When my family immigrated from Bangladesh, my older sister was seven years old. She missed everything about her home country: her friends, her distant family, her culture. Our family chose to live in a highly Bengali area, Jackson Heights, but that was not enough compared to everything she had left behind. The worst part was having to learn English. Even with her English Language Learner classes in school, she struggled with the language, and she couldn't understand the people around her nor could they understand her. Her grappling with the change in country and language caused her to almost fail her classes. Three years later, because of her excellent grades, she received an honor roll medal. While she is proud of herself and her grades, the medal to her represents not just school progress but mostly her general progress as an immigrant. She did not believe that she would succeed when she first came here and she even spent nights crying about how hopeless she felt. The medal shows how much had changed since then in such a short period of time. As she became acclimated to the country and learned English via ELL classes, her own books, and a dictionary that our mom gave her, she became more comfortable. She was able to make friends and participate in the classroom, and overall, she developed a more optimistic outlook on New York. My sister is proud of her younger self for persevering and making it so far.

– BR

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant