In any environment a person steps into, there will always be a variety of people that are different from each other. Whether it is the color of their skin, contrasting languages, or simply the way they dress. 

Unfortunately, there are people that judge others only based on these differences. Many students that are of multiple ethnicities face these struggles each day, particularly if their primary language is not English. 

“When I moved to the US from India, learning to speak English wasn’t really a problem, it was more the way I sounded,” sophomore Kavish Chulani said. “However since I’ve attended CP the comments have died down, and I’m doing a lot better with communicating.” 

Learning a new language is a very difficult task to achieve. Trying to read, write, and speak an unfamiliar language takes a lot of patience as each dialect is different. Even though the most common language is English it still can be hard to learn, especially for people that come from foreign backgrounds.

“At first it was a struggle trying to learn English since at home the only language spoken was Spanish,” sophomore Jason Pirir said. “I didn’t really start to learn until I started school. I quickly caught onto English though since being around others that only spoke it.” 

Still, some teachers find it hard to communicate with their students. Though, many have found a solution to this problem by teaching classes to students that are interested in learning another language. 

“Learning to speak English was especially hard for me,” Chinese teacher Carol Lee said. “My reading and writing skills weren’t so great either, but since I teach Chinese here, the only challenge I faced was translating to English.” 

Even English-Speakers find trouble in learning new languages because a lot of words look very similar to one another but mean entirely different things. For example, the word “Cuarto,” in Spanish can mean “15” regarding time or mean “room,” thus not using this word correctly can change the meaning of a sentence and will most likely not make sense. 

“My primary language is English but I take Spanish at our school, and the challenges I faced were trying to spell words correctly,” freshman Hannah Nuttall said. “I have gotten better though since I’ve had more practice.

Though some foreign students’ journeys can start off shaky, our school has created an environment accepting of others no matter their differences, providing resources to expose and teach students and teachers alike more about our differences. Finding out that a classmate comes from a different background can be an interesting way to get to know someone and learn about another culture just as taking a foreign language class can allow you to communicate with an otherwise unlikely peer. Having an open mind in regards to all people will prove to be beneficial to everyone.