If you have made the decision to come to America to pursue a college education, you are probably more than aware that you will face several challenges. While both you and your fellow students will be facing the challenges of learning to live independently from their families, you will also be facing many additional challenges. You will be be adapting to a new culture. This means finding a balance between maintaining your own cultural identity while still finding a way to fit into your new surroundings. It also means navigating your way through life on and off campus without having a complete grasp of the English language. Don't feel discouraged. You have made a brave decision. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to prepare yourself for college.

 Challenges to Expect

 The best way to overcome the challenges you will face as you enter college is to know what they will be. Once they are identified, they will seem less intimidating, and it becomes easier to identify solutions. Here are some of the difficulties that you may face:

• Culture Shock: It is one thing to take a vacation to a foreign country. It is another thing entirely to go live in a place where lifestyles, languages, interpersonal relationships, dress, and even body language can be completely different than what you are accustomed to.
• Poor Emotional State: Like other students, you will feel homesick, out of place, anxious, and maybe even a bit depressed. These emotions can make the other challenges you face seem even more difficult to overcome.
• Adapting to a New Living Environment: Depending on where you are coming from, and the daily traditions that you observe, you might find your new living environment to be quite an adjustment. If you live near the Equator for example, you may have a hard time adjusting to weather in a state that has all 4 seasons. If you follow a diet that is restricted due to culture or religious standards, you may find it difficult to locate what you need to eat. Even if you do not, you may have trouble finding the kind of food that you are accustomed to eating.
• Facing a Language Barrier: This can be a challenge on two fronts. First, you must navigate your courses which are all going to be taught in a more scholarly form of English, then you must navigate life outside of class where you will deal with casually spoken English that includes the use of regional phrases and slang.
• Academic Challenges: You may find yourself struggling to keep up with both written assignments and in class discussions.

 Possible Solutions

 Now that you know the challenges you may face, let's consider some proactive steps you can take to prepare yourself to start college:

• acaConnect With Those Who Understand Your Challenges: Before you arrive for your first day of school, do a bit of investigating. Does your school have any organizations for students who come from foreign countries? What about in the community at large? Are there others who come from your country who are also living in the community? If you know where they live, dine, worship, or simply go to have fun, you can make important connections.
• Learn Where to Get Help: Every college campus has resources for students who are struggling with academics.  Ask your adviser about these resources and what you need to do to take advantage of them. If have issues understanding subject matter, or face communications issues due to being an ESL student, they can give you the information you need in order to get assistance.
• Find a Friendly Social Connection: If you are going to be living with a host family, try to make contact with them and get to know them. If you are going to be living on campus, try contacting your future roommate so that you can introduce yourself to them and you can both get to know each other better. Starting the school year off with one or two acquaintances will be extremely helpful. Your new friends can help you get to know other people, and give you honest feedback as you learn to succeed as an American college student. 

Learning to write in English is a major challenge. You have to learn the rules of the English language. Then, you must understand the exceptions to all of these rules. Another hurdle you face is understanding the differences between formal, written English, and casual writing. Then there are the differences between writing for business, and writing for personal correspondence. Writing in English is also a challenge because it is an expressive form of communication, and that can be more difficult to master than receptive forms of communication. Don't worry though, you have the brains and the ability to improve your writing skills. All you need to do is follow these three steps.

Practice Writing Every Single Day

Daily writing practice is the most effective way to improve your English writing skills. Of course, you don't want this task to become boring, so add a little variety. Try keeping a daily journal where you write about your thoughts and experiences. Use email instead of making phone calls whenever possible. Join an internet forum and participate in conversations. See if you can connect with a native speaker and correspond with them regularly.

Read in English

The more you read in English, the more your understanding of written English will improve. You will see the various ways in which people use the English language. For example, you will read slang and technical terminology. If you read items written by individuals from different regions, you will also begin to understand how regional and cultural traditions also impact written language. The trick is to vary what you are reading. Read articles, blogs, books, various types of newspapers, and books. The more styles of writing you consume, the better.

Translate Things You have Written in Your Native Language to English Then Ask for Feedback

Sometimes when you try to write in a language that is different from your native language, you don't always communicate what you intend to. In many cases, this is because literal translations aren't effective because the don't take the little nuances in language into account. For example, figures of speech in your native language may not translate as you intend. If you get feedback from somebody who is well-versed in written English you will learn what your writing means when it is read by a native speaker. It is even better if they will help you modify your writing so that it reflects your intended meaning. This way you will have a before and after copy for reference.

