I came to the United States in 1997 from Palestine, and I was 5. So I went to ESL to learn English in elementary school. After learning and somewhat not progressing fast enough, I took this English grammar test and I absolutely bombed it.
It was horrible and I felt very bad that I failed miserably. My self-esteem went down because I was thinking, "man, I don't belong here". As a 7-9 year old kid, this took a toll on me because
se I felt like a disappointment. My teacher talked to my mother, and I will never forget this, instead of my mother criticizing me or being too disappointed, all she said was "it's ok, but I know you are smart and you can do better". I felt relief that I was not going to be yelled at. This boosted me, and today I am a Research Specialist --- reading and writing research papers. So, being positive does really help, especially for children because children remember.
