What has been the greatest challenge for you this year at TA? Think of new relationships (e.g., with teachers, roommates, coaches, homestay parents and siblings, friends, etc.) and situations (the classroom, the dorm, social events, etc.) that have been hard for you at times. Please be as specific as possible: for instance, instead of saying,
"Learning English," you might say, "Understanding my homestay mother,
who talks really fast and with a strong Maine accent. For the longest
time, I didn't even know that 'Come he-uh, de-uh' means "come hear,
dear," which is her way of saying she wants to me to sit down and talk
to her."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have been TA for one year, I have met a lot of challenge in this year. English is definitely a big challenge for me, but I want to talk about another challenge. That is how to manage my money. When I go to America, my family gave a lot of money that I thought is enough for me to spend the whole year, but actually I ran out money in the second month of the school year. I was really shocked at that time, I thought my mom would me angry, but she said I need to learn how to spend money, everyone waste some money to learn how to manage it, the younger I learn how to use it the less money money I waste, then she sent me some money that I could spend the rest of the first semester. In the third semester, I thought a plan about how to control my money. I take some cash from the bank every month, then in the rest of month I will try to only use the money that I take from the bank. That makes me spend much less money than the first semester, I think I start to have some understanding about how to use money.
ReplyDeleteI‘m so proud to be the first students who just publishes the last journal. Well, the biggest challenge I have is living with my home. Because there are four main issues I have can not solve.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, there are barely no internet or phone signal in that area, which means I have to suffer pains without movie and computer games. I’m a die-hard fan of movies. It’s also hard for to have a face time with my parents and the online tutor. So I sacrifice movie times for English, Math and exercising.
Secondly, l have been starving for this year at home stay because my home stay family doesn’t cook dinner every day. Almost my every dinners without fruits and vegetables. I eat lots of left over in the fridge. My house locates in Dayton far away from any stores or restaurants, which means I can’t order neither China House nor KO1. So I usually buy an extra sandwiches for dinner. Some time I will order some food after my track practice before I go home. My home stay parents are very busy including weekends. Their daughter has Cheering practice almost everyday after school with her mother. Her father works in Air Force some time also working in weekends. So I don’t have lots of opportunities to participate in dorm activities.
Thirdly, I have to endure theirs living habits. Every morning I have to get up around 5:40 to take a quick shower than hide in my room. Because home stay sister have to put her make up or whatever Tan things (that makes her skin looks darker). They like yelling in the house for any reasons. For example, home stay sister wants her little brother to help her doing dishes but the brother wants to watch cartoon ( he watches cartoon all the time and occupies the TV. I can’t even watch basketball game at night) So they yelling to each others in loud voice which makes me wants to smash every things in my room because I hate freaking loud noise when I doing my homework or relaxing. (Beside, Americans house can’t insulate the noise, I can even hear little brother when he farts in his room) So I always playing music in my room.
Lastly, the most terrible thing I have to endure is I have to face my home stay sister’s ex-boyfriends and boyfriend. There kiss and PDA every where in the house. But after all, I only have 36 days left. I wish I will have a better living environment in September.
living with my homes stay
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI have already experienced a lot of challenges this year at TA.I am going to write about few examples today.I was really scared about my English knowledge before I left Czech republic.And obviously first weeks at TA were confusing for me,most of the people around me were speaking too fast and I did not get some of their expressions.Especially the question:How are you? Can be expressed in so many ways and I did not know that before I came here to TA.But after an about month my English improved and I learned so many new words so that challenge was not that hard.Another challenge was to live at TA without my own family.This challenge still lasts I guess because I am really close to my family but I need to say that I am more independent right now and it was worth it to leave,I have a lot of experiences because of that.
