Please identify a school, extracurricular, or community activity and explain how it was meaningful to you.

 

For over ten years, I attended [name] Chinese School to help me master the Chinese language. I started in kindergarten and attended classes every weekend to learn how to read, write and speak the language. When I first started the class I only had a basic idea of how to speak. Although Chinese was a difficult language to master, I was determined to learn it. My extended family is all fluent in Chinese and I hoped to be able to converse with them in Chinese. Of course, with the increasing influence of China to the world, Chinese could also help me in my future career.


Each week my teacher would test me on new words and sentence construction and I would gradually improve. My teacher routinely assigned homework each night and I worked hard to complete each assignment. I was very fortunate to have my parents available each night to help me as well. I learned to be patient and appreciate what my parents were able to teach me.


After ten years of learning I was able to pass the HSK test which demonstrated my proficiency in the language. The year I took the HSK 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 two months; 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 [name] Chinese School.


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.


Learning Chinese has greatly impacted me both academically and socially. I am grateful to have this opportunity to learn a second language. I am proud to be fluent in Chinese and the ten years I spent learning Chinese was incredibly meaningful.