Final Letter to Myself

Tsung-Cheng Lin
English 1B
In class essay #3
Final Letter to Myself
Dear: Tsung Cheng Lin

As an international student, English is not a first language to me. I started to learn English just three years ago. Writing an essay and understanding the texts take me a long time. Also, I have been here for just three years. I didn’t know much about California. However, in this English 1B class, I have learned a lot. I think the most important thing that I learned from this class was the close reading—how to get the deeper meaning of the readings. I also have learned California culture and history a lot.

I think the first important thing that I learned was to understand the prompt. In my first in class essay, I couldn’t understand the focus question well, so I didn’t write a good essay. To write a good essay, we need to understand the prompt first. Without understanding it, we would write an essay that is totally out of topic.

The most useful thing that I learned from this class is the strategy of understanding the song and poetry. I didn’t have much experience of reading English songs and poetries before. From the assigned readings, I found that it’s not easy to understand the songs and poetries. I read and spent a lot of time to get the deeper meaning of them. I think the teaching group is a very good activity to learn. In order to present to the class, we needed to understand the meaning deeply. Even though presenting to the class is stressful, it’s a good way to learn. The main purpose for the close reading is to look deeply into the songs and poetries and to look what is seemingly important and worth of closer inspection. In order to have deeper understanding of the songs and poetries, we need to look what setting, characters, tone, plot, and theme are.

Besides learning the strategy of understanding the song and poetry, I also have learned California history and dreams. Since I just came here three years ago, I didn’t know much about California history. From the assigned reading for the out class essay#2, I have learned California history a lot. I also understand why many people want to come to California. It’s a dream land for most people.

Furthermore, I have learned that California is a multicultural society from the last out class essay. The movie “Crash” is a very interesting movie. I watched this movie again at home to get better understanding of what the author is saying about the meaning to live in such a multicultural society. Also from the novel “American son” and the play “Bordertown”, I have learned that racism, prejudices, discrimination, and stereotype are in anywhere in California.

I am really enjoyed to being in this class. Although the class is kind of stressful for me, I have learned a lot. I really like the assignments and readings Mr. Lewis gave us. I am appreciated that Mr. Lewis gave those readings to us and helped us a lot. I can now write a better essay comparing with three months ago. I can use the close reading strategy to analyze the song and poetry in the future. I hope I can get a B in the class in order to transfer to an University. Furthermore, when people ask me what California history and dream are, I can define it.