Example Of Essay On My Literacy Life

In the course of my life, I have come to define literacy differently. Initially, I believed that literacy was all about reading i.e. a person’s ability to read. Though this is an essential part of person’s literacy, the long journey in life has made me to realize that literacy is a dynamic expedition involving understanding words and internalizing them in order to have some meaning. Literacy also encompasses the ability of people to express their feelings and opinions through writing. However, this cannot be mastered at early stages of learning. I can confidently say that though am about to do with college work, I strongly feel that literacy is evolving. I can attribute this slow integration to inadequate experience. I believe that there is a better part of life left for more experiences. In this literacy memoir and life experiences, one can easily understand the literacy acquisition of a person.
My memories in literacy take me back to when I was a young child. I used to spend a lot of time with my mother reading the bible which was my mum’s favorite book. I loved this book so much and enjoyed reading it. I cannot really remember what used to drive me that much into reading this book. However, I can still remember that my mum could give me a treat especially when I could recite some verses well. I can still vividly recall those portraits of some characters in the Bible like Jesus, Moses as he was shepherding the flock and that of Noah and his ark that mum hanged in the house. Occasionally, mum could throw some question to me and if I could answer well, she could reward me. So, in order to get the reward from mum, I had to spend some time reading the bible so that I couldn’t fail her question, even those about the portraits. When reading the bible, I used to struggle but I could get captivated from stories like those of creation, Joseph, Jesus and many more. I can still remember how I used to disturb mum with very many questions especially on areas that I could not understand well. I can therefore deduce that from the impression I got from this book, I started my long and complex journey of literacy. Imaginative readings did entertain me more and I think it is a nice place to begin from.
During my years of growing up I watched several movies and television programs. However, I did spend a lot of time as well in school, trying my best to be literate. In school, we were taught alphabets, sounding of letters, using specific sounds in creating words and how sentences can be made by stringing words together. I remember specific examples of sentences but I know we frequently used common examples as “my pet is a dog” etc. for they were in our readers workbooks. The work I did in school used to get a boost from the supplementary reading that I used to do at home. My parents did their best and I appreciate them for the role they played (especially my mother) in ensuring that I was always on task. Eventually, I succeeded and the best reader in our class. I enjoyed a lot especially when I could sound out words and retain and use them later. This was in Spanish.
When I was fifteen years I moved from Cuba to the United States. We always stayed with mom because dad was always away on business errands. This was a double tragedy to me. First, I was detached from my friends whom I were used to. Secondly, the language of instruction also changed from Spanish to English. I really had it tough. So my mum enrolled me to a school where I was taken to a 10th grade because my English was very poor. I can remember one day when dad came back home, I became open to him and asked him to allow me to go back to Cuba so that I could finish my studies there. In fact I can remember telling him that it would have been better leaving school than subjecting me to such a learning environment. I had a loving dad not like mum who after fixing her mind on something it wouldn’t be easy to change. So, in empathizing with me, mum and dad agreed to look for a teacher who was good in both languages and could easily make me understand by translating. In addition to this, mum bought me a bible, New King James Version to help me understand the stories had known to help me be acquainted with English. However, the idea was far from the truth; when I went back to the house from school, we always conversed in Spanish.
When I went to school, especially the first week, I had it to talk even to fellow students. They could speak better English than mine. In fact, they were staring at me in surprise. I was heavily built and older than most of them. Our teacher of English used to have a method whereby student were grouped and read in turns amongst themselves. As the students read, she could walk around and supervise the readings. I was feeling nervous. I could feel my body shake as well. I knew that it was my turn to read. When I began to read, two members of my group burst into laughter. I had had a strong Cuban accent that was so annoying. In fact even the teacher who was standing next to me laughed too. She could not punish the students and the attention of the class was drawn to our group. I felt ashamed and stopped reading abruptly. I began crying. As I cried, the teacher struggled with other students to stay calm. Then, I heard somebody say in Spanish, “Don’t worry even use we were laughed at but we are now doing well.” I raised my head and looked at the direction from which the voice was from. Then I realized that the student was one of the ones that I had suspected to be Spanish speakers around because of some words that I had overheard. The lesson ended and the English teacher asked me to see her briefly.
Prior to this call, I could not tell how good the English teacher could be. I had instantly developed a negative attitude towards her and English as well. When I followed her to see her, she treated me nicely. She asked me to stay calm and be composed. She also asked me to feel free and to consult her in case of any difficulty. She talked to me nicely that she was able to convince me. From seeing the teacher, the girl who had talked in a manner to suggest that she was empathizing with me plus other friends of hers came to me. They really inspired me. They told me how much they were laughed at when they first read loudly in class. They also told me that it was just a matter of time and hard work that will salvage me from the embarrassment. I felt comfortable in their company. From there on, they were my best companions in school.
That day, I went back home gloomy and tired but I had the courage to explain to mum whatever had taken place. She comforted me and reminded me how bright I was. She decided to buy me books and exposed me to assignments. Mum also instructed the private instructor to be keen on me. Mum also adopted her earlier formula of rewarding me when I could summarize any story I had read. On realizing this, I decided to embark on my early strategy of reading and reading more of English than watching movies which is also my favorite. I tried my best always to pronounce the English works correctly.
Then there was this day that I was given homework by my private tutor at home. Thinking that there was still enough time before he could come home for private teaching, I proceeded to the playground where fellow children were. Unfortunately, luck was not with me. I played and even forgot that I had some assignment back in the house to do. Unknown to me, the teacher went home and requested for mum to give him my assignment book, just to mark as mum looked for me. He was really surprised to find that I had not done anything. He was really angered by this since it was not the first time I had done my homework. Some days back something of the sort had happened, I think ones or twice but he didn’t bother asking me. So this day, he decided to report me to mum. Mum was really astonished. She timed me and waited for me to return home. As I approached home, noticed something was amiss. Mum called me in a sharp but coercive voice. She commanded me to show her my assignment book and needed an explanation why I had not done the assignment. Mum had never punished me before but this day, she was really furious. She held me by my hand and gave me a hot slap on my left cheek. She was really angered. I saw her move left –right in a manner to suggest that she was looking for something to hit me with. I felt as if I was attacked and my heart began pumping heavily. I started sweating and fortunately, I took to my heels, out of the house. I ran out of the house.
That day was my worst with mum. I had never seen her get angered that much. In fact, I feared even going back to the house. From there onwards, I decided to take my homework seriously. I tried my best to impress mum by even doing extra work and taking to my private teacher. Sometimes, I could even read loudly so that she could hear it from wherever she was.
I was now a changed boy, at school and at home. I really tried my best reading and completing my assignments while at school or at home. After some time, I realized that I could sound very many words correctly and differentiate their meanings. I could construct sentences on my own and take to my teacher for marking without having that tremendous fear of erring. I was free to converse with my friends and readily corrected. All these worked wonders for me; all that feeling faded away. I was not afraid of reading English books anymore. In fact within three years time, I was admitted to one of the universities in the United States. I felt safer than before. I had the sense of belonging and those who laughed at me initially were astonished at my adaptability. These two events though were embarrassing, were my reasons behind my success in English language. I opened up to English language and will realize what the future has for me in English language. I believe that I will excel.