Chinese Students’ American Immersion Challenges
The conception of leaving home behind was always a palpable
dream that I craved to accomplish. When that day finally arrived, on the outside
I was gleaming with pride and excitement, but on the inside, the trepidation of
leaving behind my family and friends and being on my own was beginning to take
its toll. As time went by, I began to encounter, and interact with, several
individuals whose homes were thousands of miles away. Unlike most students,
whose home is another state within this country, these individuals’ native homes are across vast oceans. As much anxiety as I have, I can’t begin to imagine their anxiety after leaving behind their native country to attend a school in a foreign one. As brilliant as all of the international students proved to be, I noticed that some of them (specifically Chinese students) have difficulty writing and speaking in American English. Not only are they emotionally conflicted with the separation from their culture, and home, but they must also deal with the difficulty of comprehending another language while assimilating into the culture of that language country. Which led me to inquiry what are the significant challenges that native Chinese speakers face while being taught in American classrooms? If those challenges do exist, how does those challenges affect the Chinese students’ ability to assimilate into their new environment? My paper aims to address several key issues that several international Chinese students must overcome while learning in a foreign country’s classroom. I shall use several scholarly sources and a fellow peer’s narrative (Bridget) to further explain my reasoning.
The conception of leaving home behind was always a palpable
dream that I craved to accomplish. When that day finally arrived, on the outside
I was gleaming with pride and excitement, but on the inside, the trepidation of
leaving behind my family and friends and being on my own was beginning to take
its toll. As time went by, I began to encounter, and interact with, several
individuals whose homes were thousands of miles away. Unlike most students,
whose home is another state within this country, these individuals’ native homes are across vast oceans. As much anxiety as I have, I can’t begin to imagine their anxiety after leaving behind their native country to attend a school in a foreign one. As brilliant as all of the international students proved to be, I noticed that some of them (specifically Chinese students) have difficulty writing and speaking in American English. Not only are they emotionally conflicted with the separation from their culture, and home, but they must also deal with the difficulty of comprehending another language while assimilating into the culture of that language country. Which led me to inquiry what are the significant challenges that native Chinese speakers face while being taught in American classrooms? If those challenges do exist, how does those challenges affect the Chinese students’ ability to assimilate into their new environment? My paper aims to address several key issues that several international Chinese students must overcome while learning in a foreign country’s classroom. I shall use several scholarly sources and a fellow peer’s narrative (Bridget) to further explain my reasoning.