International Students at EvCC Work to Improve their English

Learning English can be stressful for international students who study in the United States, including at Everett Community College, where most students say they struggle with speaking and vocabulary problems.

Pursuing a degree in the United States has been always a big dream for foreign students who have are interested in learning the international language of English. There are many reasons that influence foreign students to study in the USA, some of which are accessed on the You Tube Channel,  Education USA TV, which released many encouraging videos to attract more international students.

According to the 2012 Open Door reports released by the Institute of International Education, the trend number of international students in the U.S. increased 5.7 percent to a record high of 764,495 students in 2011-12. Meanwhile, this increasing trend has been followed by Everett Community College. There were 290 International students from 30 countries were enrolled at EvCC in the spring quarter 2012, according to the EvCC annually report 2012.

Learning English as the second language for international students is very challenging. In EvCC, all of the new international students have been suggested to take an ESL class to prepare them in reading, writing and speaking for a college level study.

One of the EvCC international students from Vietnam, Nhat-Khanh Tran said that speaking English to communicate daily in college is difficult. He tried to speak English with a clear pronunciation by joining an ESL class for fall quarter.

Nhat-Khanh Tran, an international student from Vietnam
works hard to communicate with fellow students.

Zhang Xin-xin, from China, wishes to
improve her writing skills in English.

“I want to make friends with Americans but my English isn’t good, my pronunciation isn’t perfect, they don’t understand” he said.

On this case, Tran is not alone. Zhang Xin-xin, an international student from China, said, “The most difficult in English is writing, because I can’t express my idea clearly. What I think it’s correct but my English instructor always found it wrong.”

Zhang explained that in her fall quarter, she often had group work. “I was the quiet one, I’m afraid to speak and just listen to them. I speak slow, and always feel embarrassed.”
For international students, second language issues are the biggest challenge for other international students who still struggle to speak English fluently and correctly.







Today, there are many ways to improve English skills in reading, listening, writing and speaking. The key to success in mastering this language is discipline in practice and repetition. Acquiring English language isn’t build in short time, but it takes long time and effort for non-native such as the international students.

For practice more, you can follow up on testing your English, learning English daily and speaking it fluently.

Story by Ratna Wahyuningsih