^Need some motivation and guidance**

ThatguyfromPR · December 2, 2013, 9:57pm

Hi I am from the Carribean and live in the Northeast (PA). I believe that is also a URM (correct me if im wrong). Being from a spanish speaking island my english is not up to par with my schools rigor. Top 20 in state, and i seem to struggle in English and French in particular. I as youncan see suck at writing in english and messup my grammar alot. Im barely scraping A's in those classes and im shooting for big scholarships at state school or acceptance into Ivy's. Can anyone give me some tips for french and english, i want to major in a science related field, but dont know if i can succeed my goals. My dad doesnt seem to get that english is my second language and expects an A even though he knows i struggle with english and french. Anyone have some good 'ol motivation for moi, Merci Beaucoup

GeekMom63 · December 2, 2013, 10:42pm

Sorry I can’t offer much, but I’d recommend reading and writing. Boring, but true. If you read what has been written by English-speaking adults, you will learn how it should be. As far as motivation, it looks like you’re actually doing pretty well. Clearly you’re intelligent enough to learn a second (and third) language and learn well. In case the errors in your post were caused by genuine confusion and not laziness, I have a few pointers:

[ul]
[]The words “Spanish” and “English” should be capitalized.[]“Im” is a contraction for “I am”, and should have an apostrophe to indicate the missing letters. So you should say “I’m” (I am), “don’t” (do not), “doesn’t” (does not), "ol’ " (old). [li]The word “I” should always be capitalized.[/li][/ul]

Good luck!

ThatguyfromPR · December 2, 2013, 11:09pm

Thank you very much! I am currently learning my third language and not loving it, but determined to do atleast 3 years of it. I just needed someone to give me some insight. I surprisingly read alot, but unfortunately its mostly Y!A and CC Forum :D. I happen to have the harder teachers so hopefully next year when i go to the actual High School building i’ll get better grades in stuff like ^English^. My district has Froshees go to the middle school building which is by no means good because you cant get a solid weighed gpa without killing yourself junior and senior year, but I will get through it eventually! Thanks guys if anyone else has anything to share feel free :)

mathyone · December 3, 2013, 9:16am

I have two ideas. First, you can expand your vocabulary and improve your sense of proper grammar/good writing by reading well-written books which use a good vocabulary. You might try asking your English teacher for some recommendations. Second, I would get an SAT prep book or two and put some time into preparing over the long term. The book should cover many common English grammar mistakes and at this point I would focus on making sure you understand the grammar and slowly working through the vocabulary. Don’t stress too much about timed practice tests or scores, just use the material as a resource to boost your general English skills. Hopefully both the vocabulary and the grammar will help with your reading and writing in English. You could also ask your English teacher for recommendations of books to improve your English skills.

As far as French, I’m a bit surprised you have trouble with it. Since French is much more similar to Spanish than to English, and since you’ve already had the experience of learning a second language, French should be much easier for you than your classmates. Maybe you just need to study a little more.

ThatguyfromPR · December 3, 2013, 6:18pm

Well my french teacher isnt the best in my opinion, and i didnt learn a second language like you think i did. In Puerto Rico you kind of know and are teached both since youre born so you speak english at school, but you have spanish class and everything outside of school is mostly in spanish. Nonetheless we dont have like vocab and grammar tests, we just have a bunch of BS drawing assignments where thr teacher refuses to give you a good grade if she doesnt like you, im at an 89.17 so maybe i can get my score up a bit in a couple weeks. Nonetheless thanks for all your help guys really appreciate it!

Lakemom · December 3, 2013, 7:22pm

Read the New York Times. The library has copies or you can probably read it online if they have an account. Read the Sunday paper, the magazine section, the opinion section, editorials etc. There is a real variety of writing styles to see how people who are capable of being published express themselves.

mathyone · December 3, 2013, 10:07pm

NY Times is a good idea. Anything but online forums, where English is routinely butchered.

