Ruibin Chen ENGL106 Brittany Biesiada 03 September 2013 Mr.

Smith When I first moved to America, my English writing was definitely not at its best stage. My writing was being compared to middle school students, sometimes even with elementary school students. I never really felt confident in writing an English paper. I had one experience I had in High School taught me an important lesson, in which it motivated me to actually try to write better, instead of keep on trying to avoid it. After one year of being in ELD (English learning department), I was finally transferred to regular English. However, I was still one year lower, which means I was a sophomore in high school taking English class with freshman students. At first, it already gave me a bit of pressure just taking class with under classmates; I always had a feeling they were going to look down on me. Our English teacher was a tall black man, who spoke very humorously and in an exaggerated fashion, and another interesting fact was, his girlfriend is Taiwanese. All these came down on me as if I have never been in this world before. Because back in China, seeing a black man was already a rare thing, and knowing that a black man is dating a Taiwanese girl, it was unimaginable for a Chinese boy. I felt like I was an alien. I was the only immigrant student in the whole class, everyone was local, who spoke fluent English and wrote great papers. And there was me, a young Chinese boy, looking confused and overwhelmed by the situation he was in. For the first time, I was the

person who sat in the corner and didnt talk to anyone; it was such a contrast to my actual personality. After a couple days we started to read our first book of the year, To Kill a Mockingbird. I would definitely say it was a complicated book for a foreign student to read, and it was given as my first legit English assignment. I can clearly remember, after I read the first couple pages, I felt like my eyes were running through these letters that I have no idea what they meant. There were just so many unfamiliar vocabularies in each sentence, and that made my reading extremely difficult. After going back and forth between the dictionary and the book for about half of the chapter, I gave up on my first reading assignment, and I barely scraped by my first reading notes. So with that same habit, I read through my first English book without actually understanding it. I did not seek for help from my teacher, because first I thought he looked scary. To be honest, a Chinese boy who just came to America still believes in the stereotype of a black person. And second, my English speaking was nowhere close to the level of communicating my struggles with a teacher, so I did what I could to survive the assignment. Then it came down to writing the analysis essay after reading every single High School English book, my first essay. This essay was just like a brick wall that I could never go through, adding on the fact that I never really understood the book, this wall was more like a brick wall with a big piece of metal plates in front of it, it was mission impossible. However, it was still an assignment that I had to finish, so with little that I know, I went straight in the paper without doing any brainstorming or preparing, and typed out my first essay in 3 hours.

I turned it in with no confident at all, thinking I will get a C. But the result was so shocking that I couldnt take it at the time, I received an F, the first F of my entire student life so far. It was so harsh that I suddenly woke up from being lazy and realized that English wasnt something that I can just scarp by with, I couldnt avoid my weakness, but instead, I had to face it and make it my strength. I didnt know how to start, because just blindly going back to read the book wasnt going to work, so I decided to use Sparknotes to help me understand, even though teachers strongly suggest not using it, but I thought it was the only way out. By using Sparknotes I did gain a better understanding of the book, but it definitely wasnt good enough to write the paper. Then, I did something I would never imagine myself at that time would do, I went to the teacher seeking for help, and at that moment I believed Ive found my literacy sponsor, my black English teacher. I used my broken English to explain my situation, I told him I couldnt understand the book with my current English level, but I really wanted to do well, or at least have some improvement. Still trying to be humorous, he said, Dont worry, with your English level, there are a lot of rooms for improvement, this is a good first step you took, by talking to me, and this is exactly why I was being so harsh and gave you the F. I was never used to this way of learning, where the teacher fails me first, and then make me to go to them for advice. The way Chinese teacher do is when they fail you; you dont have any chance of gaining it back, or ask for extra help. I was so surprised by the education system here, and was really motivated to start learning.

First start by dissecting sentences, and understanding each sentence one by one, then combine the whole meaning into one paragraph, at first it would be slow, but as you go on with the book, you will get it real fast. My teacher said. I listened closely, and draw down some notes as if those words that came out of his mouth were treasures. I put these treasures in my notebook, and carefully followed them to read my book, and of course, as long as you put in the effort, the result will always be good. I spent one weekend reading the book, and at last, I had a pretty well understanding of what was going on. With this understanding, I once again went to my teacher and seeking for help on writing. Hi... Mr. Smith. I said with a shaky voice. He smiled at me, then he turned to the class and said, Class, today we will be reviewing our last essay, if any of you have questions or want to rewrite for a higher grade, come talk to me, but first I am helping this young man first. Once again, I was surprised by this teacher. Being the shy Chinese boy I was back then, I did not want the whole classs attention on me; however, I took the pressure and stayed calm. We finally sat down and started to work on rewrite. Its always hard to start an essay, no matter how he helped me to brainstorm, I still could not decide on how to start my essay. Man, can you just be a man, and decided what you want? Mr. Smith said with a joking voice. I am sorry, I dont know how to start. I said as I giggle a little. Ok, you can start by using a quote, any quote, it can be a modern one, ancient one, or even like a saying from China.

I suddenly heard the word China. How hard can that be to use a saying from China on my essay? My first essay started with an old saying from China. Then, I just kept on going with my ideas and simple English, but Mr. Smith kept on smiling and nodding at my work. I felt happy and accomplished. Finally, after a couple days of revision, I was ready to turn in my essay. Mr. Smith gave me a B+ on this assignment; I knew that my essay wasnt actually a B+ essay. He gave me the B as a grade of effort that I fought through and struggles, and bravely went to him for help. My literary sponsor Mr. Smith taught me my first English lesson in my pursue of education in the United States. He taught me I have to face my struggles, and if I cannot fight the struggle myself, I should seek help from my teachers instead of trying to avoid it. This lesson helped me throughout my whole high school education, and every time I face a problem, I will always remember Mr. Smith, and keep on going.