Living in an immigrant family has its perks. I have the ability to learn traditions and custom that are not part of the American society and be able to share these traditions to others. However, living in an immigrant family also has its disadvantages. One main disadvantage that has affected me was my language barrier. Even though I was born in the United States of America, English was not my first language; instead, I spoke Gujarati, an Indian language. My family communicated with me in Gujarati and I did not grow up learning English. As I started school, my parents realized the necessity of English and attempted to teach me English with all of their time and effort. I recall my mother taking me to the Oak Forest Public Library to check out books to improve my English reading and writing skills. I was even placed in Sylvan Learning for English and Reading help. My language barrier is …show more content…
The erroneous vocabulary or the mispronunciation of words resulted in my teachers noting faults in my writing or errors in my presentation. As a result, public speaking became a major handicap for me. I would get extremely nervous and stutter my words because I possessed little confidence in my speaking skills; nonetheless, I did not let that get me down. To overcome this challenge, I began to read aloud to improve my vocabulary and pronunciation; I also had my friends correct my mispronunciations when we spoke to each other. I joined clubs that helped me improve my public speaking skill such as Business Professionals of America, Debate, and Project Diversity. I pushed myself to ameliorate my public speaking skills by becoming an emcee during the Project Diversity show and becoming the secretary for Project Diversity for the past two years. Taking action to enhance my public speaking skills proved to me that determination will pay