MIT "language" challenge

In 1999, I moved from China to the United States to live with my immediate family and naturally I was verbally restricted by the language change. I immediately began second grade with an arsenal of vocabulary consisting of five words: teacher, I, need, to, pee. I was completely lost in this new world where everything was so different compared to my home in China. There was only one solution to my problems and that was to find a friend that can help me translate. I found a girl who was kind enough to help me but as much as I wanted her to help, I did not want to burden her from her friends. In the end, I spent the entire semester playing alone during recess and occasionally getting into trouble for repeating some words I hear on the playground in class. In the summer of that year, I worked hard to learn English. I remember memorizing vocabulary and practicing phrases I heard on TV for three to four hours a day. I persevered through the tears of not being able to play outside because I had not memorized all the words for the day and as I was going back into school the next term, I was placed in the same grade. Additionally, each night I was required to read for an hour by my mom and with this, I began second grade again with an arsenal of words larger than any of my fellow second graders.

Do you really want to talk about an experience when you were 7?
I mean it is supposed to show how you overcome challenges, but your personality has probably changed
since that experience a lot. There is a reason the MIT guys ask you to only list activites from 9th grade.

Mind checking out my describe the world you come from bit?

Keep in mind that there's probably a lot of kids who wrote about a language barrier. If you made your description more vivid and interesting, it would be better and stand out more. Please read mine if you have the chance!