What you think? Personal essay

Personal essay; Masters program in Linguistic Department, TESOL

"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner," small scared girl walks into a 5th grade classroom lost, confused with no knowledge of the language. I moved here when I was ten years old, with no knowledge of the language or the values, beliefs of this country. I believe I can share and use that experience to help my future students. My struggles and successes in school and my conviction of the potential of the youth inspire and drive me to become a teacher. As a ESL student from Ukraine, I faced a lot of barriers that discouraged me from succeeding in my education. First 4 years of learning and teaching has been amazing. Getting excepted into Masters program in Linguistic Department, TESOL is my dream.


First day in America was a fuzz and disarray. The first effect on me was that I could not communicate in English. The language became the first and the biggest barrier I encountered in the US, which happened to me the first day I stepped onto US. I found myself feeling like I was deaf and dumb. I couldn't speak and couldn't understand what people were talking about. Walking into the school for the first day was a blur of confusion and horror. In the following days, I found that many things that were extremely easy in Ukraine became the biggest problems to me. I couldn't understand the teachers, my fellow classmates or anyone, I was all alone. There was no one to help me or translate anything. But months later, I amazingly found that I was able to communicate with others, and I also could read and write some, which gave me a lot of confidence. Now I believe that my new life will be beautiful as long as I do my best. I had extraordinary teachers that help me accomplish these goals and allowed me to do my best. As a teacher I want my students to reach for the stars and always do their foremost. I have always known that I have a teaching soul that needs to be shared with others. My passion for education was spurred by teaching my younger brother, my cousins and my friends sisters/brothers. I truly found that this is my calling during student teaching. I had that spark everyday wherein I was always excited of what the day might bring and eager to know what I would learn and teach that day. As I taught these students I was excited to learn from them and teach them what I know.

Driven by my experiences, I am motivated to pursue a degree in education; childhood education in particular. I believe that all children are curious, brilliant and eager to learn; with help of a inspiring teacher, each child can shine with a light of his or her own. Graduate school will allow me to learn more professionalism and specialized knowledge and acquire more teaching methods. I am eager to learn how to improve learning environments for students and how I can inspire students to learn. The country we live in is now a multicultural, and I wish to be able to create more innovative and creative educational settings. My dream is for students to be able to interact with each other and learn from each other. Sometimes, as adults, our views become limited and we find it hard to see things from a different light. Since we ourselves learn so much from children, children should be able to learn from other children as well. I am excited to work with people who share my passion and my views. I believe that your program at Masters program in Linguistic Department, TESOL will provide me with both the professional knowledge I yearn for and the environment to help me grow as a person.

What professional knowledge I lack I make up for with a abundance of unique experiences and abilities that I can share and contribute with students. I have lived in Ukraine and U.S. which allowed me experience different cultures. I speak English, Ukrainian, and Russian. I am confident that these intangible assets can be of great assistance in my future career as an educator. I remember a quote by Richard Bach "Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know it just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers" Throughout the years I had a chance to learn from many amazing teachers. This time I would like to extend my hand to out future and do, teach, learn.