Oliver He
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the biggest challenge for me is sharing a room with my roommate. To be honest, it was my first time to have a roommate. I am a person who prefer to have my own room and individual space because I can do everything I want. Without interruption, I will do every assignment effectively and efficiently. But having a roommate is another story. It has a lot of disadvantages. First of all, it is very natural that contradiction will happen if you put two people together for a long time. Bill is a case in point. He is the son of my mom's best friend. He is very friendly, talented and clever and studying in Thomas Jefferson High School For Science and Technology, which is one of the best high schools in USA. He used to live in the school dorm and had a roommate. One day, they argued with each other and fought with each other because of a small thing. After the battle, Bill's left leg was broken and his left arm got injured. This situation made his mom give up her job and come to Virginia to accompany him. Second, roommates will bother each other. Some students love staying up to play the video games or do some homework and reviews. Some students want to sleep early so that they will have more energy in the next day. The sound of snoring can not be avoided too during sleeping. For me, I can't fall asleep with the light on and the sound. I must sleep in a quiet place. Luckily, my roommate is a very nice, kind and friendly person. I get along with him very well. We treat each other nice. Both of us are very respectful and considerate. We always think of each other. For example, if I am tired and want to sleep earlier but he has to review for the test or do his homework, he will go downstairs to the living room for doing that and letting me sleep. I will do my best to help him if he has problems or troubles. We have many similar tastes and interests. Both of us are good at studying, love watching movie, traveling and cooking. We often share our experiences of them mutually. In general, I am so glad to have him. He taught me a lot. Having a roommate is a piece of cake, not a big deal for me now. I can adapt it.
The greatest challenge this year is to plan my trip to Cancun at April vacation. I went to Cancun at April vacation and it was very good. However, plan the trip was very hard for me. There are many English words I don't understand so it is hard for me to book flights and hotels. Also, April vacation is a popular time, many people travel to Cancun. The prices of hotel and flight changes a lot. Some are very expensive and some are cheaper. I never been to Cancun so I don't know where to stay in Cancun. I search online and read many articles about Cancun. I want to spend ten days there, so I find places to go and restaurants. I felt excited to go to Cancun but I was tired. I want to save some money so I look for hotels a lot. However, I want to stay in a safe and nice hotel so it is hard to find one. I asked some people who went to Cancun before and they gave me a lot of advices. Finally, I booked the hotels and flights and the vacation was really good.
ReplyDeleteDuring this school year at TA I didn't feel that something was the greatest challenge. There were just expected challenges. Of course on the beginning of the year it's sometimes hard to understand dorm parents or American kids because you are not used to on their accent. But through the time it becomes so easy. One of the bigger challenges are definitely money and the fact that you have to be independent in kind of early age. But I took it like a big advantage for me! It's just awesome lesson before you will be officially an adult. I love being a part of TA and I Love the opportunity to study abroad. Coming to USA wasn't that big challenge like the one challenge which is waiting for me right now. Leaving TA , my friends and this amazing place. I am in the phase of my life where I have to figure out my future and it was really hard so far. The greatest challenge is definitely leaving TA after one great year with all amazing people around. I feel one of the door are just closing and the new ones will open right after. It's really hard and it's giving me a hard time but it has a purpose for me and I know I will find the answer for that!!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest challenge this year at TA is joining a new sport. I joined a lacrosse team this year, but I knew nothing about it. Because in China we don't play this kind of American traditional sports. Although I'm new at this so I'm not good as well as playing the game. I'm challenging myself to improve my skills. So I hope I can play in the games eventually.
ReplyDeleteAnother challenge for me at TA is the cold weather. Back home, the weather never get this cold. I have to spend lots of time adapting to the weather. I also have to buy clothes to fit the climate changes. Especially in the winter months I have to wear my heavy jacket. that looks like a bear.
