Unforgettable Experience

mi nom iz sopon.

                As a second generation Cambodian living in America, life started out very hard as I entered the public school system, with a goal to conquer the English language.  Writing, reading, and speaking in English were like trying to master a task only Superman could do.  Have you ever tried to bend steel with your bare hands?  Have you tried to run faster than a train?  It is impossible, and that was how learning English was to me at first. 

                I was to start kindergarten, but because I couldn't speak a word of English, I was told it was better to start in preschool.  I started mastering a bit of language, but in the first grade, Ms. Kelly saw me struggling in her class with simple words.  My first step in combating the English language was to be enrolled in the ESL program.  I really had no choice whether I wanted to be in it or not, the administrators and Ms. Kelly of the school I attended pointed me in that direction and left me to figure out what was in store for me.  Being in the ESL program wasn't really great at first.  It took me a long time to master specific materials from week to week and I did not want to be in there.  Reading was constantly hard to do, as I learned about the different sounds the letters make.

                The other students constantly made fun of me when I couldn't speak correctly or when I wrote in gibberish, not knowing what I had written.  At home, my dad saw the difficulty I had and all the frustrations in my eyes, as I kept trying to comprehend simple English words.  Although my dad spoke little English himself, he gave wise words and encouraged me to keep trying and to never give up on anything in life.  My dad told me not to think of things as works but as adventures and that these adventures can lead me to places that I never could have imagined.  He told me to focus on myself, not of what others think of me and to grasp onto things with pride and knowledge, not with angers and regrets.

                I was tired of all the ridicule and decided to speed up my progress, at the same time thinking of my family's future and well being and what this country would hold for us.  Eventually I got my ESL certificate from the first grade and I still have it to prove to anyone who wants to see.  I wrote well, spoke well, and read well in the English language. 

There were times when I wanted to get into fights because of the ignorance around me, but every time I did, I always pictured my dad saying that anger is not the key to anything in life.  Instead of clenching my fist to throw the first or the return punch, I put a pencil in my hand and started to write down all my frustrations and anger.  My dad was right because it was then that I grasped more onto knowledge than I did into all the negativity around me.  This was important to me because I learned more about myself as a person and as an individual trying to find his role in this world.  Because of this, I have developed into the model student for my teachers, the model son for my parents, and the model adult for the real world.