled the teachers to give no homework!” Also, make a thunderstorm when we have to go outside for gym!

Depressants are psychoactive drugs that temporarily diminish the normal function of the brain and central nervous system (Depressant Drug Abuse and Side Effects, 2017). These drugs include opiates and opioids, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, tranquilizers, and alcohol. Due to their effects, these drugs can sometimes be referred to as "downers.” These drugs come in multicolored tablets and capsules and sometimes in liquid form. Regular use of any of these drugs can lead to "drug tolerance." That means that the body adjusts to them and it takes a higher and higher dose to achieve the desired effect. Dependence also can develop from drug use, meaning symptoms of withdraw will occur if the person discontinues taking the drug all of a sudden. Depressants

Today, it was a challenge working with an individual who spoke very minimal English. I found this challenge to be very helpful because this is a common problem in the area that I am from. Many individuals in my home town area only speak Spanish, so it was interesting in seeing how a language barrier can affect the direct health care for a patient. I felt that the language barrier was a problem for the care for this patient because I felt that we were not able to address and assess his pain as accurately as we could have. We understood that he was in pain but he was not able to describe the pain to or tell us what relived his pain or made his pain worse. The things that went well today was I was able to use many skills that I have not been