{"id":2240,"date":"2026-06-17T14:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/?p=2240"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:20:23","slug":"small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Steps, Strong Progress: Shifaa\u2019s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ShifaaLike many ESOL students, Shifaa H. already holds a university degree from her home country, bringing a strong academic background to ACC. With a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Sinjar, Iraq, Shifaa now aims to continue her education and pursue a master\u2019s degree, with long-term goals of becoming a business manager.<\/span><\/p>\n

A member of the Yazidi community and a native speaker of the Kurmanji Kurdish dialect, Shifaa also speaks Arabic. She is studying English as her third language. During her first semester in the ESOL Program, Shifaa enrolled in Oral Communication 1 and Reading Vocabulary 1. Over just a few months, she reports making meaningful progress and feeling more capable of expressing her ideas clearly and effectively, whether asking a salesperson a question in a store or navigating daily interactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shifaa emphasizes how valuable it would have been to start the ESOL Program sooner. She notes that ESOL classes provide a foundation for developing grammar, reading, speaking, and writing skills, and that what has really helped her is consistent language practice through both in-class participation and self-directed practice outside of class. She recommends \u201c…<\/span>surrounding yourself with a variety of English sources to help improve the learning process, such as watching English tutorials, movies, and even listening to English songs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of class, Shifaa reads to strengthen her English. She\u2019s active and enjoys road trips, walking, and working out. Her advice to fellow ESOL students is simple and direct: \u201cAlways improve\u2014never give up!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shifaa\u2019s Oral Communication 1 instructor, Professor Jesser, remarks, \u201cWhat makes Shifaa stand out is her warmth and her ability to connect with people.\u00a0 She always has a smile and a greeting for everyone.\u00a0 She likes to stay after class to tell me about her life back in her homeland and to show me pictures.\u00a0 She’s a perfect ambassador for her culture!\u00a0 She really is the beating heart of our class.\u00a0 Thank you, Shifaa, for your positive and friendly attitude!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many ESOL students, Shifaa H. already holds a university degree from her home country, bringing a strong academic background to ACC. With a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Sinjar, Iraq, Shifaa now aims to continue her education and pursue a master\u2019s degree, with long-term goals of becoming a business manager. A member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":{"carousel_content":false},"yoast_head":"\nSmall Steps, Strong Progress: Shifaa\u2019s Story - English for Speakers of Other Languages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shifaa\u2019s journey with learning English is still early, but it is a strong example of how quickly progress can happen when students engage actively, take risks in communication, and bring their full selves into the learning process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Steps, Strong Progress: Shifaa\u2019s Story - English for Speakers of Other Languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shifaa\u2019s journey with learning English is still early, but it is a strong example of how quickly progress can happen when students engage actively, take risks in communication, and bring their full selves into the learning process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"English for Speakers of Other Languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T14:20:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/IMG_9661-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fkhan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fkhan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/\",\"name\":\"Small Steps, Strong Progress: Shifaa\u2019s Story - English for Speakers of Other Languages\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/IMG_9661-225x300.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T14:20:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/#\/schema\/person\/fef1a32bc262d0f6bcc5f1aa9c7a17e2\"},\"description\":\"Shifaa\u2019s journey with learning English is still early, but it is a strong example of how quickly progress can happen when students engage actively, take risks in communication, and bring their full selves into the learning process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/small-steps-strong-progress-shifaas-story\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/IMG_9661-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/liberalarts.austincc.edu\/esol\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/IMG_9661-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":2560,\"caption\":\"Shifaa has long dark hair. 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