Harry Yan

Dr. Peters

ENGL 133

25 January 2018

My English Learning Journey with Chelsea

I have been studying English for nearly eight years in both China and the United States.

In these years, people walked into my life as my English literacy sponsors who had supported me

and taught me as well as suppressed and withheld English literacy from me. When I was young, I

dreamed of being in the United States, communicating with English speakers without barriers. It

is very exciting that I have accomplished this dream with the tremendous help from my English

literacy sponsors. Among all of them, Chelsea He, my middle school English teacher who started

my English learning career, stayed by my side encouraging and supporting me as the one who

affected me the most during my English learning journey.

The first day of class in middle school is still fresh in my memory. I was fascinated by Commented [MOU1]: Say the name of
the school, the location, what year did
the new environment, new friends, and new class schedules. Since my middle school was a
you start?
foreign language school, every student was required to take three English classes per day.

Scanning through my schedule, I found out I had English classes every morning. I could not wait

to get to my first English class and start learning a second language because speaking a second

language was a dream for me. After the bell rang, a lady who wore a white blouse and blue jeans

with a few books in her left hand and a recorder in her right hand walked into the classroom.

“My name is Chelsea He, and you can call me Chelsea or Miss He. I will be your English teacher

for three years,” she said in Chinese with a smile on her face. As she was checking the

attendance and giving us each an English name, she seemed very nice and approachable. It
suddenly increased my interest in learning English. The first two weeks we were taught the

alphabet and some common, spoken phrases, such as “how are you,” and “what is your name.”

However, my grandma knew some English and had taught me the English alphabet and simple

sentences before attending middle school. I felt very comfortable and confident in the class and

often got compliments from Chelsea, which enhanced my interest towards learning English. At

the end of our second day of class, Chelsea asked if anybody was willing to be her teaching

assistant who would carry the recorder and books for her every day before class, check

everybody’s homework at the end of the day, and record grades. I felt it was a great chance to get

to know my teacher; and since I loved my English class, I raised my hand and was chosen to be

the teaching assistant for our English class. The first few weeks went really well; the majority of

our class loved Chelsea’s teaching method in which she often made flashcards and played games

with us to help us remember the easy words or phrases.

However, English was not always that easy as we started listening to short conversations. Commented [MOU2]: Can you give an
example of the kind of conversations you
Chelsea would require us to memorize the conversations we had learned that day and check us
listened to? What were the scenarios?
one by one before the next day’s class. Memorization seemed really hard to me at that time, and

it took me a long time to memorize even a very short conversation. The expectations from

Chelsea got higher and higher. After a week, we were required to have the same pronunciations

and intonations according to the cassettes. As the length of the conversations became longer and Commented [MOU3]: Do you
remember what was difficult to grasp
longer, new words were unstoppably popping out from here and there in the conversation. Then,
about English intonations?
we had quizzes of dictation every day, in which Chelsea would say a series of new words out Commented [MOU4]: Do you
remember the kinds of words that were
loud and we had to spell the words out on a piece of paper. The recitation and the addition of being introduced? Do you remember any
dictation intimidated me and made me afraid of this language which I dreamed to speak. I was words in particular?

failing to recite the conversations and pass the dictation. And I was afraid to say anything before
Chelsea. On the grade book, everybody’s grade was passing ahead of mine. My confidence in

learning English was gradually destroyed and I lost my interest towards this class.

Since my interest, as well as my poor performance, in this class decreased over time, I

thought I should give up my teaching assistant position. Therefore, I was trying to talk to Chelsea

about quitting before class. However, she must have discovered my disappointment and she did

not give me a chance to talk by talking to me. “You know what is your weakness, and you know

you can conquer it by spending more time than others. Do not think you are failing in English.

English never fails people; English is a tool to broaden your horizon. Just do your best and you

will be successful.” I was astonished and surprised by the words Chelsea said to me. I felt that

that was exactly what I needed at that point. My growing negativity was transformed into

excitement and motivation to study English. She not only talked me through what I needed to do,

but also pulled me out of study hall and supervised me as I memorized lessons and new words.

Her actions really had an impact on my performance; my grade in the class improved and my

interest in English was revived.

Throughout my English learning career, I was always appreciative and thankful for

having Chelsea as my first formal English teacher. I would not have made such progress in

English learning without her help. And I would not be here today, at Cal Poly, without her

encouragement. As a good and important English literacy sponsor, she has changed my view of

English learning. Before, I felt forced to study English in order to get a good grade in the class;

but now I want to learn English because it is a practical tool to communicate with others. Chelsea

and I are now close friends, as we meet and chat every time I go back to China. Commented [MOU5]: In a way, your
work at Cal Poly is just the continuation
of a long conversation in English that
started in middle school between you
and Chelsea
 Good focus on Chelsea He as a single literacy sponsor who helped you gain access to

English at a discrete moment in time during your first year of middle school. I’d like you to

enrich your prose with more precise description and the use of examples to illustrate some of

your reflections (for example, when you reflect on the difficulty of memorizing those short

conversations).

GRADE: B-