Family played a key role in Quyen's immigration to the U.S. She was a single parent for ten years in Vietnam (after divorce) and reports that she never had plans to remarry when she met her current husband a (Vietnamese-American). In her first year living in the U.S. (July 2003), Quyen reports that she decided to get married and come to the U.S. for the future of her children. She knew that her husband (whom she met while he was visiting Vietnam) would return to the U.S. She reports that the reason for coming to the U.S. is because of her children and husband.

The generational dynamic in Quyen's family life reflects a common theme in the immigrant-learner experience. In the following excerpt from a classroom conversation with her Vietnamese speaking peers in Quyen's first term at the Lab School (June, 2003), Quyen says how her children and husband make fun of her when she uses English (presumably because they have higher proficiency in English). She and Km talk about learning English in this context, in the U.S. with low proficiency as "starting over". Quyen tells her peers that in this situation, it is okay to start from the beginning (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).