Honestly, English is still the greatest challenge for me this year at TA. But the topic is the new relationship and situations that have been hard for me at times. Personally, I have not had hard time for my any relationship. If I have to say one, I’d say I have a little bit hard time with my roommate due to schedule. She always stay up later at night. Although I go to bed at 11:30, she usually goes to bed later than me. I don’t really care the light on because I have eyeshade. When I ware on eyeshade, everything in front of me is black. However,sometimes she goes to bed before I go to bed, and she asks me to turn the light off. I am unwilling because i don’t want to watch my computer in dark. Anyway, it is just a very very little hard time for me with my roommate.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest challenge I've experienced in TA this year has been to combine my study hours and free time with sports. The beginning of this year was easy because I didn't do any sport, I just went to the gym when I had time and I did not have quizzes. The hardest time started in the second semester, I joined the TA tennis team and it was more complicated than I thought. Clau and I have been the varsity's doubles number 2. We couldn't imagine that we were going to have practice everyday and play 3 matches per week. The satisfaction we feel when we win is more important than the difficult moments. We usually finished the matches approximately at 6 pm and sometimes we couldn't have dinner at the cafeteria. We had to order KOI or just cook noodles. But the worst thing was not having time to talk to my parents and having to call them just on the weekends when we did not have tennis. Well, now tennis' season is almost over. We just have 1 more match and playoffs. Even if it has been difficult I had really good moments and I made a lot of friends.
ReplyDeleteI think the greatest challenge for me this year is talking with my homestay parents. Last year I lived in the dorm and I lived in a single room. It was little boring and I decided to live in the homestay. I want to live in a new environment and improve my English. At first, I am shy, I don't talk too much and I just listen. I only talk when my homestay parents talk with me or ask my questions. My parents don't speak very fast, they just talk with normal speed, but I still don't know some words. I remember one time, my homestay mom asked me" do you like broccoli?"
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what that is so I asked her" what is broccoli?" and she pointed it to me. After that, I know what is broccoli. My homestay mom likes cooking, so she usually talk about how to cook the dish. I know lots of words about vegetables from her. My homestay dad likes talking about politics and news. I also like taking about it too, so we usually have some conversation about politics. Some words that I don't know, I just ask to them about it. They will describe words for me. Now, I know lots of words and I think my English is improving. We talk a lot now and I don't feel shy now. Sometimes we watch news and movies together. I also have a outgoing roommate. I have a good time in here. I hope next year will be better than this year.
I can’t believe that the school year is almost done. I still remember my first day in TA. For that time my biggest challenge was language. After one month I feel really comfortable to speak English but, still I have hard times to understand things in class. My other challenge is I’m living in the dorms and we have jobs to do in there or obey the rules. I also stay with two roommates, I think this is the biggest challenge I ever had because this is the first time that I’m sharing my room with two roommates. We are all different for each others and we have a lot of responsibilities as a roommate. I can’t say that I don’t like them, of courseI like them but sometimes living in a small room with two roommates is hard. I still have some challenges but I get used to it. I never forget this year because I learned lots of things and I improved myself in TA.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo me, biggest challenge was to join a sport club. Actually, I’m not enjoy to play sport. After I came to Thornton academy, Ms. Brewer asked to student to choose at least one sport club. At that I don’t have any plan so at spring I choose outdoor track. Ms. Brewer told me that outdoor track is really easy and I don’t need any skill. At first I thought outdoor track is boring. And also I’m not that at running long distance. And the biggest challenge was the weather. I didn’t know that Maine’s weather. I got cold few times because of weather. In April, I just take of my jacket 15minutes for running and I got a cold. But now I’m kind of adapt in outdoor track club
ReplyDeleteand Maine’s weather, so I think next year, I could join in outdoor track easier then this year and planning to join outdoor track next year.
I think the greatest challenge for me this year is arranging my time because I had a lot of things to do. For academics, I have three honors classes, one AP class and one college course. For activities, I have three clubs which are math team, interact club and arts club on the afternoon of the same day which is Tuesday. Actually, in the first semester, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I had a college course from 2:30 to 4:00. So I need to plan my time. One week for math team and interact club, and another week for arts club. After clubs, I am going to the college course.
