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<div id="pastingspan1"><span style="">Thi Thi Ma came to the United States from Vietnam with her parents, paternal grandmother and five siblings in 1987. She was 13 years old at the time and was&nbsp;</span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style=""><br /></span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style="">She and her siblings were home-schooled in Vietnam, learning only the bare minimum<span style="115%; Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;minor-latin; Calibri;minor-latin;minor-latin;&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;minor-bidi;EN-US;EN-US;AR-SA">&#8212;</span>some language arts, Chinese and mathematics. However, what she received was far better than the education many other children growing up in Vietnam at that time had received. But on</span><span style="">ce they arrived in the United States, school became more daunting.</span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style=""><br /></span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style="">&#8220;My public school experience was pretty traumatic because I didn't have a lot of English...I remember learning the alphabet and a few phrases in English. I was put in a bilingual program in middle school and then after one semester I got promoted to high school - without me [even] knowing!&#8221;</span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style=""><br /></span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style="">It took Thi Thi "at least a decade" to adjust to her new life in San Francisco, but today Thi Thi is a community college instructor teaching ESL and linguistics. She's also involved with <a href="http://bestinclassfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=from-vietnam-to-best-in-class-2583" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Best in Class Education Center</a> which provides education and enrichment programs to help students from a variety of backgrounds, many of whom are immigrants. </span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style=""><br /></span></div><div id="pastingspan1"><span style="">Thi Thi and her sisters run a <a href="http://bestinclass.1851franchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=from-vietnam-to-best-in-class-2583" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Best in Class</a> franchise in Los Angeles, a perfect combination of owning a business and pursuing her passion for education.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="">"There are many issues [with education], but when I'm in the classroom, it's always wonderful. I'm inspired by my students; I learn from them. And I think that's the beauty and positive side of education." </span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="">Click <a href="http://www.takingrefuge.org/eggrice_thithi?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=from-vietnam-to-best-in-class-2583" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to read the full story.</span></div>

1851 Franchise

Thi Thi Ma finds the best of both worlds in the U.S. as an educator and a student in the classroom.

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