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Essay Contest Results (6th Annual, 2011)
Theme
"How has your community helped you learn English?"
Winning Essays
Grades 4-8 | Grades 9-12 |
University & Adult
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Grades 4-8 |
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WINNER
Shahrzad Nayeri
Oyster Bay School District
Teacher:
Ms. Cuniglio
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HONORABLE MENTION
Roxana Alvarez
South Huntington School
District
Teacher: Ms. Lopez |
My community has
helped me to learn English by talking to me in English
and explaining words that I didn't understand. My
school gave me ESL classes so I would do better with
my school work. Also, I watched movies with my friends
and I asked them to explain the words I didn't know.
Facebook has helped me learn English the most. I
had Facebook back in Iran, but I never learned English
with it. When I came here and I used Facebook, I
learned so many new words in only 3 weeks. Even with
Twitter I started following people and I could see
their tweets and whenever I didn't know a word, I
asked my friends.
At home, I learned so many
new words, too, because my dad is from the USA, so he
speaks English and I had to listen to him when he
talked. I started asking questions to my dad. I also
used to go to the mall with my friends, they would
always explained new words to me.
I learned
writing in school. I couldn't write anything in the
first few months that I was here, and I didn't know
anything and couldn't understand what people were
saying, so it made me feel awkward. Luckily, my
friends always helped me and bought me lunch everyday
for the first few months and they helped me a lot. My
teachers helped me a lot, too. It's been a year and a
half and now I can speak and write English.
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The community
helped me improve my English language skills. My
family is from El Salvador. They travel to Florida. My
parents knew how to speak English. Then, they came
here to New York.
I learn English when I was 5
years old. Before, I only knew how to speak Spanish
because my parents only spoke Spanish, in the house.
My older sister knew how to speak both languages
(English and Spanish.) She showed me how to write
English. Then, she showed me how to speak. I didn't
know how to speak very well, but then I develop how to
write and talk English when I got older. My parents
wanted me to go to school and I was very excited.
Then, it was the first day of school. My teacher
Mrs. Stein showed me some words that I didn't know.
The numbers were hard to me, but then I understood my
1, 2, 3's. I was very proud of myself. The 1, 2, 3's
was different from Spanish because the 1, 2, 3 sounded
differently from Spanish. Then, when we learn the
ABC's it was really hard. I mixed my "m" with "n", and
"j" and "i". Then, a couple of months I knew which one
was which. My parents were proud of me.
When I
was little I watched shows that help me develop my
English. My 1st show was "Dora the Explorer." It
showed me how to speak English. Every word I didn't
know I practice saying it. Then, my 2nd favorite show
was "Sesame Street." It showed me numbers, letters,
and words. I love that show and it showed me
everything I needed to know. My 3rd favorite show was
"Max and Ruby." It showed me pictures, words, and
other things I didn't know. My 4th favorite show was
"Curious George." That show made me learn everything.
Every time that show was on I ran to the couch and
watch. My last favorite show was "Barney." That show
just made me happy. I didn't know why, but still I
love that show.
That's how the community helped
me improve my English language skills. Everyone that
help me "thank you very much!!"
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Grades 4-8 | Grades 9-12 |
University & Adult
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Grades 9-12 |
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WINNER
Jing Sun
Rochester School District
Teacher: Mrs.
Wheeler
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HONORABLE MENTION
Ying Chi
Rochester School District
Teacher: Mrs. Wheeler |
When people come
to a different country for living, they have to start
over with everything, just like babies. Parents teach
babies word for word, sentence for sentence, and
babies practice what they have learned from their
parents. On the other hand, immigrants are looking for
any sources that would help them learn new language
and the new way of live. Communities have huge
influence upon people, such as schools, working
places, home and so on. Thus, it would be the best to
learn from communities.
As we known, school is
a place to educate, to develop specific skill, to
improve disadvantage of people. When I came to the
United States, I went to school study with other
nonimmigrant. Even though I seldom spoke English at
school, I frequently heard people talked in English.
