Lang-auto biography
As soon as I stepped out of the plane I noticed something different, people are speaking a different language it was neither Arabic nor French; it was English. It was so amazing to me because I usually only hear people talk English when I am watching an American movie. My eyes were widely opened as I was walking around and seeing different things and surrounded by different people. I felt like I was in a dream on a whole other planet and I took it all in. However, when I got in the car to go to the house I noticed that there were pictures of models with nothing but a bra and panties. I kind of closed my eyes I didn’t know what to say because I did not see that in Morocco. Oh, I am sorry I forgot to talk about myself; my name is Maryam and I am from Morocco. Now, as I was saying when we got to the house we ordered food and my whole family spoke English and I became upset because I felt left out; I used to get mad because I didn’t understand what they were saying. We came on July 2008 and that summer I just wanted to go out and have fun but I had to sit in the house and listen to audio all day and read English books with pictures on them and I felt dumb and I would become frustrated and would pack my clothes and say that I wanted to go back to where I came from because it felt like I couldn’t do it or that I couldn’t make it .
My mom and step father found a pretty good middle school or at least that’s what I thought. The first day I was excited and nervous at the same time; I put on my uniform and hopped in the car and as soon as we got there the first place we walked into was the lunch room everyone was talking I was so confused at the moment it sounded like they were talking Chinese . It was kind of funny I had a little grind on my face. The first class I went to was my advisory, she spoke English and I didn’t understand her at all. The only thing I was looking at was her hand movement we had to go around saying our name. Everyone’s’ name sounded fine and as soon as I said my name everyone started laughing and questioning it . That was a little weird because in Morocco I never experienced that kind of humiliation. There were four people in my class that did not speak English, so I felt a little better about myself. A lady came into the class and pulled us out and I thought I did something wrong, but that was my ESL teacher. We had her instead of English and she helps you with your English so when get to high school you will be in the same level in English as other high school students. The first month I felt like I was not learning anything, I felt like it was just a waist of my time.
After a while, I started getting used to the language and I did not know I had an accent so when I spoke I thought I spoke the same as everyone else and I must admit, I was proud of myself at that time. The first thing I wanted to do was sit down with my family and have a conversation in English and this time I can understand what they were saying but as soon as I started speaking they started laughing at me and they started repeating what I was saying. I just went along with it because I thought they were just joking, but when I hit 8th grade I have couple of friends and the same thing happened with them every time I tried to make a joke or say something they used to laugh at me and make jokes about the way I talked. I had a phone so I went to my room and I recorded myself to see how I sounded when I talk and when I heard it I was so shocked; I sounded horrible! I sounded like an out of planet person that just came to America; I was crying I didn’t want to speak anymore my sisters knew there was something wrong but I just did not want to talk at all and my whole family thought I was giving attitude. But I really was not, I just did not like the way I was talking and I did not like the I sounded; it just affected me in so many ways because I never had to deal with that in my life .
When I came to America I was still watching Arabic movies and shows, but I wanted to change that so I started watching Disney Channel. I was watching a whole bunch of shows and that opened me up a little bit. I used to go to my room and act like the people in the show and without me noticing my accent was slowly changing into normal so by the time I was in high school, I was able to speak just the same as other students. I have more confidence now and while my accent comes out from time to time, I do not care as much anymore. Why should I stop talking just because I don’t sound the same as other people? Everyone is different and not everyone sounds the same; it’s the diversity on earth that makes it so beautiful.
my video
My mom and step father found a pretty good middle school or at least that’s what I thought. The first day I was excited and nervous at the same time; I put on my uniform and hopped in the car and as soon as we got there the first place we walked into was the lunch room everyone was talking I was so confused at the moment it sounded like they were talking Chinese . It was kind of funny I had a little grind on my face. The first class I went to was my advisory, she spoke English and I didn’t understand her at all. The only thing I was looking at was her hand movement we had to go around saying our name. Everyone’s’ name sounded fine and as soon as I said my name everyone started laughing and questioning it . That was a little weird because in Morocco I never experienced that kind of humiliation. There were four people in my class that did not speak English, so I felt a little better about myself. A lady came into the class and pulled us out and I thought I did something wrong, but that was my ESL teacher. We had her instead of English and she helps you with your English so when get to high school you will be in the same level in English as other high school students. The first month I felt like I was not learning anything, I felt like it was just a waist of my time.
After a while, I started getting used to the language and I did not know I had an accent so when I spoke I thought I spoke the same as everyone else and I must admit, I was proud of myself at that time. The first thing I wanted to do was sit down with my family and have a conversation in English and this time I can understand what they were saying but as soon as I started speaking they started laughing at me and they started repeating what I was saying. I just went along with it because I thought they were just joking, but when I hit 8th grade I have couple of friends and the same thing happened with them every time I tried to make a joke or say something they used to laugh at me and make jokes about the way I talked. I had a phone so I went to my room and I recorded myself to see how I sounded when I talk and when I heard it I was so shocked; I sounded horrible! I sounded like an out of planet person that just came to America; I was crying I didn’t want to speak anymore my sisters knew there was something wrong but I just did not want to talk at all and my whole family thought I was giving attitude. But I really was not, I just did not like the way I was talking and I did not like the I sounded; it just affected me in so many ways because I never had to deal with that in my life .
When I came to America I was still watching Arabic movies and shows, but I wanted to change that so I started watching Disney Channel. I was watching a whole bunch of shows and that opened me up a little bit. I used to go to my room and act like the people in the show and without me noticing my accent was slowly changing into normal so by the time I was in high school, I was able to speak just the same as other students. I have more confidence now and while my accent comes out from time to time, I do not care as much anymore. Why should I stop talking just because I don’t sound the same as other people? Everyone is different and not everyone sounds the same; it’s the diversity on earth that makes it so beautiful.
my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ2EWcVOLnQ&feature=plcp&context=C3f3075dUDOEgsToPDskISoykW6Sc4U4pCa50W3Hwd
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