ReplyDeleteFor sports, I am doing track this season. I have practice every afternoon. However, sometimes I have volunteer activities to do. I need to find time to go.
Plus, I also need to prepare TOEFL and SAT for college because next year I am going to be a senior.
Everything has been a challenge for me in this amazing journey to the U.S. When I just arrived here my biggest fear were the people, making friends... But that fear end up being no problem for me because I made a lot of friends the first day, which made me felt confident about making friends. I came with a medium English level, but of course at the beginning was difficult for me to understand some people. Since in Spain I didn't practice much, speaking in English. Living abroad is awesome... when everything is going well. But when the heavens seem to conspire against you, you can really feel on your own. Your usual ‘support network’ of family and friends will be hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Even if you weren’t previously aware of how important they were, now is when you’ll find out. I felt it the first few months of studying abroad. But then, you will build up a new support network and everything is fine. Understanding the rules ( which are a lot here in U.S.) and culture has been as well a challenge for me. I got a lot of misunderstood because of the rules that we have in the dorms. Culture was also a big challenge for me. Typical traditions and even ways people carry out conversation or humor. For example sometimes I felt that some American jokes are just not funny for me. So everyone’s laughing and you just stay like that wasn't funny at all, why are people laughing? But not just American culture was difficult also international students culture. I live in a dorm with more than 50 girls from all over the world. For example my roommate is Czech and I can tell that we needed to understand the culture of each other to understand each other. Being part of a tennis team here at TA was probably the biggest challenge for me. Tennis was way more complicated that I thought it would. I am doubles with pilar as a varsity player. We couldn't imagine that we were going to have practice everyday and play 3 matches per week. We almost got kicked out of the team... But thanks that they didn't we won the semifinals and now we are finalists!!! I notice through the year people complaining so much about everything, being pessimist... But for me these experience has been amazing, I am so grateful to my parents for giving me these opportunity, which I will always remember.
ReplyDeletefrom Carlos:
ReplyDeleteThis year has been a great year for me! New experiences, new people, new house... Everything new! But of course full of challenges! One of the challenges was to be a homestay living 40 minutes away from the school, the hard thing was my schedule, I had activities everyday until late: soccer, dance, acting, vocal lessons, etc...
So I couldn't have time for myself, and it was really tough for me. Other big challenge was the Musical, it was really hard for me to act in another language, so that took me a lot of work and time, and I'm proud of how it went! But anyways this year have been amazing with all the stuff I've done!
For sure the greatest challange that I have experienced in TA was living by my own. I was too attached to my family before I came here. And when I applied to TA, they told me that I am going to be alone as a Turkish. I was very scared at first but when I came here I met with Ilayda and she became my sister. First days talking in different language was not that easy. I was keep asking people to repeat their questions. As time goes, I get used to that and I noticed that my english was improving. Now, I cannot believe that this year is almost done. It has been a great year for me. I met with people all around the world and I got to know many cultures. I am never going to forget my TA experience.
ReplyDeleteJack Zhao
ReplyDeleteELL 2
ELL Journal
Mr. griffin
May 22, 2016
My greatest challenge in TA this year, is to talk and understand my homestay. Although I already stated with them for almost two years, I still don't talk a lot with them. For example, when I come back home from school, I don't even say hi to them because I'm afraid of starting a conversation. Once we start, I really want to talk with them, but I don't know how. Maybe I'm from China, so we also always have different values. So, we always argue about money, life, shoes and hair style. They think I shouldn't buy things that I want to, but I should buy things that I need to. For me, sometimes I just like to buy things. But they just give me suggestion and still respectful for my choice. Sometimes, when I try to ask something, I couldn't understand their saying. I hope when I come back next year, I will have better English skills and become more talkative. So, we won't have understanding problems anymore.
