Sorry

My name is Kerna Charlostin I was born in Haiti, I came to the United States in 2013. My family and 1 moved here because my grandfather immigrated to the United States for a long time and he wanted my mom and her family to join. I came with my mom, my older brother and my two younger brothers. I’ve been going to school in America for 3 years I started school as a freshman and now I’m a junior about to be a senior.

When coming to America even though I was only 14 years old I was looking for job opportunities although I wasn’t in need of a job. I thought everything was so easy it’s true there’s a lot of job opportunities in the U.S but, when I turned 16 I started looking for a job I had to apply in multiple places that’s when I was like wow nothing is really easy in life. Everyone’s looking for jobs and they can’t hire just anyone, but I ended up getting a job in a clothing store and I was really happy.

When I came here my biggest fear was the new life I was about to start living. Learn a new language, get use to a different culture, new foods, and have to make new friends. When I couldn’t even speak their language. It was hard I had to start my whole life all over again and get use to everything. One thing I’ve learned since I immigrated is that no matter where I am, no matter what language I still can do good in school and follow my dreams. Since I started school in Haiti since Elementary school through 8 grades I always did good in school and most of the time I will be the top 1 in my classes, but when I came here I was scared I thought I would’ve failed all my classes. I didn’t let that happen I spoke to my teachers and made someone translate for me or sometimes I’ll try to talk to them myself.

I remember the first weeks in school it was stressful. I felt lonely, and lost because I didn’t have any friends, I couldn’t remember my classes and even when people try to make friends with me I couldn’t understand what they were saying. The easiest part was going to ESOL class it was the first week of school there were new Haitian students coming. I felt like I was home again having people who speaks the same language as me and we can share our thoughts together. Also my ESOL teacher her name is Desmidt, Jennifer she was awesome she made us feel welcome in the classroom even though we didn’t speak or understand English, but I was so comfortable around her and I wasn’t afraid trying to speak English with her.

The hardest part was leaving ESOL class and going to another class knowing students are going to making fun of me because I couldn’t speak English. To better understand the new students, teachers, and schools I would find a way to talk to the students maybe twice in a quarter and have someone translate. Ask them if they feel comfortable in the classroom, what changes they would like to see. Schools can learn about the students culture, and how they function at home.

To help students like me as they arrive in the country schools should give them extra times when they’re taking tests or send them to their ESOL class because not every teacher give the ESOL students opportunity. Teacher definetly need to be more patient with us being new to this country and preparing ourselves for this new lifestyle.