ESL Admissions Essay - My New Life in America :: ESL Admissions

ESL Admissions Essay - My New Life in America Unlike other people, I came to the US without any special reasons, except for the fact that my husband began working here. Before this, I had never been in the US. In my mind, the US purely was an abstract noun. I knew it from nothing but TV, newspapers, and movies. However, since I came here, the US for me has become absolutely concrete. A brand new life spreads out in front of me, which has affected me mainly in three aspects--language, behavior, and vision. The first effect on me was that I could not communicate in English. The language became the first and the biggest problem I encountered in the US, which happened to me the first day I stepped onto the land of the US. I found I became deaf and dumb--I couldn't speak and couldn't understand what other people were talking about. When one of the customs officials asked if I carried any agricultural products, I looked at her at a loss for what to do. In the following days, I found that many things that were extremely easy in China became the biggest problems to me. I couldn't understand the TV programmes and couldn't read newspapers and magazines, I didn't know how to check out after shopping, and I didn't even dare go out alone. All of these came from the language obstacle. In China, I had never had a problem like this. I had my family, a lot of close friends, and a stable job. Life was very easy and interesting for me. But living here, what should I do? Eventually, I chose to return to school to study English in order to adapt myself to the American life as soon as possible. Every day I would go to the college and spend a long day there listening, reading, and writing in English. I often read books until my eyes became blurry. At my age, studying a new language was indeed not easy. But months later, I surprisingly found that I was able to simply communicate with others, and I also could read and write some relatively complex articles, which gave me a lot of confidence. Now I believe that my new life will be beautiful as long as I do my best. The second effect on me was the change in my behavior.