Yunze Xie

ESL 33B
Professor Ingle
Language Learning
Like many of F-1 student, I came to America two years ago and finished my college
here. It was a new start for me, and I faced this challenge. English, as a second
language for me, is the main problem I have to solve in America. Nowadays, more
and more people are going to learn English for their second language. Some of them
do a really good job, and they can communicate with local Americans fluent.
However, others of them do not learn English well although they work hard by
themselves. The main reason is the way they learn English. For me, I cannot say if I
success because I am still learning English in my own way. It can be good or bad, but
at least I gain lots of valuable experience from my way to learn English.
I had a long English learning history. The English lesson was built when I was in
primary school. At that time, I learned some easy English such as how to say hello to
others and etc. I did not use too much time to learn it because I thought English is not
very important for me. Therefore, what I did was try my best to know how to get high
marks but not used it often in daily life. However, I had changed my thought until my
foreign professor Jackson taught me. Our school added a new class called crossinternational communication class in order to let student knew the importance of
English. Then, Mr.Jackson was our professor. I remembered that almost the whole
class were embarrassed in the first day because our introduction only includes our

name and our hobbies. However, professor Jackson did not feel bad about us. He told
us some funny stories about how Chinese people communicate with Americans. For
example, a Chinese female tourist did not know how to ask for the location of
restroom in English and acted like the people who will do in the restroom. The whole
class laughed and listened to Jacksons class carefully. After the first class, I interested
in English and became eager to learn it. As Amy states, I am someone who has
always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. ... --the way it can
evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. (P.47) I wanted
to learn more English because I was attracted by it, and I also wanted to communicate
with different people. To own a second language is such a wonderful thing, and
people will obsessed by it. Whats more, language is a communication tool between
countries, so it is necessary to learn English.
Personally, I am a growth mind-set student. As Dweck says in his article, They
learned that the brain is like a muscle -- the more they exercise it, the stronger it
becomes. I have the same experience and thought with Dweck. Once I met professor
Jackson in schools department store, he bought a drink with a fluent Chinese that
makes me feel unbelievable. So I said hello to him and praised his Chinese was so
well. Then he told me how he learn Chinese. At first, he did not know a little Chinese,
so he attended Chinese class to learn Chinese. His accent always made his classmate
laugh, but he still talked a lot. After that, he tried his best to talk with passengers and
bought things by himself. People who he talked with feel strange first, but familiar
with him and talked a lot with him later. Therefore, professor Jackson finished his

learning in Chinese, and he could communicate with Chinese people easy. Suddenly I
felt he was the person that I want to be. Therefore, I made a decision to exercise my
English in his way. when talking with people in English, I did not feel much nervous
than before. Sometimes I listened to different ideas from the people that I talked with
and improved my English speaking as much as possible. Therefore, it became my
own method to learn English as a growth mind-set person.
After finished my senior high, I decided to come to America and began my college
study in PCC. I had my first English class in America. It was a new start for me, and I
was enjoyed myself here. At that time, my professor divided us into different groups
and each group member comes from different countries. We had to introduce
ourselves and finished classwork. Firstly, I felt a little nervous until one of my group
member taught, my groups became viable. Then we talked a lot and shared our
personal information such as added Facebook each other. I became dynamic because
each member in my team was friendly and loved to share their experience in learning
English. Therefore, I disagreed with Anzias idea that Maybe Id have to change
myself inside and out to be one of them. (P.38) Although language is a barrier to
communicate with foreigner, people should be positive to participate in this group
and try to talk with others friendly. Sometimes, people have to be open so that they
can learn and integrate in the small society. Thus, I enjoyed myself in talking with
these guys so that I felt much more confident in college life.
People is not always perfect when they learning knowledge, and so am I. I have a
bad habit that I always translate English into Chinese when I was learning English.

Because Chinese is my mother language, I always want to translate English in

Chinese first in order to know the meaning of the words. Therefore, I have a problem
that many students have called Chinese English. Amy claims that ... Why there are
not more Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs? ... And this makes
me think that there are other Asian-American who English spoken in the home might
also be described as broken or limited. This bad habit was pointed out by my ESL
professor in a paper that I wrote. She had faced a lot of student like me, so she used a
class to talk about this problem and solve it. Although this method could help us learn
English more comfortable, it created a problem that we studied an uncompleted
English. Therefore, our professor suggested us to do more reading and used English
dictionary to check words that we dont know and made the summary of the reading
by own words. Personally, I have to say this method really help me by the way.
Last but not least, I want to improve my English in this semester. As a growth
mind-set student, I have to find the most comfortable and useful way for me to learn
English. Also, I should be stronger in solving problems. I felt excited that I have many
classmates study each other and such a good professor teaching me. Therefore, I will
use and perfect the good method that I learned before to enhance my English learning.

Citation:

1. I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in

daily life. ... --the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a
simple truth.(47)

Amy Tan, Mother Tongue,Guidelines,book,2/10/15

2. They learned that the brain is like a muscle -- the more they exercise it, the
stronger it becomes. Carol S. Dweck,The Perils and Promises of Praise,2/10/15
3. Maybe Id have to change myself inside and out to be one of them. (38)
Anzia Yezierska,College, Guidelines,book,2/10/15
4. ... Why there are not more Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs?
... And this makes me think that there are other Asian-American who English spoken
in the home might also be described as broken or limited. (50)
Amy Tan,Mother Tongue,Guidelines,book,2/10/15