I was born into a home where my parents identified with different ethnic groups-my father traced his ancestry to the Akan tribe whereas my mother was from the Ga ancestry. This placed them in a dilemma as to what language to communicate in with my sister and me. In an attempt to be fair to each other, they decided on English, but we do speak Twi and Ga amongst ourselves. Although this played a part in developing my literacy, it is my journey through my young life, and at the pinnacle of this journey my time in high school, that has had the most impact on my literacy. In the years preceding high school, my family, newspapers and short stories influenced my literacy. My father always corrected me whenever I made a mistake when speaking or writing. He was quick to warn me against using jargons. My mother also contributed her quota to aid my literacy. She began to teach me both Ga and Twi. Learning these additional languages allowed me to better appreciate language and the mechanics involved in reading, writing and speaking. My insight into this halted my derision of people when they committed errors in language. Although my mother read bedtime stories to me even before I could talk, I only began to take an interest in reading when I was ten. Up until that point, my main source of literacy, apart from school, had been video games. Amazingly, I picked up at least two new words within every hour of game play. However, my game phase phased out when I could not get access to games. I then began to read the newspapers on my way to school everyday. The first time my mother told me to read the newspapers, I told her that they looked lackluster. Knowing my mother well, she devised a plan to get me hooked onto newspapers. She knew my love f... ... middle of paper ... ...acked countless anagrams and saved numerous lives all by using his brilliant mind. Langdon’s actions have influenced my thinking and analysis of information; I always want to scrutinize anything that comes way. This has caused my friends to label me controversial, but on some occasions, these friends run to me for answers to some of their questions. In addition to this, I have adopted varying strategies for reading different materials and in distinct situations. Earlier in my life, I found it difficult to distinguish between reading for fun, reading for information and reading for understanding. However, I can now do these different types of readings simply because of my reading phases. Also, as I have already stated, I try to not ridicule others when they make mistakes in language. I hope to continue in this same light and augment my literacy to higher levels.
My literacy journey commenced at a young age. My story begins with the typical bed time stories and slowly progresses into complex novels. Some points in my literacy journey have made me admire the written word but other times literacy frustrated me. These ups and downs within my story have made me the person I am today. My parents noticed that my reading was not up to par with other children in kindergarten and I was diagnosed with mild dyslexia at the age of five. My parents provided me a reading mentor named Mrs. Mandeville who has shaped my literacy journey in many ways. Events in my childhood have shaped my literacy in various ways.
Struggling with reading came early on in Mikayla’s academic years. Her family was definitely an early influence in her reading ability. Her parents and grandparents were very involved in Mikayla’s reading development. Her father on his off nights would read bedtime stories to her and her sister until about third grade. After third grade, she was expected to read at least thirty minutes before bed every night. She also joined in on Grandpa’s morning rituals of reading the paper, she would read the funnies. According to Jongsu Wee, we learn our reading habits because it is embedded in our everyday life (Jongsu, 2009). Pamela, Mikayla’s mother, said that often Mikayla was very talkative about the books her parents would read to her. She was so excited about reading the next one that often times her mother would stop in the middle of reading to leave her in suspense. Her grandfather, Carl, was also a great influence in her reading. When she would stay at her grandparents’ house, Carl would often read her the funnies or a story in...
Writing is a form of communication that has changed over the years, whether that is the way it is used or the meaning it has for some people. In the generation that I grew up in, writing has been around in many different ways, such as texting or instant messaging friends. I remember using Facebook at an early age and communicating with my friends and family through a different form of writing. Compared to my elders, the way they were taught and the way they used their writing has changed immensely. Since I grew up in a newer generation than them, my writing experience has been partially different in a good way. My literacy narrative will reflect that difference.
The word “literacy” alone has a huge impact to my unperfect or as you can say informal English. Many would criticize and laughed at native speakers but did anyone every thought of the struggles of balancing two different languages with various different style within the language. As Amy Tan. the author of Mother Tongue, had mentioned, “that Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English. And this makes me think that there are other Asian- American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described a ‘broken’...” Tan is describing the struggles that Asian- American students faced in America (4). In addition to Tan’s statement, I can relate back to my daily life; learning the formal English in school, speaking Vietnamese at home, and listening to the limited English
Support from parents has proven to be of extreme importance in the literacy success of a child. This often begins with the simple ritual of “bedtime stories” in the home. Studies show that children who are read to as infants perform better in literacy later in life. From a young age, children begin to understand the workings of the written word if they are exposed to it frequently. Babies who are nowhere near having the mental capacity to read and comprehend a book are still able to “follow along” when their parents or caregivers read to them. These children understand that each segment of writing represents a word and they are even able to recognize when a text is upside-down because they are accustomed to the appearance of writing. This puts the child significantly ahead when the time comes to learn to read.
