Stories from Our Students

My name is Galyna. I’m from Ukraine. I was born 29 years ago in a small city called Ternopil. It’s the west part of my native country. As most children I had a very funny childhood. I had a lot of friends. I spent a lot of time with them. I went to public school and music school. Then, I studied at the college of music in my city. After that I graduated from the Conservatory of Odessa. I remember this time with a smile on my face.

I have a big family. My mom and dad live in Ukraine. My sister Natalia is older than me. She lives in Ukraine with her son and husband too. I also have grandmothers and more relatives who live there. I had lived in Ukraine all my life, but one day my history changed; my husband and I moved to the USA. It happened on the 4th of July, 2010. The cause of our moving was to have a better life. The situation in my country is not good today. I want to use more chances for advancement. I know in the USA I can do that. I like America. She has so many beautiful sights. I love the nature of this country, especially fall. It’s my favorite season. I work as a piano teacher. I have students of different ages. I enjoy teaching them because I like kids.

When I moved to the USA I had one obstacle. It was my English. I didn’t know this language and was afraid to talk. I decided to take English classes. I started to attend Norwood ESOL program in April 2011. Norwood ESOL program is awesome. The teachers are very professional and friendly. Thanks to them, I’ve been improving my English every day. Pia Lalli, she teaches us English, is a very professional teacher. In her classes, I’ve gotten new knowledge. I feel more confident than ever before. Our teacher, Joseph Silvi, teaches us a lot of things on the computer. I’ve got new skills. I’ve started to understand the computer better. I have discovered some new programs on the computer like PowerPoint. It’s very important for my job.

I like to attend Norwood ESOL. I have a lot of friends in the school. I enjoy spending time there. My best wishes to the team of Norwood ESOL for their help.

My name is Sehee. I’m from Seoul, South Korea. I came here in 2010 because my husband wanted to study music. He studies jazz now. He is a conductor and a composer. He really wants to learn about jazz performance and film scoring.

I live in Newton. I have one daughter and one son. My daughter’s name is Hannah. She is 7 years old. She is in the second grade. My son’s name is Zion. He is 5 years old. He is in kindergarten. My family likes to go swimming. Sometimes we go swimming at the pool at the YMCA.

In college, I majored in violin. My husband majored in piano. He is a composer also. Sometimes we play music together. Currently, we are both learning the flute. We hope to play the flute together.