I think I’m luckier than my brothers and sisters because I am a legal immigrant to the United States. My brothers and my sisters had to go through hardships to be to get to the U.S. My name is Phuong Van. I was born in Can Tho, which is a small city in Vietnam. I’m the youngest of eight brothers and sisters in my family. I have five brothers and three sisters. My oldest brother is fifty one years old and I’m the youngest. I’m twenty six years old. Even though we have a big family, my mom has raised us up all by herself, because my father wasn’t with us most of his life. She always told us her life story and her experience in Vietnam. I was too young then to understand what she went through for her family at the time, but as I got older, I started to understand the hardship and struggle that she had to go through for her family to survive during those poor times. She lived through the terrible and long Vietnam War and her story is very interesting and exciting to hear. My mom has always wanted a better life for herself and her family. She hates the culture and the injustice for woman in Vietnam. She has always wanted to immigrate to America, because she heard some people told they can get a good life in American after they immigrate there. They can get good benefit, make more money, get a lot of freedom and women get more respect in America. That all reason makes my mom want to come there. My mom wanted a better life not only for herself but also for her kids too. She also wanted gives them a brighter future and greater opportunity. She always tries her best to protect her children. My mother has always sacrificed her life for her children’s. She’s has always stand behind me and support me when I am doing something wrong or chose the wrong choice in life. She is the greatest woman I…
In the article Making it in America Adam Davidson takes time to interview different employees at Standard Motor Products to determine how it is treating them and how factories are changing in time. Adam is receiving a tour of the plant by manager Tony Scalzitti where he sees many factory workers in blue lab coats, hair nets, and protective eyewear. This is where Adam first runs into Madelyn Parlier.…
I love the idea of writing about myself, and especially how I came to this country, the greatest nation in the world, United States of America. I’m Cuban, generally those who live there, for one reason or another want to leave the island and left behind the fake revolution. In my case I never thought it could happen to me or any member in my family, there was no reason in my mind for leave my roots and my love ones. But, back in 2000, my journey started in Havana airport to New Jersey, and after few months I ended up in Miami, where I live now with my beautiful family. It is a long history.…
This essay portrays how many first generation Americans feel about society. They believe that in order to succeed in America it is important to leave your heritage behind to become “white” and blend in. As if your heritage was a handicap and that you constantly have to try harder than everyone else to prove something. Being Filipino-American I am not exempt from this feeling. The media has played a big part in what I deemed normal as a child. I watched many television shows where families ate bread and dressed nice to dinner. Unlike my family which ate rice every night and wore slippers to the table. At a young age I was embarrassed of what made me special. Social interaction with other children even made me think twice about who I wanted to be. I always felt I was never invited to some of my friend’s houses because I was Filipino. This made me try harder to win the affection and friendship of my classmates. This essay expresses the feelings that many first generation Americans experience on their road to…
Life can be as negative or positive as you want it to be. Nothing either bad or good can last forever. My complete name is Anahi Angelica Tiburcio Loyola. I am a senior at Vista High School. I am from a town name San Jorge Nuchita,huajuapan de Leon Oaxaca Mexico.Five years ago my parents took a decision for me, a really good one I can say. I was excited about all the changes. I thought scarcity would disappear .My dad came to the United States two years before us. He had been coming forward and back every two years to visit us on holidays only. He had been risking his life every time he came to visit us. It was not easy for my mom to raise four children by herself, and neither was it easy for my dad to be without his family. Because of this situation, my dad talked with my mom and decided that we all should come to live with him. But, there was a problem. We all as a family were undocumented. Because of our situation, my dad searched for a person who knew a way to get into illegally. Everyone knows that this is a very dangerous decision.…
The article is about a meeting between Adam Davidson and a young but skilled worker in a factory, Madelyn. She’s a single mom, very young, and has ambition in her job and also in her life. She loves her job and always tries her best to adopt new technology. Her dream is going back to school like her parents and grandparents told her to do but her life with 2 kids is holding her back from that dream. This is a fact not only for Madelyn but also a big challenge for some young workers as well. Not only the dream of coming back to school but also many other difficulties effect to her goal of life. That is the time when Madelyn can become a Level 2 worker. That means she will stay in the same wage for long time and her life will have more difficulties.…
Originally, my family and I are from the Philippines. Moving to the United States was quite tough on us all for several reasons. The main reason is that my family is poor. My parents, who have to support my six siblings and me, have a much more difficult and even gruesome time, but still, they manage to ensure that our family is able to survive and that we are receiving our proper education. My parents, wanting all of us to have a secured future, agreed that staying in the Philippines would get us nowhere. So, they decided that our family would migrate to the United States.…
