Khurami, a 7th grader from Yemen, explains how he experiences discrimination through his experiences of being an Arabic speaker. He states, “I want them [his peers in school] to know about us when they talk about us in English, because we are not talking English, and they laugh about us. I want them to not laugh because we are new here, because we just came into the country. Because if they go to my country, they’re gonna be the same.” Khurami here shares how he feels excluded from conversations at school because of his beginning level of English and how other students talk about and laugh about him and some of his peers in the ESL classes because their use of English is not as strong as that of the native English speakers. He feels quite deeply the laughter and scorn of other students in school and wishes that it would stop. Khurami thoughtfully points out if these same native English language speakers came to his country of Yemen to learn Arabic, they would be in the exact same situation he is currently in of learning a new language and they would face similar difficulties in learning a new language (Becker, Gabriel, and Roxas, 2017).

At present, English becomes an international language which an essential tool to communicate. Regarding the immigrants such as myself, the purposes that we came to America are pursuing the better life, opportunity, reform to a new mankind, and most importantly, the acquisition of literacy. As Becker, Gabriel, and Roxas (2017) narrated about the feeling of an English language learner, Khurami, the ignorant and careless of his classmates led the anxiety of learning English. The point of view that Khurami made “…Because if they (his peers) go to my country, they’re gonna be the same” reflects the position if his peers learn Arabic in Khurami’s country (Becker, Gabriel, and Roxas, 2017, pg. 16). The intersectionality of racism, nationality, gender identity, or disability describes such students like Khurami. I think the cause of the prejudice is not the improficiency of language of new coming immigrant students, it is the hierarchy of social classes where students belonging. Because they came from low-developmental countries, because they don’t proficient in English, because they don’t live in a well-living house such I living… Such comparisons and contrasts might emerge in class discussions, point of views, even group activities. In order to support students like Khurami, teachers should understand the obstacles of English language learner students and then deliver to other students in the class. I believe such conversations may help relieve the feeling of students like Khurami.