I have joined in outdoor track team, for me, this is my greatest challenge, there are a lot of talented athletics. My events are long jump and 100 meter sprint, there are two people who are good at long jump and they are older than me. We are not only friends, but also are rival. They are jump farther than me, so I exercise myself and I try to jump as far as them, I comprehend this is the biggest challenge for me, they are awesome. We are train together and they teach me how to jump farther.
ReplyDeleteLife is full of challenges. After I came to TA， my greatest challenge is frequently communicating with others. In China no one speaks English in daily life， thus I had no chance to practice my oral English before coming to the USA. So in my first year at TA, I have trouble understanding and talking with teachers and classmates, and after making some mistakes and jokes, for instance once I misunderstande "how's it going", I answered "I am going to the labrary" instead of "I and fine", I did not dare to speak to others. What's worse, I am unable to read English books easily and sometimes beacuse in books there are many fresh words and slangs which I don't know. Sometimes I even doubt that I may have dyslexia. Fortunately, with my vocabulary increases, I can gradualy understand contents in books, and I'm trying to talk with others to improve my speaking English. I hope I can overcome these challenges next semester.
ReplyDeleteIn TA Every season there is a new sport. I love sports so I have joined volleyball in fall. It's was kinda challenge. All the people in the team were Americans so I didn't know anyone. Challenge in all ways. The language that coach taked is not my native. At first it was hard to get what he is talking about. Every other practice it have becoming easier. So after this experience I thought why can't i join sport every season. In winter I joined track and there I found a lot of new friends. Also I was in lacrosse team. This was the most fun. I wasn't that scared so I didn't even think about quitting. So at first it's a challenge but every time you do it it's easier.
ReplyDeleteThis school year is almost over, I cannot believe it. Also I can remember the challenges for me in this years. I think the greatest for me is courses. In this year,I got three AP classes. These classes are really difficult for me. Some AP classes have more quiz and testes than normal classes, and also the testes are really hard. I need spend more time for studying. It is a kind challenge for me that get good grade on AP classes. There is another challenge for me since I first time came to TA. I live in south part of China, so there always really warm in my hometown. And I can see snow only one or two times in one year. In Maine, there are a lot of snowstorms, the winter is so long, and it is really cold. I cannot believe I have already lived in Maine for two years.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest challenge of this year is balancing college applications and normal school work. This year is my graduation year. The SAT and TOEFL test became my primary objectives.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the daily school studying is also important. I can't sacrifice my school work to improve my SAT scores. In addition, I have three AP lessons to take. I even can't understand many basic theories of them. For example, I don't get so much sense about the “the supply and demand curve”. Why it works like that? Why it's so important? How to calculate the supply and demand in that curve?
I’m totally messed up by these AP classes. That's the greatest challenge in this school year.
The greatest challenge for me this year at TA is the new home stay life for sure. However, I do not mean that my home stay family is awful. On the contrary, they are very nice. The greatest challenge is our house is a little far away from the school, and because of that, I need to get up half an hour earlier than my friends who are living in the dorm. That is really difficult for me who really loves sleeping. I am a person who will not even get out of the bed if there is no necessary. Sometimes, my home stay father says I am the laziest person he has ever seen. Well, I agree with that. So, that is the greatest challenge for me this year. And by the way, I am really glad that the start of the school is going to be later next year. That is the happiest news I have heard this semester.
ReplyDeleteELL Journal
ReplyDeleteI have already been TA for one year and I have many challenges in this year. English is one of the greatest challenges in this years. But I want to talk about independence is the greatest challenge for me this year. When I was in China, I was always lazy at home. My mom helped me to clean up my room and wash my clothes. However, I came to the Thornton academy and I lived in the dorm with two roommates. I think that independence is the greatest challenge. There are a lot of things I need to do by myself. I need to wash my clothes and clean up my room to make me have very good environment. I also need to buy some pens and some notebooks to prepare for classes. Therefore, independence is the greatest challenge and I learn independent skills this year.
