Being a foreign student is hard. Not only the language but also the people are completely different. For a Chinese student in the U.S., going to a U.S. school means dealing with a clash of cultures every day. However, there is also much to learn from the American people. Whenever I talk to my American friends, I make a discovery, whether it concerns the language or the culture.
At the current stage, however, the language barrier is the greatest obstacle. Though I do my best to talk more, new words keep coming, and I cannot figure out how to learn them all.
However, I try to engage in as many social activities as possible. Although learning a second language is hard for a Chinese student, especially since there are the British and the American English, I can feel my skills improving because of the constant communication and discussion of the latest theatrical events and plays.
As I have already mentioned, my primary USA English speaking community was the theatrical discussion group. The group was called “Acting, Voice and Movement Workshop.” The group consisted of twelve students. However, not all of them were present all the time.
Therefore, on average, there were eight to ten people in the group. After all, Swales says that “A discourse group has a threshold level of members” (Swales 135). These are the interactions that matter the most: “competing discourses of (so-called) decontextualized and contextualized language use in the literacy socialization” (Duff 183).
The first occasion was the discussion of the difference between acting and real life. It was one of the first lessons. The basic goal of the given community was to draw the line between acting and reality. It was thrilling to find out that acting and reality are often intertwined. Moreover, there is no actual border between the two.
The given community could be described with the help of Swales’ definition: it had a “broadly agreed set of common public goals” (Swales 134).
To be more exact, we wanted to know more about theatre and acting. In the given occasion, the members of the community, i.e., the students, including me, were very still and mostly listening to the teacher. However, the teacher asked us then about the difference between life and acting. As soon as he did, we started expressing our opinions.
The second occasion concerned the discussion of the American Comedy Scene. During the discussion, I learned many new words and expressions. Also, I also found out much about the specifics of American comedy. Moreover, I was taught the differences between classical comedy and the American one.
The most important lesson, however, concerned the significance of interaction. As Swales says, “A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members” (Swales 135). At the end of the lesson, the teacher gave each of us a written assignment. We had to write about the differences between American and classical comedy. After that, we were supposed to discuss an American comedy on YouTube.
I chose “Big Money Hustlas,” because my American friend liked it. I also commented on the movie (Appendix F). Later on, my comment got a response from one of the members of the group, Sam, who said “I don’t think this is a typical American comedy. It lacks the dark humor.
They’ve turned it into a safe family movie that you’d watch with your parents.” The rest of the group members, however, had a more active discussion. I preferred watching them talk. Thus, I could learn even more. However, my tutor did not agree; she said that I should be more active.
Finally, I would like to mention the discussion of the Shakespearean comedy. This was the pivoting point of my experience as an English learner. I finally realized how important discussions are. At this point, I realized that “a discourse community uses its participatory mechanism primarily to provide information and feedback” (Swales 134).
Exchanging opinions, we learned more about the American theater, culture, and language. Of course, there was still the language barrier between me and the rest of the group. However, one of the group members soon became interested in my opinion about Shakespeare. He started asking questions, and I tried to understand what he was saying. Thus, the feedback mechanism was launched.
The theatrical community has had a great impact on me. It both improved my English skills and let me know more about the world of art. However, the most important lesson concerned the interaction within a community. I finally learned how to learn English in the right way. Also, I acquired new communication skills.
The latter was predictable, according to Yerrick and Gilbert: “providing multiple and diverse entries into a more constructivist treatment of scientific knowledge, all students will learn to think better, speak, and act like scientists” (Yerrick and Gilbert 67).
I also had several experiences with secondary groups. Though these were not strictly academic activities, they still helped me greatly. I left comments under several YouTube videos (Appendix B). After that, someone would reply. Alternatively, I only watched other people chatting about a specific video.
As a big fan of arts, I also subscribed for several DevianArt (Appendix C) authors. I took part in several discussions of their works afterward (Appendix G). I also have to mention Facebook (Appendix A). Most of my American fellow students have a Facebook account. They invited me to discussions of modern movies and their theatrical releases. Though I did not respond often, I learned much by simply reading my friends’ commentaries.
Finally, I learned much about the language by simply mailing my friends about movies, plays, etc. and reading their responses. Thus, e-mailing (Appendix E) has helped me a lot as well. This cannot be considered formal English, of course. However, I also need speaking practice badly. I need to expand my vocabulary first. Afterward, I will be able to choose a specific style of writing. At present, I can only use a restricted amount of words.
Peeking in a dictionary all the time irritates me. However, that is a good motivation for learning more. The last online group to mention is Reddit (Appendix D). I have an account on Reddit, but I prefer reading it rather than writing there. I do not feel confident enough now to write there. I am afraid that others will consider me illiterate. As soon as my writing and speaking skills improve, I will start writing in Reddit, too.
Thus, learning English is easier when integrating into an English-speaking community. Considering the English language from the viewpoint of several communities helps even more. Thus, more specifics of the language are discovered. My experience in the chosen community was very significant for me as an ESL student. I realized that English was not to be feared. Moreover, I learned how to express my ideas about a specific issue.
The experience with the theatrical courses community helped me work on both grammar and vocabulary. I could finally structure simple sentences without making mistakes. Moreover, I started “feeling” the words.
To be more exact, I started understanding the difference between similar words like “say” and “tell.” I finally stopped worrying about possible misunderstandings. Not that I make no mistakes now; however, now I know how to handle these mistakes and avoid misconceptions.
Works Cited
Duff, Patricia A. “Language Socialization into Academic Discourse Communities.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 40 (2010): 169–192.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. n. d. PDF file. 15 April 2013. Print.
Yerrick, Randy K. and Andrew Gilbert. “Constraining the Discourse Community: How Science Discourse Perpetuates Marginalization of Underrepresented Students.” Journal of Multicultural Discourses 6.1 (2011): 67–91.