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Originally Posted by pdo
RussianJen--you are right on the money with that one!
I was a bio child who spent her first 11 years in Russia.
Everything-I mean everything was shame-based. Case in point: Back in 1991 my parents enrolled me in a private German school. This was the first private school to ever open in St. Petersburg, with a heavy emphasis on foreign languages. I started in March with NO prior exposure to German. This was the 4th grade, and the rigor of the language program could only be compared to US AP standards. The other kids had studied German since 1st grade, so I had to get a tutor to catch up. My tutor repeatedly told me "What do you mean you don't know? Are you retarded or something?" My English teacher, wich whom I had taken private lessons starting at age 7, used to regularly ridicule my pronunciation: I was supposed to be learning the Queen's English--requiring a British accent. She often compared me to her other students as well. She herself had never been to England, and had only a vague idea of what "proper English" sounded like.
The day after we arrived in the US, I started 6th grade at a private school--my teachers were amazed at my English skills, and everyone thought I was from England!
I finished the school year with straight A's and went on to 4 years at an exclusive college-preparatory school-the best years of my life. I got a BA in German Literature , and will be starting graduate school (MLIS) this spring.
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You sound like me! Except I was learning Russian, not English.
Our Russian teacher for the first year we were there (we arrived in Russia knowing
nothing) was really discouraging - I remember though we'd only been learning Russian for about a month, she said "Jen, you're not even
trying - you must either be the laziest person I've ever met - or the dumbest." I had happened to spend three hours on my homework for her, so when I said "well, I must be dumb, then, 'cause I wasn't being lazy", I meant to lighten things up a bit.
She just looked at me over her glasses and said "Yes, you must be."
Talk about encouraging! Everyone would say "you've already been here three months; aren't you even trying to learn how to speak properly?"
It was tough. We became somewhat calloused after a while, though - only the most biting of remarks unsettles me now. I...think that's a good thing. ???
Anyway, thanks for sharing, and
molodyets on your academic achievements!
-RussianJen <><