The greatest challenge for me is speaking English very fast. I have a lot of friends that speak
ReplyDeleteEnglish very fast, and for me sometimes really hard to understand them. But I'm getting better.
More I speak, more I learn. Threw out this year, I'm getting better and better. I feel more
comfortable in any kind of conversation. The year is a almost finished. And I can say that I
learned a lot, this year!
Everyone faces lots of challenges in their whole life, so do I. I faced lots of challenges after I came to the US. For instance, the challenge of getting used to the English teaching environment is what confused me the most. When I first came to the US, I attended the summer camp. I still remember that day that I saw Ms.Curtis waited for me at the exit of the airport. I was very nervous because I am afraid that I cannot understand what she is saying and also that was my first time to to go to foreign country without my parents. I didn’t fell asleep in the twelve-hour long journey on the airplane. Instead, I kept thinking that if it is a right choice to leave my parents and come to the US. I talked with Ms.Curtis a lot on the car back to Thornton. She asked me about my family and I got some new information about the school. I was surprised that I could understand most of the words that she was talking about. However, my mind started to get tired from translating every sentence from English to Chinese especially after such long distance of traveling. After arriving the school, I lied on the bed and slept till 9 next morning. When I woke up, it took me ten minutes to realize that I was in the US. I started to get nervous and think about what should I do to get used to the new environment. Fortunately, I met many other students at school and I really learnt a lot from them, especially from the students that we spent the whole August together. To be honest, I couldn’t understand what the teachers were saying many times in class at first and it produced a lots of problems and challenges to me like I did the wrong homework, I didn’t get what to do in class, I misunderstood the important test point. The language problem made me used to think about give up and go back to China. I was afraid to talk to my parents so I decided to talk to my friend——Freeman. Freeman told me that no matter you choose to stay in China or in the US, challenges will never stop. Facing and dealing with challenges is the thing that everyone has to do in their whole life. No one can escape from. Rather than try to escape from the challenge, what we should do is facing them directly with confidence and the supporting from the friends and family. Because of Freeman’s words, I stood up and start to adjust myself both on studying plan and my psychology. When you feel the most painful and want to give up, you are at the last corner that is next the success. We will have a hard time to figure out how to solve the problem but we should always remember that we are not alone that we have our friends and family that is always behind us and give us a hand whenever we need
ReplyDeleteThe greatest challenge I met in TA is the food. Before I came to U.S.A. I think that I can eat steak everyday and I can get stronger, but actually not.
ReplyDeleteI think some American food is kind of junk food, kind of deep-fry food. I though many American are overweight, I guess that is the problem. In China, I eat breakfast everyday, but here, I hate breakfast, I only prefer to eat some egg. Talk about the lunch, sometime I like lunch but sometime not. I think dinner is the best meal,but sometime dinner is also terrible. i have to order China House almost everyday. It makes me spend a lot of money. So I can’t stand our school’s meal, food has been a very big challenge for me. I hope one day I can enjoy the food.
I think the greatest challenge of my first year at TA is know about the system when I am meeting with schoolmate or classmate.At first,I just know how to answer some easy daily questions like"How are you?" or "How is it going".And I know how to make a good relationship with new people.But at first,it's a greatest challenge for me.I started to try to make new friends.I can learn something from these relationships.At first,I can't even know what is different between "what's going on" and "How is it going on".But when I talk more with friends,I know them.I think that's a greatest challenge for me this year.
ReplyDeleteI stayed at TA almost one year. I think the greatest challenge of me is how to communicate with others.I think there are not big deal with the vivid words, but there are big deal with your truth heart. So there are have a problem in my
ReplyDeletedaily life. How to talk with the man or woman who you didn't like or you didn't agree there opinion .Everyone's opinion is different, you can not put their own point of view to others. So I learned how to
Respect other people's views, so as to sum up from the perspective of others, and to extract their own favorable values.
