Here is true story, it might be you.

Several years ago, a young man was taking my high-intermediate composition class, and he listened attentively as I gave the students my standard advice. I stressed to them how important it was to take care of business while they were in the ESL classes and to develop their language skills as fully as possible. After class, this student came to me and said that he knew exactly what I was talking about because he was confronting the harsh reality of being unable to find a job due to his inadequate language skills. He had returned to the two year college ESL Classroom in hopes of improving his English writing. He had graduated with a Bachelor of Science in math from a prestigious university and had continued on to an even more prestigious university where he had been awarded a Master of Science in bio-statistics.

Clearly, he was a successful students; he had degrees from two top-rated universities. I asked him how he had made it through so many years of college work without having developed the necessary writing skills. He told me that he had networked with his friends and learned which classes to take; he had passed courses in history, philosophy, and English by recycling essays and had never gotten anything higher than a C in any of the course. He somehow managed to pass the university writing exam with the lowest score acceptable. However, he was brilliant in his chosen field and his excellent grades in math, coupled with his high GRE math scores, helped him gain acceptance into graduate school. Once in, he repeated his old tricks and got his degree.

So why was he sitting in my community college ESL classroom? He could not get a job. He had neglected his English communication skills for so long that he was avoided courses in which he would have been expected to write, he had also limited his contact with native English speakers. He only had contact with classmates and friends who spoke his first language. His English language skills actually worsened over time. Not exactly what one would have expected.

Fortunately, he realized what was happening and decided to take control of the situation. He enrolled in ESL classes and began an intensive self-improvement program. He participated in class, did all of his writing assignments, and gradually started to regain the skills that had been lost. It was not easy and it was not instant, but he finally made enough of an improvement in both his written and spoken English that he was hired by an engineering firm, certainly something he would not have been able to achieve one year earlier.

 

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Educated person can think for himself. He can analyze, adapt to new situations, develop new ideas, make judgments, lay plans, and have a vision of the future.

   

If you enjoy writing, the reader will probably enjoy reading your words. If you are bored when you write, the reader will probably be bored too. If you approach your assignments with a lively energy, looking for ways to learn and grow, then English will soon become a valuable tool for thinking and communicating. This will help you attain your personal goals while making you valuable to your family, your company, and your nation. In this way, you can go into the future with an independent mind, with the ability to think deeply, analyze, innovate, plan, and create.