After my move to America from my native country, I remember my first couple of days of school in New York. I remember being escorted to a classroom by a school staff member. As I entered the classroom, I felt as if multiple lasers were aimed at me when my classmates stared. I could only speak Haitian-Creole and French at the time, so I had a very hard time communicating with my peers. I remember only replying by shaking my head and performing hand gestures when an adult or classmate would speak to me. I could not effectively interact with anyone because of the language barrier. I felt as if those around me were aliens because of the new environment that I had to adapt to. I had no friends, and none of my classmates spoke the same language that I did. I remember sitting down by myself during lunch and breakfast. Seeing that other kids were laughing and interacting with each other knowing that I couldn’t do the same made me feel like I was an outcast. America has a completely different education system; one particular example is the writing style: back home, I was used to writing French in script, whereas here, I had to transition to writing English in print. I found it strange that adjectives came before nouns when people spoke; in French, it’s the other way around. I think that I would only consider myself to be part of a discourse community of people that spoke French just like I did, and people that were going through the same adjusting experience as I was. As I kept going to school, I became more observant. I paid very close attention to how my classmates interacted with each other and relied on their tone and body language to pick up on the meaning of certain words. I learned how to say “what’s up” for the first time. I remember saying it to my classmates, and they would respond by saying the same thing back with the biggest smile on their faces. It made me feel thrilled that they understood what I said and they replied. Perry Klass mentioned that at first, you may find it too difficult to adapt to the new “Language”, but as time progresses, you’ll become accustomed to speaking the language without realizing it. I found that to be the case with my learning process. I discovered new words like cool, bro, and dude. When I would use them to interact with my peers, I almost felt like I started to fit in since I would always get a response.
Going from one language to another is always confusing. I think your idea to talk about the community of French speakers like you who are going through the same thing is a terrific way to address this assignment.