I was born in the Country of Panama, were the native language is Spanish. It is very common to find many Latin American countries trying to implement English language classes in many of their school programs. I had always wanted to learn the English language because of its popularity in all aspects, much seen in television, movies and all American Franchises around the world.
In my elementary school years, I was taught very Basic English that was taught to cover the very basics, which was helpful to get familiarized with the English Language. But unless practiced many of us students eventually forgot sixty percent that was taught. I went through junior high school and high school with some English classes that were very valuable to me for my any future employments. Little did I know that there were so many rules just like in the Spanish Language that applied in its entire context?
I assume that learning a new language is similar to any American that is trying to learn a new language that is not of his native tongue. Before joining the Army I lived in New York City for a couple of months, which is were I first got my experience hands on to put in practice my few English skills. New York City is a largely populated city in the United States but composed of a majority of Non-English speaking people that come from different cultural around the world.
At first, I felt that speaking English was not going to be a problem because everyone in my neighborhood spoke or understood Spanish. There is heavy population of Latin Americans living in New York City. I asked my sister how did she master her English skills, she informed attending the public school system taught her all skills required to both read and write in the English language. I did some research and finally enrolled in some weekend classes of English as a second Language.
It was like high school all over again trying to learn the basic survival phrases and words that would get you started in a simple conversation. It was an amazing how many people still live in the United States and still don’t speak much English. I feel that these classes helped me out some but being surrounded with many Latin Americans it was difficult to shake bad habits such as to continue to speak in my native tongue and pick up a new slang vocabulary like Spanglish, which is a mixture of Spanish, and English words to better communicate among Latinos. This a very bad habit that most Latinos encounter when growing up in largely Hispanic populated suburbs throughout the United States.
However, the way out of the low income jobs is to continue strive to seek for better paying jobs, and that process is not easy without a good education. After numerous applications for better jobs and many hours working in different mediocre type of employment, which paid the minimum wage salaries in some cases below the minimum wage because of lack of experience or other reasons.
After about 10 months, I wanted a change in my life and started to seek for new employment and talked to other successful business people that had decent paying jobs. It was then that after being mentored by family and good friends it was time for change in life. Education was the key element but how was I going to afford a college education without any type of financial backings.
These thoughts probably go through every normal High School Student in America that wants to continue his or her improvement in academic learning. I had to spend some of free time when I was off from work searching for organizations that could help me out in these areas, many of them turned me down for many of reasons but I found one that pretty much could do it in return that I serve a minimum of four years of military service which turned out to be the U.S. Army.
Even though, I had found such organization you still need to meet some prerequisites
before joining the Armed Forces. Some of the prerequisites are simple ones like medical screenings, background checks, and basic education testing to qualify you for assigned duties. I had past all the prerequisites and was on way for training to get my assigned Army Training and required skill to perform my duties. Before all this would start, I would have to attend an English as a Second Language Training School to learn all the basic military terminology that would help me out in Basic Training and Assigned Duties. I spent six weeks in Langley Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and learned all the basics that helped me out in my future training sessions.
Shortly, after graduating all my required training and receiving my certificates, I was officially in the U.S. Army. This was still one short step toward my ultimate goal, which was getting a College Degree. In my enlistment contract there were some incentives promised by the Government that were beneficial toward my education such as College Funds and many other Tuition Assistance Programs that help cover my College Education Costs.
The first couple of years it was difficult to find the time to go school because of all of the deployments that were required in my job position. I had to get smart and change jobs and job locations to better position myself to accomplish my educational goals.
Anyone that has served or is serving in the Military can tell you that finding the time to go to school comes with a big price and lots of sacrifices because I also had a family to attend too. I started with Central Texas College and got my two year degree program which got me closer to four year program which I’m currently attending The University Of Phoenix Internet Program.
I feel that I have come a long way since my earlier years in New York City but still need to stick with my game plan of finishing this ultimate goal of fulfilling my degree plan and continue building my resume for my future employment opportunities. I hope that I can complete these goals with little to no problems before the end of next year.