The first thing a child learns how to do in school is to read and write. I, unlike most of my classmates, didn’t actually know how to read fluently until the first grade. I remember my Kindergarten class had to read The Polar Express on our own and I was only able to guess what the book was saying. My friend’s dad had to read to me while she read on her own. Reading wasn’t practiced much at home. In fact, my mother doesn’t even remember reading to me, “I don’t remember, but I know I read to you at some point.” The only book I ever found and looked through in my house was my father’s algebra book. That algebra book became my favorite book since I didn’t really have anything else to read. However, after getting the hang
“I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on 5) limiting my possibilities in life as well. Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers. But I do think that the language spoken in the fa...
My grandmother introduced me to reading before I’d even entered school. She babysat me while my parents were at work, and spent hours reading to me from picture books as my wide eyes drank in the colorful illustrations. As a result, I entered my first year of school with an early passion for reading. Throughout elementary and middle school, I was captivated by tales of fire-breathing dragons, mystical wizards, and spirited foreign gods. A book accompanied me nearly everywhere I went, smuggled into my backpack or tucked safely under my arm. I was often the child who sat alone at lunch, not because she didn’t have friends, but because she was more interested in a wizards’ duel than the petty dramas of middle school girls. I was the child who passed every history test because she was the only kid who didn’t mind reading the textbook in her spare time, and the child who the school librarian knew by name. Reading provided a
My literacy journey began long before I had actually learned how to read or write. While recently going through baby pictures with my mother, we came across a photo of my father and I book shopping on the Logos boat, a boat that would come to my island every year that was filled with books for our purchasing. Upon looking at this picture, my mother was quite nostalgic and explained how they began my journey to literacy through experiences like this. My earliest memory of experiencing literature was as a small child. My parents would read bedtime stories to me each night before I went to bed. I vividly remember us sitting on the bed together with this big book of “365 bedtime stories for 365 days” and we read one story each day until we had
It was finally time to head to gym class in the afternoon where we were instructed to take part of a physical test. This test would determine how fit or unfit we are based on a system that was implemented by those with greater authority, on which concluded that it was on such a scale society should be based on. So it was that afternoon that I preformed the tasks that were instructed on to me and my peers. I was able to completed them to my utmost potential which can be consider to be something not so distinctive. It was on this day that I was mocked by one my peers of my lack of ability to preform the instructed physical tasks, that was a no brainer to such a fit individual like himself. It
Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.
My personal literacy development has been a constant struggle since my arrival in America as a boy with a Spanish-speaking mother and a bi-lingual father. We spoke Spanish at home. As I began school I could only speak a small amount of English and understood only slightly more. I learnt, as young children do, through listening to the people around me and using any visual aids I could to scaffold the gaps in my understanding (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, Holliday, 2012). My lack of basic literacy affected every area of my learning with only math classes allowing me to feel slightly comfortable due to the international nature of numerical literacy. I quickly developed the oracy skills required to be able to contribute to social and academic situations but unfortunately developed other ways to hide my lack of progress in other areas.
Being literate defines who I am, and forms an integral part of my life. From the practical to the creative, it aids, and enables me to perform in the tasks that modern society dictates. I shall explore the many aspects of my life that are affected by literacy. Through this, understanding in greater depth what it means for me, to be literate.
John Steinbeck stated that “Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain, and if you don 't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.” (142). The first time a child really understands the concept of reading it becomes an introduction to a whole new world. When one thinks of literacy the first thing one thinks of is the ability to be able to read and write. But literacy is much more than that, to me literacy is the key to all forms of knowledge as being literate opens up the doors to all forms of learning and continued learning. Building confidence as a reader, writer, listener and speaker is transformational in a person 's life. These core abilities are used every minute of every day to live in the world. Even in society a large degree of importance is placed on literacy. The in-class text by Sylvia Scribner states “I want to depict that is, the tendency in many societies to endow the literate person with special virtues”. (16) Throughout my life literacy has played a very important role, and has evolved and manifested itself in different styles, from my introduction as a small child
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.