How have you overcome failure and what did you learn from it?
For over ten years, I attended Huaxia Chinese School to help me master the Chinese language. My skills improved every year and I made great progress until the year I took the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi).
The year I took the HSK, a test that demonstrates one’s proficiency in Chinese, was the most difficult year in the school. Due to a Saturday conflict, I had to enroll in a different branch of the school that year. Because of the change in environment, I did not have the same peers who helped me with classwork. I struggled for the first few months and especially when the school gave me their version of the HSK to gauge my aptitude. Having failed their test, the administration even suggested that I not take the HSK. After my slow start, I was forced to put in more effort to succeed. The most important thing I got out of this was the importance of self-discipline. Forcing myself to do better involved having a disciplined work ethic. Because Chinese school took up more of my time and I was not doing as well, I had to budget my time well to ensure that I was learning long enough and good enough. The hard work paid off when I passed the HSK and graduated from Huaxia Chinese School. After ten years of learning I finally proved my proficiency in the language.
I was glad to see how proud my teacher was of my achievement. She told the class that I was the student that showed the most improvement and who put in the most effort. She told me I had no doubt prepared a solid foundation of the language for future endeavors. I am grateful to have the opportunity to master the Chinese language; even after I graduated I speak Chinese often and communicate with my family in Chinese. I can now understand the Chinese news and enjoy Chinese television with my family.
I have learned many meaningful skills during my Chinese studies. The most important lesson being perseverance. There were many times when I was tempted to quit due to the tremendous challenge but I did not allow myself the easy way out. I took responsibility of my own education and learned to put effort into my studies.
Learning Chinese has greatly impacted me both academically and socially. I learned to be strict with myself and found the drive to succeed. I am proud to be fluent in Chinese and to have overcome my earlier failure.