Going back to the beginning of 2016 when my family and I immigrated here, everything was new, unfamiliar yet exciting and terrifying, in some sort of sense, yet worrying. We were hearing English being used in the way it is commonly used for the first time and didn’t have much knowledge about the language. Back in Bangladesh, where I learned the subject, they simply covered the fundamentals of the language. For instance, they would explain a verb’s definition and instruct us to use it in a sentence. We never spoke English inside the classroom or outside of it, therefore, I was baffled when I encountered people here who spoke English like it was as natural as breathing. It was extremely difficult for us to navigate through daily life without facing challenges communicating with others in local places.

My brother and I formally started school here a few days later. It’s interesting to note that we both learned swear words before we ever learned to speak proper English since every time we spoke to someone, they would use the f-bomb and the B-word when talking. In the classroom, however, I did have a lot of Bengali friends and support from my teacher. Luckily, our teacher was also Bengali. Despite the difficulties I had speaking English, she would help out. However, she didn’t see any potential in me, perhaps due to a lack of effort on my part, and I could tell she disliked me for it. It didn’t help that I wasn’t very interested in the language. I will be honest, I did not know what I was doing in 5th grade because I didn’t speak or understand the language very well due to being an immigrant and English not being my first language or a language I knew well. As a 5th grader, you can also imagine that I didn’t have that long of an attention span like any other kid and found school boring as well as confusing and scary as it was a new environment in a generally unfamiliar country. Learning English and communicating using it go hand in hand. In learning English, you essentially learn what makes up the language and practice it and when communicating, you put what you’ve learned and what you’ve practiced to use. Like a practicum, if you don’t learn or practice, you can’t do it well or know how to do it.

I was surprised by how quickly I was able to start learning English. However, I didn’t learn much at school. My English, instead, got better by watching YouTube videos, chatting with friends, and watching movies also helped with the process. As I learned new words and phrases, my confidence in speaking grew, and I was able to have and hold conversations with people without having to worry about how to get my message across or how it was coming across and understood by them.

I think this struggle and need to understand a certain language happens to all people going to different countries for work, school, or to live there since the country they hail from doesn’t offer many opportunities or have opportunities there but other countries offer better options and opportunities or it’s hard to maintain whatever financial stability you or your family may have due to the economy of the country poorly handled. I’d say learning English came with difficulties but it also proved to be a meaningful moment in my life when it became a need to speak the language and learn its literacy to survive after moving into an unfamiliar new land with it as the main and widely spoken language.

In conclusion, the journey of adapting to a new country and learning a new language was filled with challenges and surprises. It’s fascinating how my initial exposure to English included swear words, which was far from ideal. However, with time and determination, I managed to improve my English skills through unconventional means like YouTube and casual conversations with friends. This experience has taught me the importance of language in survival and integration into a new society, especially when the native language is different. It has made me appreciate the power of language as a tool for communication and connection in a diverse world.