Literacy Narrative
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
I came to United State on November 01, 1991 as an immigrant. With the help of the sponsor, I had...
... middle of paper ...
...age by Melanie Luken” is influence me in many ways. Author had organized her thoughts logically. Each paragraph has author’s experience and happens in the right time plot; it tights back to thesis of the story. In fact, I am learning to incorporate this type of narrative into my writing as well.
“Having better future” is very simple to many people hearing this, but with me, struggling in my small place, not seeing my mom, my dad, not having any fancy toys to play, not having delicious meal, not going to restaurant, not having nice set of clothes as my friends are something I will not let it repeat again in my life. With the tremendous desires to have better life, I continue to learn, to read, to write, and share with my kids every day. I wish I can share these feelings with my grandma. She maybe in heaven right now, looked down, smiled and said “I told you so.”
In “In Defense of Literacy,” Wendell Berry explains literacy is a requirement, not an embellishment. Literacy is more than the ability to just read and write; it's also the ability to understand what a person is reading and make sense in what a person is writing. While some people may think that achieving literacy requires hard work and gets little outcome, I think that literacy makes people more ambitious, confident, more attentive, and more prosperous in life than those who are not literate. Joining in on conversations and voicing ones philosophies is easier if people are literate and educated, and people feel worthy of themselves when they have the ability to do so. People are more determined in life, whether it is with their professions
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
Being literate does not only mean that you understand to read and write. I believe that it’s a way you take advantage of what is given to you. Having the power to understand and acknowledge what is being said and read gives and great advantage of literacy. Graduating with honors from my senior class has given me greater self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment .Now being literate has given me great opportunities such as coming to college and given hope that we can do anything in this world
Growing up in a bilingual household, I have struggled with many things especially reading and writing. Reading and writing have never been my strongest points. The first struggle that I can recall, is when I was about six or seven years old. I was beginning my education at Edu-Prize Charter School. I was a cute little kid, in the first grade, just like everybody else. But in the middle of the school year, my mom told me that my great, great aunt, who lived in China, was getting really sick and old. So if I wanted to meet her, it had to be now. Being a little kid, I didn’t quite understand why she couldn’t just go see the doctor, take some medication, or let time heal her. Unfortunately, now I know it was my mom’s way of saying that she was dying. My parents made the decision that it was probably the best way for me to understand my Chinese culture, along with meeting my relatives on my mother’s side of the family. So for a month, I had to leave my dad, my brother, my school, and all my
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.
Developing as a writer is an important skill you need for the rest of your life. My papers have not been the greatest but they do reflect me as a writer. I chose to revise the works that I thought I worked hard on and did my best to get my point across in a neat and consistent manner. The papers I chose were the literacy narrative, the synthesis essay, and the argument essay. I thought these papers really reflected how I have grown as a writer and developed better writing skills.
I was born in Mexico and came to California at age 4. I lived in many places such as San Jose and Madera but ended up living in Huron. I started at age 6 in kindergarten. Everything went well until second grade. The reading got harder and so did the spelling. The teacher wouldn't really help me, she would just continue class as usual. I started to not do my homework and not work in class. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, I did want to but the problem was that I didn't know how to do it. I had no one at home that could help me due to everyone being Mexican and didn't know any English at all. At the end they sent me to a DSPS program.
For me, reading as well as rereading, books such as Junie B Jones, Berenstain Bears, or the Harry Potter series, impacted my life immensely by increasing my vocabulary, developing my vital language skills and many more developmental skills. In the past, being literate meant beating kids in how many books I could read and being able to comprehend difficult vocabulary, but now being literate in the adult world means developing new and creative ideas or being able to prosper an opinion based on facts and previous knowledge.
Have you ever imagine if you can able to read and write a difference language that does not your first language? I am a Vietnamese immigrant student and I am studying in the college in U.S. When I first attended college in U.S, I had had a hard time of reading and writing English. I spent most my time during the first three years to learning English. From learning at the church, to going to every classes or courses at the college I could find out about, reading and writing were what I was doing. I have been doing many things such as work and school together since I arrived here, but studying English was the number one important things that I have to be good at and I still enjoy doing it at every opportunity I get.
Life is like a tree, it grows and develops branches and leaves that come and go as we progress. The environments we live in determine which branches wither and fade and which prosper. Every branch holds some form of learned literacy from the end of the roots to the trunk and highest branch. Literacy encompasses many aspects of life.
In today’s society, a vast number of people are well educated. They have the equal opportunity to choose their own path in life by getting an education. A primary educational aspect of every human being is to learn to read. Being able to read is a primary goal of people in human society, as well as important in itself to society; it takes people far beyond their wildest dreams. A person who is literate has few limitations on what they can do; the world is an open playing field, because a person that is literate has the ability to become very successful in life.
My relationship with literacy began when I started elementary school and that was the first starting point of my positive relationship with literacy. I really started to grow as a reader and writer throughout my middle school and high school years. Throughout my years of going to school I had many positive experiences that shaped my view of literacy today. My literacy skills have also enhanced throughout my educational years.
Imagine being in the story of a favorite book, and seeing along with other senses in the world through that of the character; however, what would happen if that world was taken out from right under the character’s feet, and the reader would never know what happens next. Reading have an effect to by learning curve in the process to succeed in life achievements. Reading is involved in most jobs that exist in the world that brings a person to either success or failure in the world. There are charts that can back up the change to reading in a culture. There are people who can agree to the importance of reading. Any person can see that reading can be important to life. While some would argue reading is less important to
My literacy journey began from high school. Although English is not my first language, I worked very hard throughout my school life to read, write, and understand English. Mostly people believe that English is the way to succeed. People spend a lot of time and money to learn English. From reading people develop the skill of understanding sentence structure, grammar, and spelling. These are all aspects which I struggle with today due to my lack of passion for reading. Even today I had a hard time with the structure of the sentences.
Reading and writing are a major part of my life and has changed the way I view things now. In my family, my two sisters and my mother read as well as write. I follow in their footsteps. My mother would sit me down everyday and read with me so I could improve. Reading was a bonding thing for my mother and I. My mother and I even joined a book club together when I was younger. We read a new book every month and it was a splendid way to higher our vocabulary. Reading and writing are almost like a keep safe for me. If anything was ever wrong with me, all I had to do to calm down was pull out a book or my journal. Reading and writing are very important to me. I read almost everyday now all because of my mother.