Cathy Sun: Problems of an Immigrant

When I immigrated to Canada, I faced a really hard time because I had to deal with numerous problems. I have had to find a house to settle down; I have had to buy a car to solve the transportation problem; I have had to deal with new language, new people and new circumstance. The main problem for me is Culture shock. I am trying to overcome this problem in two ways.

I am taking a language course to improve my English. Studying in class with a good teacher is a very effective method to help me in the new language. In this class, I have learned not only a lot of vocabulary, idoms, and grammars but also a lot of skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Also, the teacher has taught me how to learn English effectively in many ways. For instance, he has told me to write new vocabulary on pocket notebooks and review them everyday; he has told me to listen to English audio and repeat it every day; he even has told me to how to do the time management in English study. Furthermore, I could practice English more often when I had an English class.

In class, the teacher has maked serious and efficient plans of English teaching every day. He has been dedicated to teach us a lot of fresh knowledge everyday, covering academy, history, poems,and music among others, and has managed the class time efficiently for us to practice it in class. Moreover, after class, the teacher has given us homeworks to keep practicing English. For instance, he has requests us to read a novel; he has given us some gramma assignments; he has asked us to write essays almost every week. As a result, I can use English more fluently through such practices.

Joining social activities is another approach to conquer Culture shock. Firstly, it can help me to overcome my homesickness. I can make friends when I join social activities. Consequently, I won’t feel so lonely as before. Also, I have gotten used to the new life because I began to like Canadian life through such activities. In addition, I have gotten to know Canadian culture through joining social activities. I have knew Canadian holidays, customs, and lifestyle among others. Meanwhile, I also have knew the different outlook and thoughts of Canadians from my native country.

In conclusion, as an immigrant of Canada, my biggest problem is Culture shock. I am tyring to overcome this problem by taking an English course and joining social activities. After goiong through a period , I will know more about Canada and feel more comfortable with living in Canada.

                                   Cathy Sun

                           Feb 1, 2014

Myunghee Jung: Emotional Intelligence

Recently, I learned about EQ in English class. EQ could categorize with self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy, people skills.  I guess that some limited people should have a strong EQ at each part but many people are not. I am such a person who is not have strong EQ. What EQ skills do I need to improve on a personal level? I think I need to improve skills such as self-motivation and people skills.

First of all, I need to improve self-motivation.  Since I left my job, I have been beating around the bush without self-motivation. When somebody questioned about  my long- term goals, I cannot answer clearly. The end of last month, I met one counsellor for new immigrants. She asked me, “what are your goals?” I said to her that I would like to work in my previous field or I would like to study for graduate studies. Then, she gave me tons of papers which is I can search on the Internet easily. If I had a strong self-motivation, I probably would tell her the goal what I want to achieve and she might recommend more details which I really want to know.

 In addition, I also have to improve my people skills. Sometimes, I am thinking that I can live very well, even though I don’t have any close friends in Canada. In my personal analysis, I am feeling tired about making new friends and building new relationships. Because I worked in the IT industry, I usually communicated with computers not humans. Besides, I prefer e-mail, text messages than phone calls to reducing miscommunication. I guess if I worked on sales position, I might be well-developed people skills in my past but I have not met many people. So that is why I am not good enough for people skills. For better life, I have to improve EQ skills.

To improve self-motivation, I will narrow down my choices until end of June. To improve people skills, I will have communication in verbal with peoples as possible as I can. It is my minimal plan.;