I come from a family of immigrants who came here for a better living standard unfortunately, while growing up I witnessed money problems in the household. They had to work long hours and I struggled to focus on my own potential. My parents couldn’t spend much time with me and my siblings dealing with our own problems especially in school. As a result, I had a lack of confidence because I wasn’t at the same level as the rest of other kids and struggled doing well in school. I hate to say I didn’t have a strong role model because even though my father was around, he was always worried about other things and once in awhile he would spend time with me. I started not to take school seriously and become more rebellious and would always get complaints…
When my sisters and I first came to the United States I had trouble understanding American English. Though we had been taught English in our school in the camp we were not prepared to learn in a completely English environment in a completely new culture. The transition was quite a challenge for us, not to mention starting well into the second half of the school year, but we pressed through and managed to get good grades.…
Just two days after coming to this land, I was sitting in a large classroom trying to recite the pledge of allegiance in a large public school. My life in America took me by shock and I felt unprepared. I struggled with basic academic courses initially while my peers glided through easily. Moving to America has been one of the great challenges I have faced and still continue to struggle with. However, my grandfather’s words constantly reminded me of my purpose in life and with diligence and great perseverance, I accomplish and learn everyday.…
The day started off as any normal day. My mother woke me up and said “we must go.” Her voice sounded very urgent for what I thought was just a trip to the grocery store. My mom laid my outfit on my bed and packed by book bag; that’s when I figured out that I was starting school. I wasn’t entirely oblivious to the fact that I was going to familiarize myself with a completely different environment, but I just thought I had a little more time to prepare. Well, it turns out that I was wrong. You see, I wasn’t your average pre-schooler who was nervous about making friends. I was the immigrant child who had never spoken a word of English.…
I handle all the issues at my house. My journey has been so tough, I was not familiar with English language and also, I had no idea where to go for schools to get admissions. It was hard time for me and for my family. My journey was a big change in my life and teaches me a lot of things. My life from Pakistan to America describes my changes in life and struggles.…
I was scared at first but now I love my life and I am extremely thankful to my parents for bringing me here. I met a lot of new people here, I made a lot of new friends from a lot of different countries. I learned a lot, I had a wonderful experience in this 6 years of my life in the US. At first, I was too nervous about the language and this new life, but now I am not fully successful, but I am far better than before and I am still trying to find new ways to be more successful. I was an ESL student in my freshman year of high school, now I take an AP class, the transformation from an ESL student to an AP student was challenging, yet I still did it and I hope to achieve more challenging dreams throughout my…
America faces many different challenges all around the world. In Europe, some of the many issues that the United States face is Greece possibly giving up the euro as its currency, Germany becoming the world’s fourth largest economy, and working with Russia on issues like the conflict in Syria. In Africa, AIDS has affected a quarter of the population and killed more than 15 million Africans since the epidemic began 30 years ago. The U.S. is also responding to the attack of four Americans in Libya. Iran is continuously defying the United Nations with its nuclear weapons program in the Middle East. Also in Syria, a civil war with the rebels fighting to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has started. The U.S. faces many difficult issues in Asia including: China becoming the world’s second largest economy behind the United States, Japans meltdowns at several damaged rectors, the plans to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan, and North Korea’s new dictator showing no sign of reforming the failed economy. In North America, the United States is dealing with the melting ice sheets in Canada, the drug cartels in Mexico, President Raul Castro in Cuba, and the cholera epidemic in Haiti. Brazil is the largest economy in South America and one of the biggest democracies in the world. The Amazon plays a key role in mitigating climate change and Venezuela is going down an anti-American path due to President Chavez in South America.…
Coming to America is personally a turning point in my life. I, a Vietnamese international student who had always dreamt of studying in America, decided to gather all my courage to step on the air plane to America on my own and started my promisingly eventful journey in this totally foreign land. Months before my departure, I already imagined how my life would be in America, and I was confident about my adaptability as I had spent four years living abroad in Singapore but anxious about the much more immense diversity in America at the same time. As more than three weeks have past since I first arrived in America, I gradually learn that the real experience is way different from what I have imagined and expected. I would rather call it a “positively challenging experience” as I am exposed to a completely foreign culture and challenged to adapt myself to it but the learning process of this new culture has greatly excited me.…