I don't have many ways about choosing friends.But friends are very important in our daily lives,we can make many different friends in our life.I don't care choose friends who comes from different countries or speaks different languages . Though faith is not the same,but we still can make friends . I think friend just need common language.They like help each otheri.I think the same interests is very important.And we can encourage each other.Give each other prower.A friend is a lifetime of wealth.We should cherish each other.
ReplyDeleteI have been TA half a year. For me, the greatest challenge is communicate with others. I am not very good at English. But I want to talk about the food. Honestly, I don't like the food in our school. It always French fries, hamburgers, and potato chips. They're unhealthy for us. In the first month in came to TA, my weight increased about 5 pounds so I need to go to the gym to keep fit. In China, especially in my hometown---Guangdong, we eat light meals. My mom always tell me don't eat the fried food so I usually order some KOI or China house. That makes me spent a lot of money. I hope I can adapt the food in American. And I'd like to talk about the weather. Winter is the longest season in Maine. It always snowy and makes me feel so cold. I live in the south part in China. It's hot in my hometown. So I need to wear a lot of clothes in Maine. When I come bake next year. I hope I can enjoy my life in the USA and adapt quickly.
ReplyDeleteI lived in America one year ago. In this year, the greatest challenge was make friend with American student. When I went to America, they were very nice, but I didn't know how to communicate with them. My English was bad, so sometimes I couldn't understand what they were talking. I had some American friends. They were friendly. Although I couldn't understand what they were say, they explained long time until I understood. We alawys played basketball on afternoon. If ihave problem, they will helped me. Communicate with them was a greatest challenge, but I can communicate with them now.
ReplyDeleteWe will have lots of challenge in our life. Such as new relationship,new environment, language and so on. I think the greatest challenge in this year at TA was language. In the beginning of the ELL. I was perplexed. I didn't understand teacher's meaning. so I made a plan. I could preview the article and wrote down my question. It was very useful for me. In the chemistry class, there were lots of academic words on the work sheet so that I didn't understand anything.Every evening,I had class about TOFEL on internet. I tried my best to fit it in !
ReplyDeleteThe challenge for me that is when I came to America, I don't understand a lot of English. I can't even understand half of English that others said. In the school, as a new student, a lot of new things that I need to get. This is the first time I come to another country to study. So I was kind of nervous. But there are so many people helped me. Some students and teachers from this school and my homestay. Yeah, right now I already adept to life here. My English improve quickly, I can understand a lot of English that others said. From this two things, my experience is when you get problems, don't scare it, you have to think about it, like how it happened, is there some thing not good from myself? There is also some people will help you. Just try your best, and never give up, you will solve the problems finally.
ReplyDeleteWe have lot of changes in our lives, we came to America because of we want be more better in our lives. We leave our family, and our hometown. We change speak different language, that is hard to us. Because they have many "dialects " in the live, China have this too. That is hard to understand. My homestay family not speak like this, and they know I can't understand if they say to quickly. They will be clearly to speak with me. We just still learning, so we will be better about language. I think in our lives didn't have any difficult things, as long as to get over difficulties. That will be good.
ReplyDeleteI am a freshman at TA this year, the greatest challenge of me is how to get along with americans. I was joined in soccer team when school's year was not began. That was in the summer during summer camp that was my first time studied at United State so that I got nervous with people. When I first day went to soccer team, I saw there was all americans, and I didn't know what should I do. I was afraid that I couldn't understand what they said. So my biggest challenge was learned how to blend in students at TA. Then I tried to talk to them, like asked them some questions, and be more friendly. Finally, I got a lot of friends in my soccer team.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest challenge for me is that I need to fit in an environment where the people all speak English. I started to learn English when I was in primary school and I know English is an international language. So I thought I am very good at English. But the truth is always opposite. I neglect the speed the talk and my fear. When I first came to America I was very nervous because the people around me are almost local people. I was afraid of . However, their friendliness and warmth made me out of this situation. My English teacher, Ms. Englund has a great influence not only in my study life but also in my way of life. As I know, she keeps an eye on everyone in our class. She is a very patient and easygoing person to the students. (Maybe also her own children.) She teaches us American culture and lets us know many truth in the life from our textbook. She always tells us her story no matter it is a sad things or happy thing. I still can remember when I was sad she consoled me and gave me some chocolates. That makes me feel closer to her. I would love to listen the others share their experiences with me because I can feel heart is open to us so that I can be brave to communicate with her.
