Essay Contest Writer Subhashini Jain: Value of Adult School in My Life

We celebrated Adult Ed Week 2015 in many ways.  Many ESL students wrote essays for an essay contest.  The topic of the contest was "I am an Adult School Student and This is My Story."  The essays were wonderful.

Here, with the permission of the author Subhashini, is one of them:

Value of Adult School in My Life

Hi, my name is Subhashini Jain.  I am an adult school student.  I have been coming to this school since last November.  This is my story.

My husband relocated to the USA for several years.  I remembered that after our marriage, when I flew to the USA in 2013, I faced difficulty with the immigration department.  I didn't understand the officer's accent, body language and what he was trying to say, so I finally followed the other passengers.  I took almost 3 hours to leave the airport. I felt very ashamed of myself as I learnt English from my childhood.  but, when I landed here, I found difficulty with the American accents, expression, slangs like when our friend say, "gonna, see ya."  I felt like an idiot.  Earlier, when we were in Wisconsin, I didn't have a working VISA, so I became a homemaker.  I went shopping for groceries and other household stuffs.  Day by day, I realized that I was unable to do daily basic activities such as make an appointment, communicate with the sales person in shops or make or answer phone calls.  If we went ou tot dinner, my husband ordered my meal.  So, I became dependent on my husband totally. My situation got worse day by day.  I stopped attending any social events.  I stopped talking with my family.  I kept myself isolated.  I never talked to any outsiders for several months.  I felt depressed and frustrated "Where am I?  What am I doing?  Why am I here?  I became a negative person.

Finally, we decided to move to California from Wisconsin in 2014.  After a month, I decided that if I have to say in the USA, I have to improve my English Grammar and Communication.  Finally, one day while searching online for English Classes, I came across San Mateo Adult School.  I enrolled for grammar and conversation classes and started coming to this school.  In school, I came across students from different age groups, cultures, and countries.  At this time, attending school is such a scintillating experience for me.  The teachers and staffs are very supportive, understanding and helpful in overcoming my situation.  Sometimes, I feel hesitant to come to school at my age but I continue attending classes because I get a huge motivation from my teachers and classmates.  Within a month, I was building confidence in myself.  My perception of life has now changed.  I started going out and making friends.  Now, I have multicultural friends.  I have become more vocal and expressive in public places and responsive to my family.   Now, it's been four months since I've been in this school and my life is getting better and better.  Now, I am looking for volunteer opportunities, so I can have a social life here.

At last, I would really want to thank this school and I wish this school never gets closed for any reason.  This school has helped me to reach my goal and become more independent.