Personal Narrative: Languag Language

At the age of twelve, I left the woman I love the most in Vietnam to start a new life with my dad in the United States. I was always wondering why my mom decided to stay. But as I have grown up, I realized that she sacrificed to stay there. Two weeks in the US, I started poignant homesickness. I cry, cry a lot, almost crying every night . Crying because I miss my mom, friends, neighbors, remember the crowds and smog choking motorcycle which I hated when I was at home, I miss my homeland. I remember the first day I went to an American middle school, I was clueless, difficulty in communication and the people around me have different cultures, and ethnicity. When in Vietnam, I felt so confident and proud of myself. But in the United States, I started isolating people, I felt inferior and started developing a shell to cover myself from the world.

Language is a key to pursue a life in a foreign country.

Live in America without knowing English, life is still deadlocked. On the first day of school, I realized how important it is to know English. It was hard to survive in America if I was having trouble speaking English at the age I supposed go to school. Feeling the contempt of others because of my lack of English, I did not hesitate to make myself better so people hardly look at me with eyes of despise. Here, at middle school, I met Mr. Davidson. He was the kindest teacher that I have ever know. He teaches English Language Development class, I felt lucky that I was in his

class.
Everything to me was a big fat zero; I was no different from a baby, toddler learning to walk. The most important above all are the environment, and good living conditions for the future. Believing in my ability, I accept to throw myself in. Each time deciding whether to leave or stay is not a simple matter. Aside from money, time, and emotional effort of many relatives, I have to be mature and have to take an informed decision on the road ahead. When I was completely blank and about to give up, Mr. Davidson gave me hope, his sincere way of teaching helped me to understand more English. He taught me to have trust in myself, I accepted because I know, for me this is only temporary. Another time, when life here is familiar, familiar roads, fluent English. Life is easier, and there are more possibilities for me to achieve my American Dreams.
Most people would define a good teacher as someone who makes their students excel academically and do well on their tests. But Mr. Davidson honestly does not fit in a category of teachers, he is more like a second dad to me. I rely on him greatly, I never thought that the latter would have to leave him and begin to live independently in a new school. I still remember this moment when Mr. Davidson was throwing the trash away, I looked at it and said: “ Many trash". Because of the habit of translated from Vietnamese into English and then speak, the way I say is pretty odd. But Mr. Davidson smiled and corrected my mistake by saying” Say a lot of trash instead.” It is like a whole new world when I discovered the word "a lot", whenever I say that word, memories came rushing back and I realized how silly I was back then.
Mr. Davidson was an excellent, fabulous teacher. He has made an impact on my life, and by him doing so, I am now considered myself as a bilingual all the thankful and grateful for him for what he did in which it led me to success. For now, I have found a way not to be the same again. Road becomes more and more bright as I keep walking. Just look carefully, there will be the way.
As time goes by, my shell begins to shake off and I become a free butterfly, exploring the world. I want to be popular; I want to become a new person, so I joined the badminton team, because when join a sports team, everybody seems to know you. The preconditioning required lots of running, not a sporty person and to me it was tough. But I never gave up, ran my very hardest, have been through the whole process, from preconditioning to the final cut. It was great being in a team, I made a lot of new friends and we gradually become a family. Badminton has shaped me into a competitive person, every time our school has a game, I always wanted to win, being the winner feels satisfied with what I have been sacrificed for.
Looking back at the time when I was not confident in myself and now, I see a whole lot of differences. My world changes, and my new world shape me into a new person. I become more extrovert, every Sunday, I get up very early in the morning to go to the temple and help the nuns make dumplings, I found it very fascinating. Not only for community service, but it has gradually become part of my routine, and I feel the responsibility toward it. The temple is like a natural healing power, all the stresses from school just go away when I am there. My mind gets fresher, and I feel more relaxed. Also, going to temple helps change my personality too, I learn to be patient, that feeling when doing things to help other people is so great.