All of us want to read faster – with comprehension of course. Being able to do this is a real plus for people in all stages of life and career.

1. For the student, begin able to speed read can cut in half the amount of time spent on text and outside reading assignments, and on research that must be conducted to produce essays, papers and other projects.
2. Career professionals who must remain current in their fields will often spend a lot of time reading journal articles and books that relate to the latest developments and innovations in their career niches.
3. Entrepreneurs must continually keep an eye on the site content, the blogs, and the marketing materials that their competitors publish, if they are to remain “in the game.”
4. Publishers and editors must read an enormous number of submissions and edit authors’ works on a daily basis.
5. Owners of articles directories and blogs must read submissions and determine if they are worthy of publication – sometimes hundreds a day!

There are a number of strategies that can be implemented to improve reading speed, and those in need should first attempt to master them:

1. Focus: We have all experienced reading something, only to find that our minds have wandered to other things. We must then retrace our steps and go back to points from which we wandered and re-read the materials all over again. Obviously, this slows us down and impacts our comprehension as well. Improving focus may be achieved by one or more of the following:

1. Practice Focusing Techniques: Meditation has a mixed reputation, but, for purposes of learning how to focus, it is excellent. Try sitting or lying quietly and getting a single picture in your mind – perhaps the sun, or a cloud, or some pleasant scene. Practice focusing on that image and nothing else. At first, your mind will wander all over the place. You will think of things you must get done, on where you might go out to eat that evening, on a phone conversation you just had, on an issue at school or work, etc. But you must practice dumping those thoughts and focusing back on the object or scene you have imaged. The more you practice this, the better you will get, and that focusing ability will translate into other aspects of your life, including your reading.
2. Removing Distractions: Many of us like background sounds when we are working – radio, television, music, etc. sometimes, it allows to complete tasks more efficiently. I like to listen to music as I clean, work on DYI projects, cook, etc. – it seems to help me complete tasks faster and actually makes them more enjoyable. When I need to read something important, however, these distractions are “killers.” I have to isolate myself, even from my dog sometimes, in order to read quickly and have maximum comprehension and retention.
3. Be Alert and Not Sleep-Deprived: When we are tired, reading tends to lull us into duller states of consciousness. This dullness affects both speed and comprehension. If you are not getting enough sleep at night and must then engage in important reading, taking a short power-nap can help (along with large doses of caffeine).

Consider a Speed-Reading Course I know. These courses have had somewhat of a bad “rep,” especially those that are sold online. Now that we have more information on the eye-brain connection, however, there are reputable speed reading courses that use the results of more current research and actually get results for their clients. But, make no mistake about it: If you enroll in a speed reading course, you must be committed to practicing the strategies that are taught in each lesson. And those lessons are sequential. You cannot move onto the next one until you have fully mastered the current one. Before enrolling in a speed reading course, consider the following:

1. It is not a “miracle” cure for your slow reading habits. It is process of learning and practice just like any other skill. And if you intend to become a “success story,” usually translated into reading 500 words a minute with good comprehension, you need to take each lesson seriously, just as you would an academic course for which you would receive a grade.
2. You need to balance the time you will spend on this course with the actual day-to-day demands of school or work. In the long run, if you are required to read a lot, speed reading can be a real time-saver; in the short term, however, it is not, because you cannot implement the strategies on your regular reading tasks – you must begin with the simpler course reading materials.

Is Speed reading a Valuable Skills? In my profession, it obviously is. I must conduct lots of research in order to perform the writing tasks I have, and reading faster, with comprehension and content retention, means that I accomplish more in a shorter span of time. To me, time is money, and anything I can do to become more efficient means more income. In the end, you must weigh the time requirements of increasing reading speed against the actual reading demands you have. Is Speed Reading for Everyone? I think it is, of course. But anyone considering this must remember, it does involve practice and persistence. And, because the practice should first be on simple content, you cannot use any of the strategies on coursework reading until they are mastered. I tried it – it’s frustrating! I keep thinking that, if some TV commercial for speed reading had been on when I was back in high school, I probably would have bought the program then. Think of all the time I wasted during those years!

Made with help GhostProfessors by Alice Calch.