Methus graduated from a university in Thailand with a dual BA. degree in Psychology and English. He wanted to go to the U.S. to improve his English. He always received As in all his English courses but still wanted to improve his proficiency in the language. He applied for a 3-month ESLcourse in a language center in Boston. He traveled alone for the first time in his life when he took the trip to the U.S. However, during the first few weeks of his arrival, Methus found out that he was having difficulties communicating. He even had difficulties even ordering food at McDonald's, something which he had done countless times in Bangkok. Methus was often embarrassed and slowly began to feel depressed. He was frustrated and started to doubt his English abilities, even his own intelligence. He felt that he knew a lot about English structures and rules, but the knowledge was not doing him any good. He began to blame English teachers in Thailand for his struggles but did not know where they had gone wrong. He had a suspicion, however, that he was the one to blame for not being a better language learner.