The first time I began writing a paper in the English language was in January, 2013, when I was an student at the English Language Institute at Syracuse University. I had a difficult time expressing my thoughts in the English language, which is my second language. I was worried about choosing the wrong vocabulary or writing a sentence using the Arabic mentality, and risking having the readers misunderstand the whole idea behind my work.

I took four writing classes in four different levels, and my instructors at the English Language Institute were proud of me after they saw my improvements, not only in the writing, but also in the listening, reading, and speaking sections because these skills are connected. I remember Jackie Schneider, who is an instructor at the ELI at Syracuse University. She taught me Textual in level one and two.

“If you would like to improve your writing, reading, listening and speaking skills, you have to read, read, and read. Read things such as books, newspapers, and magazines,” she told me and the other students. I learned many things from her advice. I learned new words, the usage of these words and the writing styles. After I passed the four levels at the English Language Institute, I arrived to Buffalo State in this semester, which is Fall 2013, and I am so happy that I joined The Record newspaper and now have the chance to share some of my life stories and give advice from what I’ve learned to far. I am still struggling with writing, and I thought about not writing for The Record for a while in order to further my knowledge and develop my writing skills. However, my friends advised me to just keep writing, and bit-by-bit, I will conquer all the difficulties. Keep going and smile!