Besides, I learned some grammars, vocabularies, and
daily words from teachers. Gradually, my English
improved, and I could understand more during people's
conversation.
However, school is just one small
part of society, it cannot teach people everything.
Thus, I had an idea- find a job. Luckily, my workmates
were super nice. Since they knew I was learning
English, they teached me some professional words that
I did not learn at school. This job forced me to
communicate with people, and it improved my speaking
skill.
Learning is not bad thing for everybody.
When people learn more, they will know more. In
addition, people will be happy about what they have
learned and appreciate those people who have helped. |
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There is no
doubt that the environment has a great influence on
people on every aspect of their daily life. It comes
that the community one lives can make a big difference
for him to do everything, including learning a strange
language for a foreigner. My communities have helped
me a lot on learning English.
First of all, the
school has done me a lot favor in learning English.
Going to school and communicating with the teachers
and classmates is really helpful in learning a
language. What is more, I can learn more vocabularies
during study, and improve my listening and speaking.
Especially in ESOL class, we can learn more detail in
English, such as pronunciation and grammar. Besides
the school, the place where I take a part-time job is
also helpful. It is a restaurant, and I work as a
waitress there. There are also many American girls
work there, so I can learn more speaking English from
them. Another good thing there for me to learn English
is that I can communicate with more local people
during work. The more you speak, the more you learn. I
think this is the key to learn a foreign language.
My communities offer me lot opportunities to
listen and speak out, and I think this is how they
help me with learning English. |
Grades 4-8 | Grades 9-12 |
University & Adult
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University & Adult |
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WINNER
Alvin Chingcuanco
ASA Institute
Teacher: Ms. Portnov
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HONORABLE MENTION
Fatoumata Kaba
CUNY Language Immersion
NYC
College of Technology
Teacher: Ms.
McDonnell |
I learned
English in the streets. Most languages are best
learned through experience. For the most part, I
learned English by reading, listening, and repeating.
Though this is the case, I discovered I retained the
information better by using the five senses. English
can be learned at home, in school, and on the streets.
At home, my busy mother used the television and
radio as a baby sitter. She made sure I only watched
English language shows or listened to English radio.
At the end of the day, she spoke to me in English to
review what I learned. In school, I learned formal
English. Teachers showed us how to use grammar,
structure, and pronunciation through books and
dictionaries. I also learned from friends and
classmates who read books outside the assigned text.
However, I learned much more English while walking
down the streets of New York. I read and learn to say
words I read in newspapers or flyers. It is always fun
to let new words roll off my tongue. I also learn by
listening to people talk on the streets, making every
step a fun learning experience.
Everyone should
take advantage of learning English everywhere, be it
at home, in school, or walking down the street. I
learn from the television, radio, and Internet as much
as I learn from school and friends. Walking down the
street is always an amazing learning opportunity.
Information is best processed when one experiences the
language they are learning.
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Growing up in an
urban-based community has benefited me in a tremendous
way. My original language is French. Being surrounded
by individuals who speak fluent English has helped me
improve my ability to speak and comprehend the English
language.
Simply waking up and going outside to
retrieve mail taught me how to greet people, like when
my neighbors would salute me with a mannerly "good
morning." Greetings and compliments are easy to learn
because of how close the neighbors were are each
other. If it wasn't a "good afternoon", then it was a
"good night" that I repeated every day in order to
learn English. I benefited greatly from my neighbors
because we're so community based. The fact that the
majority of my community is my age allowed me to pick
up quickly on my new language.
The great amount
of block parties and gatherings in my community also
helped me to learn English. There would be millions of
conversations around and my ears swallowed every new
word that they heard. Living in this urban community
allowed me to learn a new language without taking
English speaking classes or studying Webster's
dictionary until I no longer had the ability to think.
My community allowed me to learn English without
actually "learning" it.
My friends, family,
mail man and even the ice cream man all helped
increase the amount of vocabulary in my personal
dictionary. Simply living and listening in my
community has helped me learn English.
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NYS TESOL Special Interest Groups (SIG)