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Ui Jeong Lee
Mrs. Parsons
English 106
2/4/2014
Journey Towards Literacy
Staring at my classmate, I froze with my mouth open. I knew exactly what I wanted to
say, but my thoughts were in the language foreign to her. Frustrated, I kept closing and opening
my mouth repeatedly, trying to find the right words in English and piece them together in a
correct grammar. Meanwhile, my classmate stared back with a confused face. After my
exaggerated gestures and a string of English words in an awkward grammar, my classmates face
brightened, signaling her comprehension. Ohhhhhhh, she said, you can get to the cafeteria by
going upstairs and turning right towards the principals office. Then, it was my turn to stare at
her with confusion, as I could not understand what she had just said. These kinds of
conversations were all too common during my first few months as a high school freshman.
Because I had recently moved to the United States from South Korea, my ability to speak, read,
and write in English was dreadful. In order to survive in school, I fervently sought to overcome
the language barrier. I aim to describe my four-year journey towards becoming literate in English
and life lessons I learned in the process.
Being born and having spent my entire childhood in South Korea, I grew up speaking
Korean as my first language. In my childhood, I focused on increasing my critical reading and
writing skills in Korean by reading Korean texts and studying for exams in Korean elementary
and middle school. I became accustomed to diverse Korean idioms and proverbs, as well as
different connotations of phrases in the context of Korean social and cultural norms. Although I
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had been learning English as my second language, it never occurred to me that I would one day
live in an English-speaking country and put much more effort on refining my literacy in Korean.
It came as a huge surprise, when my parents announced to me during my last year of
middle school, that I would be transitioning to a high school in the United States to complete my
education. Because my parents believed that the fluency in English would become invaluable to
my future career and the international experience would expand my vision and increase my sense
of independence. They decided to send me to the United States after I finished my middle school.
As a middle-school student, I became frightened about the prospect going to a school in a foreign
county where the official language is English and imagining where I would be the only girl who
has black hair with black eyeballs blinking inquisitively. The mere thought of reading texts and
writing essays in English made me dizzy.
Ladies and gentleman, this flight is heading to Seattle International Airport.
When the plane to United States took off, however, my fear and distress vanished and
was replaced by the feeling of excitement. Through the window, I watched South Korea
becoming smaller and smaller and eventually disappearing through the clouds.
The next day, Kings High School was where I will be attending. The first class I went
to at Kings High School was a 9
th
grade English class. Upon entering English class, I was
immediately confronted by the inevitable language barrier. In order to keep up with students who
speak English as their first language, I realized I needed to be proactive and put in large efforts to
learning English. In English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, I sought to memorize as much
English terms as possible and to learn grammatical structures. In other classes, such as math and
science, it was difficult to understand teachers lectures due to the language barrier and I stayed
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afterschool almost every day. Teachers were only source for me to go over parts of the lectures I
was confused about.
At home, I started reading the English version of the Harry Potter series; as a die-hard
fan of Harry Potter at that time, I had read and watched movies the Korean translation countless
before coming to the United States. Because I was very familiar with the story and even
memorized many lines in the books, reading them in English was not too difficult. As I became
more accustomed to reading Harry Potter in English, facilitated by the ruthless memorization of
English words and grammar in ESL classes, I became more comfortable reading other English
texts. Reading two chapters a day in United States History class, reading lab manuals for Biology
class and understanding homework assignment came fairly easy to me as time goes. Reading a
Harry Potter series in English and enthusiasm in ESL class brought me up to this point.
To further adjust to new school environment and learn how to speak in English, I made
efforts to overcome my shyness and approach my classmates. In the beginning, there were many
awkward and frustrating moments I had to face. It was crystal clear in my head the things I
wanted to say in Korean, however, the process of translating in my head and articulating in the
correct pronunciation was painstaking, especially in time-sensitive settings. There were countless
times I just wanted to blurt out my thoughts in Korean. For instance, only a few weeks after my
freshman year started, I was walking towards my locker during the short break between classes.
On my way, I realized I dropped my student ID in the hallway and frantically turned back.
At the opposite end of the hallway, a boy shouted, Hey! Someone dropped a student ID!
Whose is it? I knew it was mine. I wanted to shout out loud give it back! It is mine!
immediately. However, I faced reality.
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Ne-ggu-ya! I shouted in Korean out of urgency, and sprang towards the boy. I still
remember the facial expression of the boy. He looked startled when I shouted in foreign
language that he could not understand. Ne-ggu-ya! translates to its mine! in English. While
I was able to retrieve my wallet, this incidence demonstrates my instinct to use Korean over
English. Although it was difficult in the beginning, I made many good friends in the end, which
greatly helped to improve my speaking skills. Going to my friends birthday parties, having
sleepovers, and going out places to places with friends made me to become more familiar with
idioms and connotations of different English phrases.
One year later, as I became more literate in English through diverse mechanisms, I
realized the importance of understanding social and cultural values in interpreting passages. In
order to critically read and fully appreciate the subtle meanings of the texts, I began to think
deeply about American ideals. In the articles written by historical figures, I read about the value
of liberty and freedom of speech. In American literary works, I found fascinating how they
uphold the values of individuality and diversity, as depicted in William Faulkners The Sound
and the Fury. One of the things that poignantly stuck out to me in The Sound and the Fury was
Faulkners narrative style: the way he writes each section from a different point of view of
characters. Faulkner attempts to illustrate the world through the eyes of different characters and
bring out the voice of the characters. Faulkners writing style seems to be good example of the
value of individuality in the United States. By reading historical and literary works, I was able to
gain insights into the societal norms and cultural values in the United States.
As my reading skills improved, my writing skills also improved, enabling me to articulate
my thoughts to readers who are literate in English. I learned about the structure of essay, such as
introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion. I also learned to incorporate English
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words I memorized in ESL classes into sentences of diverse grammatical structures. Although it
was difficult, my teachers encouraged me to keep on trying. After I wrote my essays, my
teachers edited and showed me ways to improve my writing styles. They provided valuable
advices and insights about the techniques of writing. After many tries, I found myself gaining
confidence in writing and my teachers were delighted to see the progress I had made in
improving my writing. I was extremely grateful to my teachers, who were supportive in my
efforts to improve literacy. Afterwards, I excitedly joined the Journalism club, in which students
write, edit, and publish school newspaper. This gave me opportunities to read and edit my peers
writings, which further helped to improve my writing. It was a great chance for me to use my
learned English skills. Becoming literate in English gave me ability to participate better in the
school community.
Overall, four years of my journey towards becoming literate in English taught me
invaluable life lessons. I learned to overcome my fear of learning a new language and make
proactive efforts to break down the language barrier. I learned to actively seek out the help of the
ESL class and supportive teachers and friends and also to take my own initiative in improving
reading, writing and speaking skills. Although I became literate in English in high school, I
realize I still have a long way to go. Over the course of college, I look forward to continuing to
refine my reading and writing skills. Literacy in English language gave me a hope that one day I
will have a job using both English and Korean language. My journey is still ongoing. After four
ears of journey, by the time I will be graduating college, skills I learned through my journey will
contribute to my bigger dream.