About Us

Winning selection by Jinhee Jeon
Topic:  English in My Life

There is a saying that “Language shapes the way you think, and determines what we can think about.” Like in this saying, language is important in living and communicating with others. In other words, human having nature to be a member of society exchanges their thoughts by language skill with each other. So language skill plays crucial roles and is a basic skill to live happily in the society. Therefore I want to say what something will have a future impact in my life is English skill.

Last year, I had to move out from my country, Korea, to the US because my husband was attending a school in the US to achieve a degree. I’m Korean so English is not my mother language but is a second language. When I arrived here at first I had lots of difficulties living day to day because I did not know how to ask for help at the grocery store, bank, post office, etc. I could not go outside I was stuck inside for two months. It was during this time I realized how important it was for me to learn English if I wanted to be able to live in the USA. I did not know how to deal with this problem which I suffered for the first time in my life. I really wanted to find a solution to this problem, so my husband recommended that I attend a GPLC class, out of curiosity I went. At first I could not participate in class because I could only understand one third of the class content. Because of this I felt like I became invisible and this was frustrating. I also did not like going to my tutor for help because I felt ashamed.

After a few days had passed, I asked myself repeatedly, “How long do I have to live in fear of communicating in English” Will you continue to live in America like a loser?” I faced my fears and threw myself into learning the language. I started to watch CNN in my home with English caption on and started to participate actively in the GPLC class. At first, I totally did not understand the contents of the news. Fortunately, because CNN mainly consists of international news, I would read Korean articles about it in advance and then watched it. Whenever I went to a grocery market I would always try to talk to some employees concerning products I wanted to buy. Now, I have lived in America for ten months. I still cannot speak English fluently and freely but I do not hesitate to talk with native speakers in English. I still struggle everyday with my English skill but it is a work in progress.   Also I am studying AICPA to be an accountant for USA companies. This is not easy work especially the audit part, since I have to learn special words about this job and I can not interpret implicative meaningful sentences from time to time.

I know that English may be a roadblock to achieving my future goal in America. However, I understand my situation and that I have to overcome these difficulties. I will get over this difficult period and realize my dream.  It will also make my dream come true in the US by contributing to this country as a contributing member of society by being an accountant. To accomplish this, I made a friend on SKYPE (an internetWriting Twin telephone service) she is interested in Korean so I teach her about my language and culture and she teaches me about America and English. Hopefully, in ten years I will give back aid that I received from other Americans by participating in this society and doing community service.

Winning selection by Lamont Phillips 
Topic:  What was the best advice you were ever given, and why was it so good?

Advice is critical in today’s culture and society simply because many people, regardless of their ethnic background, social status or level of education, are often times reluctant to take advice given by others. When you receive advice from others it’s usually given in a verbal form. Recently I became a recipient of advice that was logical because it pertained to many facets of my life. However, this advice was not given verbally. The advice came from a book titled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” by Richard Carlson Ph.D. 
    
The person I received the book from did not realize how beneficial it would be to me. Much of the book's contents were very eye-opening. The reason why it was very eye-opening to me is because there were so many problems I let take over my thoughts and well- being and when I started to read the book, it put a lot of things in perspective. The book is about self- awareness that we sometimes overlook or take for granted as adults. The author, Richard Carlson, writes about information such as: doing something nice for someone else and not tell anyone about it, becoming more patient, letting others have the glory, and so many more valuable pieces of information we fail to understand as human beings. The further I read into the book the more intrigued I became.

There were many chapters in the book but there were three chapters in particular that stuck out in my mind. The first chapter was about becoming an early riser. Instead of getting up and doing the normal things that most of us do such as making a cup of coffee and running out the door, the author speaks of many different ways to start your day. After reading this, I began to change my morning routine starting with gathering my thoughts for the day, getting in a an early morning workout, and taking the dogs out in the yard to feed them. After the dogs are fed, I take a quick shower and then I am ready to start my day. Even though there are two vehicles in the household, I choose to walk to the bus stop on my way to work to enjoy the scenery. By incorporating this advice form the author it has helped me to become more in tune with my inner self mentally, physically and spiritually.

Another part of the book that I related to was to be willing to learn from friends and family. The more I read this chapter, the more it became crystal clear that this was something I really needed to work on. My family and friends are very important but I thought there was nothing more to learn from then and I found that to be wrong. As I began to listen to how my family and friends felt about life, for example, my brother has his own challenges having both legs amputated due to an illness and trying to maintain a normal lifestyle, he has always tried to explain how difficult things are for him and when he does that, it brings tears to my eyes and it reminds me not to take little things for granted.

The most meaningful message to me is when the author writes about living this day as if it were your last day. This chapter means so much to me because before my wife and I were married and had children, we had so many dreams and ambitions about starting a family and buying a home. We were so caught up in working to maintain our life, we forgot about the one thing that has brought us together, her and I. We never got a chance to have a wedding, which she deserved, or a honeymoon or even vacation with our family. By my reading this chapter, it made me realize that we still have so much more living to do as husband and wife as well as individuals. There are still many dreams and goals to fulfill.

This book has given me a new perspective on life. Taking good advice from someone or something is a critical part of being an adult. You do not always have to take advice but if it is good advice it should be considered and taken seriously. 

Twin Sisters
By Joyce Chen

Speaking and Writing are twins.  They have similar faces that you can’t differentiate from a distance.  However, if you look at them closely, you’ll quickly realize that they are two individuals with extremely different personalities.

Speaking runs as fast as she can, while Writing walks slowly and leisurely.  Therefore, Speaking always finishes her topic in one or two minutes.  People are eager to know more about her, but she turns back and leaves quickly.  Unlike Speaking, Writing spends her whole time in conversations with one friend or another.  People look forward to knowing the ending of her story.  However, she still keeps talking about the beauty of autumn leaves and the terror of spring thunders.

Running with all her heart, Speaking makes mistakes easily without noticing.  People misunderstand her due to her improper wording and her rude attitude.  Nevertheless, she disappears so rapidly that she never defends herself. In fact, Speaking never has any chance to know that she has already been in trouble.  On the contrary, Writing behaves modestly all the time. Knowing how to please her readers, she picks the correct tense of verb, uses the grammar smartly, and says greetings in the beginning and the end.

Moreover, Speaking is forgetful, whereas Writing has a good memory.  It’s hard for Speaking to describe an event thoroughly.  She just can’t remember anything, even the original question, while she is talking.  She answers her age when people ask her name. She answers yes or no when people were wondering the reason. In contrast, Writing recalls everything in detail while she is describing.  She is busy depicting the color of the desk, the flavor of the food, the facial expressions of people passing by, and even the font of the advertisement on the wall.  It seems that the deeper she describes, the more she remembers it.

 The only thing that people can’t sense by observing is that both Speaking and Writing are shy.  That is, Speaking is too nervous to face people directly, just like Writing feels uneasy to expose herself bluntly. In order to avoid the embarrassment, timid Speaking chooses to leave immediately, yet sophisticated Writing decides to hide herself by moving slowly and carefully.  As a result, Speaking runs faster and faster, breathing a sigh of relief after escaping from the crowd.  Writing feels a sense of security as well, but by revealing herself step by step. In quite different ways, fortunately, both of them are smart enough to find their own solution.