Why Am I Here Studying English?

Why am I here studying English? I study English because I am a new immigrant in America. I need to study English to survive, to get a job, to make a living, to make my American dream come true. I had a hard time finding and working on my first job. Because I didn't speak enough English, nobody wanted to hire me. My first job was in a garment factory sewing clothes. I worked many hours every day, but I earned only a very small amount of salary. I didn't like the job and wanted to change my life.

To make a change, I must first learn English. So I started looking for a good school. It took me some time to find a good school. There are many schools in Chinatown now. They all teach new immigrants English. I tried some of them but didn't like them and quit vey soon. I didn't like them because in most of these schools, the teachers only spoke English and didn't speak Chinese. When we read something and had some new words I didn't understand. I asked the teacher for help. The teacher explained it to me in English. But I still didn't understand after the explanation because there were some words in the explanation I didn't understand.

Also, many of these schools or classses didn't teach grammar. We are adults, not children. Children many not need grammar to speak English because they spend a lot of time in school speaking English and hearing other people speak English. but we don't have chances to hear people speaking English at home or on our job in Chinatown. Some schools taught too fast, three to four lessons a week. I couldn't catch up.

Now I have finally found a good one: BMCC-HMH ESL class. My teacher is a hard-working man. He teaches me conversation, vocabulary and grammar. We also learn about the news. Local, national and international. We live in New York City, and we need to know what is going on around us.

It is hard to learn English at our age. I find it especially difficult to remember new words. What I learn today, I may forget next week, or even tomorrow. But I will not give up. I must work hard at my English so that I can improve my English and get a good job, and volunteer to help others.

About Me

My name is Chun Yi Li. I come from Canton, China. I speak Cantonese. I came to America in 1987. I have been here for 20 years. I live in Chinatown. I don’t have a job now. I am taking an ESL class to study English. I am married. I have two children. One is 17. The other is 11. They both go to school. My husband works in a restaurant. We have a happy family. We enjoy our life here.