This is Oakland International High School (OIHS). There are students from different countries and they all speak different languages. Always if you have friends from the same country you have a big group of friends but how about if someone is the only one from their country? Scared? There are three people that we interviewed they are the only one from their countries. We ask them lots of questions about what they feel about being alone in the school.
Nanako is a 17 year old girl from Japan. She is an llth grade student at OIHS. You cannot imagine how she came to the U.S.A. by herself. She was nervous on her first day in this new school, new country, and with a different language. An important thing is that she is the only student who is Japanese in this school that's why she felt lonely. In fact, she has to solve all difficult things in her school and life. In the school, she tries to talk with other students to make them friends, and a very hard thing for her is to study English and improve it. She wants to improve herself by living in a different country the U.S.A. One semester ago, she got changes in her life and she improved her English. Now she feels good in the school because she got new friends. She wants to go to college after she graduates from high school to get higher education.
Shazia is 18 years old from Afghanistan who came to the U.S.A. with her big family. She is an 11th grade student in OIHS. She and her family want to get a better life and have a bright future that's why they came to the U.S.A. When they first step in the U.S.A. it means their life will change and they have to solve many difficult things in this new country so they can make it better. After she came to the U.S.A. she started to go to school and studied her new language English in OIHS. When her first day came to OIHS she felt very scared for her new school and at that time she had problems because other students speak different languages and she cannot understand what are they talking about. It made her feel more scared and nervous. She asked herself what would she would do now. She studies very hard to learn English. She tried her best and teachers help her to learn English. Now she feels normal and she has many friends. She is not scared of this school anymore. After high school she wants to go to college or university to learn about medical science and to be a doctor for her future.
Tsering is a Tibetan boy. He is 17 years old and a 12th grade student in OIHS. He came to the U.S.A. with his family in 2008. He wants to change his life and get more education to help his future in the U.S.A. Before he came to school he was thinking that learning a new language and making new friends is difficult for him. He didn't feel happy when he came his first day to the school because he saw many Chinese guys. He can speak Mandarin but in this school many Chinese students speak Cantonese. He was still scared from language because the teacher's use English to teach students and he thinks learning culture, tradition and language are difficult for him. Just after two semesters he has seen big changes in his life. He can speak English to solve some problems, to made lots of friends from other countries. He joined the OIHS’s basketball team to make more friends. He will graduate and then he wants to go to Berkeley City College to continue his education.
They are all the only student from their countries in OIHS but they all are happy in OIHS. They are not scared in the U.S.A. because they learned English and have lots of friends. They have just one goal of studying English and then fullfilling their American Dreams.