Part of the problem with French may be that when you learned English you were much younger. Unfortunately, as we age, we lose the fantastic language-learning ability that we have as children. And unfortunately, most US schools insist on waiting until the ability to easily learn languages is lost before beginning to teach foreign languages. The vocabulary and grammar you may have absorbed so easily as a child probably now requires a lot of tedious drills which you probably didn’t have to do when you learned English.

When my daughter was in AP Spanish last year, she and a friend in the class made a point of practicing speaking to each other, sometimes just on the phone. I think that helped some. At least it made it more interesting. Maybe you can find a study buddy for French. I also suggest talking to your counselor about French. Top colleges always want a foreign language, but I am not sure how this applies to students who are already bilingual. If you aren’t enjoying French, and it’s not important for your future major or career, perhaps as a bilingual student you might not need to take it? I really don’t know the answer to this.

Magnetron · December 4, 2013, 12:40pm

Join the student newspaper if you can. It forces you to examine the nuts-and-bolts of the language, not just the exterior. It’s hard to understand colon vs. semicolon just by reading.

I also agree about newspapers and magazines being more efficient teachers than books, especially the literary ones like the New Yorker or Harper’s.

With French, you just need to spend more time studying, and try to join a speaking group.

LBowie · December 6, 2013, 5:44am

Just want to encourage you - my dad was your age when he came to the US, and was weak on English. He went to college and one time when I was in high school I found his grades in the attic. He had a lot of Cs! But he graduated and had a successful career as an architect with a great firm. His English improved to fluency. He does love to read, and I think that made a big difference.

mathmom · December 6, 2013, 8:46am

I’m going to put in a plug for non-literary literature. My kids aced the CR portion of the SAT on a diet of sci fi and fantasy. The books they read were decently written with a pretty large vocabulary and they really picked up speed by reading a lot. My older son read more than a book a week outside school. My younger son, not quite so much, but certainly that much when school was on break. Ideally read things you enjoy reading so it doesn’t seem like a chore.

This jumped out at me in your post “you kind of know and are teached both”. The past tense of teach is taught, and I wonder if you were taught/heard a less than grammatical English growing up. Reading will help - things like this should just sound/look wrong after a while.

As for French, in my experience, learning a foreign language after childhood just takes a huge amount of practice and drilling. I spent five years in Germany and still made dumb grammar mistakes when talking though I knew most of the rules by then.

ThatguyfromPR · December 30, 2013, 3:59pm

Thank you all for your help! I know English isnt my strong suite, but I will take all of your tips and try to implement them into my speaking and writing. I decided to buy the blue book (aka the sat preparer aka the sat heavyweight champion study guide xD) and i will begin studying as i feel like I’m at a disadvantage and i wont let that get the better of me. I will not be denied an admission because i wasn’t prepared for something i knew was coming. I will start studying now so when it comes my way I’m going to slap and punch it repeatedly until it gives me a perfect score xD (idk my imagination kicked in) in all honesty thank you all!

anon94785555 · December 30, 2013, 6:34pm

Practice makes perfect. Reading well written literature will get you used to proper grammar. Formally studying French will give you an awareness of grammar and its different forms you can apply to English. French has many irregular verbs- so does English. Learn them. Embrace the fact that English does things differently than Spanish. TV and movies can help you with the spoken word. Unfortunately too much bad speech can be found on the internet so using that medium as your source of good English is not a good idea- using a computer to read/hear other sources works.

You are more likely to learn standard North American English when your peer group speaks it. Immersion instead of spending time with those from your PR culture. btw, I have learned here in Florida that Puerto Rican Spanish differs from that spoken in other areas. You are young enough to lose your accent as well. PS- I have an Indian H and inlaws who learned their English in India, it makes a huge difference in accent depending on who taught them.

ucbalumnus · December 31, 2013, 1:41am

Here are some more places to read English and French:

French:
[url=<a href=“http://news.google.com/news?ned=fr]Google”>http://news.google.com/news?ned=fr]Google</a> Actualit

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^Need some motivation and guidance**

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