ReplyDeleteIn a word, I feel so lucky to experience Ms.Englund's class. She taught me a lot and overcome difficulties.
Nancy, this post brought tears to my eyes. Thank you. My goal is to not just teach English, but to help students feel safe, welcomed, and valued. I want to help you and all students become confident and ready to take on any challenge that life brings you. So to know that I helped even one person fills my heart with happiness.
DeleteFor me this is the first year in TA. During this year I find many think we're new for me. New friends, new school, and new life. This year is almost over I did good a job at this school, but 4 mouth before I was very nervous about it, I don't know that is waiting for me. On the way to TA I always thought "What will happened? who is my teacher? how can I spend the school life?" So when I arrived TA it is kind of difficult to show my self, but after some days I find everything is very good, and I don't have to worry about almost everything. Now it is the last mouth for this term and every thing is normal for me. All in all, I think decided to study in TA is one of very important decision in my life, and it might have a lot of challenges. To my surprise I made it.
ReplyDeleteI think the most greatest challenge for me and for my family is that the we are at two different continents. It is really hard for me to get through this. I miss my family so much when I just arrive here. I don't have any friends and i miss my friends in China so much. I cried once when I arrive here. However, my parents encourage me to make some friends in this campus and from then, my life at TA begin. It is so important that I have so much friend now cause they can help me a lot and also there are really good friend. We have a really good relationship and I hope we can keep it forever.
ReplyDeleteClyde Qi
ReplyDeleteELL lll
Journal
Tom Griffin
6/1/2016
Journal
The greatest challenge this year for me is playing American football. My homestay brother Eric was on the freshman football team last year. He helped me to understand American football last year and got me involved into football team.
I started my American football life this year. Coach Kezal thought I was new and small, so he put me on the freshman team as a sophomore. After two weeks practice with freshmen team, I got improved so much that coach Kezal finally moved me to JV team. I started to practice even harder. However the JV team was practicing with the veracity team which made me become one of the worst player on the team. I felt a little inferiority at that time. Because I was not tall and I was not as strong as others. But after days of practice and hard working. Coach Kezal finally see my value on the team. He told me that he will let me play more next season. And I'm looking forward to play football next season.
What has been the greatest challenge for you this year at TA? Think of new relationships (e.g., with teachers, roommates, coaches, homestay parents and siblings, friends, etc.) and situations (the classroom, the dorm, social events, etc.) that have been hard for you at times. Please be as specific as possible: for instance, instead of saying, "Learning English," you might say, "Understanding my homestay mother, who talks really fast and with a strong Maine accent. For the longest time, I didn't even know that 'Come he-uh, de-uh' means "come hear, dear," which is her way of saying she wants to me to sit down and talk to her.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest challenge for me this year at TA is to get some really American friend, not like just say "hey , how are you, have a good day." Every time. I want to get some real friend, some one I actually go talk to, we hang out a lot. The truth is its actually pretty hard for me. One of the reason is, because we from different culture, something thing I do or say may make she/he fell uncomfortable. I remember in the beginning of this year. There was a girl who dressed up pretty new in my class. I didn't go compliment like other boys do,I go pointed some bad point of that dress. Those point actually were truth, but it's something you can't say in the normal way. That girl actually be rude on me for a long time. So this is the biggest challenge for me this year