My Life As an Immigrant

Writing is something that has always been an issue in my life. As an immigrant from the Philippines, I have learned to value and appreciate the culture of others, especially Canada. However, coming from one country to another is not as easy as it seems to be mostly in academic. The language barrier has been and still is today, the main problem I am enduring since I moved to Canada. In my life as an immigrant essay I am goign to share this unforgettable experience.  

Communicating in English is a requirement to live in Canada. I came from a country where English is taught as a secondary language. In my Week 2 in my English 103 class, I once said, “I am somewhat disappointed with myself.” I am usually that one attentive student who raises their hand to recite but the university has moulded myself into a new me. My transition phase from high school to university was a complicated and difficult one. I was learning to adapt to the fast-paced culture of the students and acclimatizing to a new language at the same time. I sometimes find myself struggling on which topic I should focus on specifically when I was doing Assignment 1. The topics I often pick were either too broad or specific. This leads me to rewrite my essay over and over again as I can not seem to find the perfect topic. Group presentations are my thing. I like discussing and hearing ideas of others. I can easily socialize in groups but this time it was different. Everybody is competitive. With the language barrier inside me, another challenge I am experiencing in either writing or group work is difficulty in self-expression. I tend to struggle delivering ideas due to the fact that I can not find the exact word to explain my thoughts.

Often times my professor would give me feedback regarding how I did well in my assignments. The comments I often received from Dr. Harrington helped me pin down some of the worst styles of my writing and directed me to try to improve my writing in the areas it needed most. The corrections really helped me see what I did wrong, and keeps me from making the error over and over again. I find reading scholarly sources engaging as it helps to broaden my vocabulary skills. Although, I sometimes struggle in understanding what the text is implying. I also mix up ideas which leads my essay to be ineffective. As I point out in one of my journals, “I have been doing this essay since the first week of October and all I have accomplished is research”. Researching requires so much time, “I find it time consuming as I need to read journal articles or re-watch the movie for my topic”. Looking for ideas that will help my essay is indeed a tough task. I often look for an example before I attempt to do it myself. I sometimes, concentrate more on one subject and neglect the other one. My sources were often limited because I did not expand my research, reasoning my gathered ideas were enough. I find it difficult to filter ideas that I gather because I never try to think and search for better ideas .

Ever since I started going to the university, I make sure that I have a work plan. I always have my plan laid out in every subject and the assignments in those subjects. When writing essays, I set a timetable in which days I should be doing my research, the days in which I should be starting my paper and the deadlines. Before I start an essay, I make sure that I will start weeks prior the deadline. I will first choose a topic that I think I would easily research on and do good. Then, I will start expanding my sources, whether it be scholarly sources, books from the libraries or the internet.”I have learned that it is not always about the content nor the grammar but also the techniques on how are you doing your approach” (Week 6). Thirdly, I will collect all the sources that I found. I will make sure the sources are useful for the particular topic I chose. Finally, I will start and finish my assignments before the deadline and critically re-edit it again and again until I am satisfied with what I have.

I have always been struggling with writing due to things like grammar and sentence fragments. Over this past fall, English 103 has helped me how to become a better writer. I have learned to analyze texts effectively, and how to do research productively. Reading scholarly texts has helped me develop my style of writing. It has made me an overall better, more critical writer and a reader. The discussions that I have had in class have shown me how to engage with others in good intellectual conversation through sharing our personal thoughts. By reading numerous critical texts, I became more aware of the vast critical history that can take place around a specific place. English 103 has improved my skills to collate the connections in my mind into more eloquently composed speech, sentences and paragraphs. “I am gradually rebuilding my confidence….”. 

In conclusion, after all the struggle I faced in this course, I am now more confident than ever before. Although, I am still far from getting A’s, the constructive criticisms that I have received from my assignments are gonna be helpful for the next essays that I will be doing. Overall, English 103 has helped me realise that learning never stops.