Intellectually Engaging Experience Originally, I

¶ … Intellectually Engaging Experience

Originally, I come from Taiwan, but I have been attending high school in the Boston area of the United States at a boarding school. Until I came to the school I had never lived away from my parents. English is, of course, my second language, so it has made some things difficult for me. My social and academic activities and challenges have been difficult at times, but they have also been stimulating in ways that they would not have been if I wouldn't have been learning the language at the same time I was learning the culture and the academic skills that I will need to go on to college and to go from that point on to a career.

Last year, I had a chance to do something very intellectually engaging and very, very challenging. The Teaching Assistant who normally works in the Chinese class had some personal issues to deal with and was not able to be there, and the school couldn't fill the vacancy on the short notice that they had. Since they knew that my first language was Chinese, they offered me the position. I had never had a paying job before, and I was very excited -- and a bit scared. I put a lot of effort into being caring and diligent as a teacher.

Since the students were learning a new language and I was learning a new language, it made sense, and there were some very interesting experiences. It helped me relate to the students, though, which meant that I was better able to find creative ways to help them. That's something that I might not have otherwise been able to do very well, since it's hard to relate to people who you don't have anything in common with. The culture in Taiwan and the culture in the United States are very different, so if it wasn't for the shared experience of learning a language I might not have been able to talk to these students and relate to them so that we could all get something from our time together.

When the end of the school year came around there was a contest for the best Teaching Assistant that year, and I won. It was a great experience overall -- not only because it was so intellectually engaging but also because my confidence as a person and as a student was really boosted by being 'the best' at something that I hadn't even planned to do or had been trained for. It showed me that I really could do things that I was nervous about, and that I could contribute something valuable even if my language skills and social skills were not yet as good as I would have hoped.

The students who were trying to learn Chinese were having trouble with certain words and phrases and pronunciations just like I was with English, so we could compare the difficulties that we were struggling with. Even though I got to teach them, I also got to be their mentor and their friend, and all of those things were important to me both academically and socially. It can be harder to make friends when you aren't like everyone else or when you come from a different place, and I struggled with some of that, but working as a Teaching Assistant and being appreciated for that by the students each day as well as with the end-of-the-year award made me feel like I was accepted.