222 Essays - English As A Second Or Foreign Language, Free Essays

222 Essays - English As A Second Or Foreign Language, Free Essays 222 Failure Experiences to Success Introduction What does the word ?failure? mean to you? Does it make you feel ashamed and disappointed? Have you ever given up when you become a failure? To many people, the word ?failure? usually has different negative meanings to people who are not successful in their past and lacking knowledge to be able to pass exams. It?s like the end of the world when things could not be re-done or reversed so that they could start over. Somehow to them, being called ?a failure? is also equal to becoming ?a loser.? Perhaps it?s okay for them to feel miserable and listless. I was also one of those people. It was always depressing to me and I would never dare to face what I did wrong again. Not until I had a chance to read Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose, I realized that failure was not the end of every story, that everyone in this world, for at least once in their life time, has failed. It?s up to the failure to decide whether it is his or her ending or beginning of a new challenge. In Lives on the Boundar y, Mike Rose has taught me that every failure is a step forward to another success. Lives on the Boundary starts with ?this is a hopeful book about those who fail.? Basically, Rose gives hope to people like me, as an immigrant and non-English speaker, whose wish is to do better and be fluent in English as well as many other things in our lives. ?Lives on the Boundary concerns language and human connection, literary and culture, and it focuses on those who have trouble reading and writing in the schools and the workplace.? (Rose, xi) In the book, Rose has given us the advice by combining autobiography of his journey, the case study of his struggles in learning English and his writing strategy, and the commentary of himself and his students. Mike Rose has developed the way we think of failing and our talks about people who don?t do well in school. He gives us many examples of his students who have been labeled as a ?failure.? His students are people from poor neighborhoods, working-class families, immigrants who want to achieve a better life. ? The people I?ve tutore d and taught and the people whose lives I?ve studied-working-class children, poorly educated Vietnam veterans, underprepared college students, adults in a literacy program- they, for the most part, hadn?t been so fortunate.? (Rose, xi) They fail because they do poorly in schoolwork; thereby they get behind in most of their work. ?By the various criteria the institutions use, the students deserve admission-have earned their way- but they are considered marginal, ?high risk? or ?at risk? in current administrative parlance.? (Rose, 2) Instead of giving up on those students, the teacher Rose believes the school and teacher should change their potential so that the student can get better and become successful. Rose argues that using the basic methods could help most students to become better in basic writing. As an immigrant in the United States, after reading the book Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose, I have been convinced that we should ?look beyond the labels of failure and feel hop eful about those who fail.? High School Memories and Experiences First of all, we need to think about the challenge that makes us become a failure, and how it affects our life. In my memories, high school seemed to be the most challenging time in my student life. It was about the time when I started to understand more about what was called double-dealing and when I had to deal with my scariest and happiest time in my life. It was not because I didn?t have any obstacles during my elementary or middle school. It was just because my life and my future have begun to change since I came to the United States seven years ago to start my high school. It was my happiest time because I knew and believed my future was going to start. However, it was also my scariest time when I had to leave my hometown, my friends, my country, and came here with

5 Reasons You Feel Trapped in Your Job

5 Reasons You Feel Trapped in Your Job No matter how much you love your job, it’s easy to feel trapped. You wake up going through the motions and dreading getting dressed; you just want to crawl back into bed and stay home. This is human, and it happens to us all.But if you really do feel trapped and find that you’ve completely lost track of your ambition or your drive, this list might be helpful in sorting out why- and helping you to fix it.1. Everybody else is better than me.If you feel that everyone is more capable, more skilled, or more talented than you are, youll edge yourself out of the spotlight and into isolation. Instead of constantly comparing yourself to your coworkers, remember that everyone is different. Their skills may be flashier, but that doesn’t mean that yours are any less useful or important. Concentrate on doing what you do best and apply yourself to shoring up your weak spots. And trust, deep down everybody else probably feels the same!2. You tell yourself its tough out thereThe economy is terrifying. Debt levels and unemployment have reached terrifying highs. You know you’re lucky to have a job, so you couldn’t possibly look anywhere else. You’d be crazy to leave! Right? Wrong. The market is always scary. If you truly believe you can do better, more rewarding work, you owe it to yourself to try. Sometimes believing it can happen is enough to take the step!3. I should just wait untilUntil the new year. Until I have my next review. Until I’ve been here for three years. Until, until, until. Biding your time and waiting for opportunity to come to you is only a good strategy if you’re saving money, say, to start your own business. Otherwise, you should make decisions based on what’s best for you overall, not necessarily what leads you down the path of least resistance.4. You dont know what else you wantIt’s hard to get what you want when you don’t even know what that is. But you owe it to yourself to find out. Don’t just stick with the devil you know. Ask yourself the hard questions and then do something about it if you don’t like the answers.5.   I have to prove myself.No, you don’t. You have to follow your path and find a way to do your best work- regardless of whether you feel your version of life matches up with someone else’s checklist of success.You have to be brave enough to get yourself un-trapped. No one else will do it for you.