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Xi Wen Deng Professor Collin Ludlow-Mattson ENG 114/Fall 2013 October 26, 2013 The Development of My Literacy I come from a single parent immigrant family and I live with my mother and older sister. I immigrated to the United States when I was nine years old. When I first came to the United States from China, it was hard for me to adapt because I had no knowledge of the English language, not even the alphabetical letters. At the age of nine, I did not recognize the alphabetical letters which sounded unreal. However, that was how things went. With the language barrier, it was difficult for me to understand, communicate, and interact with other people at school. Unlike everyone else in my grade, I did not have the literacy skills such as the ability to write, to read, to speak, nor to understand anything that was acknowledged inside and outside the classroom. I struggled with almost everything that happened to me, so I tried to convince my mother that we should go back to China. However, she said, No. She explained that since we chose to come here, we knew that we would be facing many hardships and obstacles and we would have to learn to solve them by ourselves. Growing up I have learned from my mother to transform life challenges into opportunities. On my second day of school in the United States, my elementary teacher came up to me to ask if I need additional help on my English skills. Luckily she spoke to me in Chinese because

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that was the only language that I understood at that time. I immediately responded to her that I intensely needed assistance on my English literacy skills. From then on everyday after school, I would stay after class to get tutoring from my teacher. It was one-on-one assistance which I enjoyed and learned much more from than the class of forty students. My teacher started to teach me how to read and write the alphabetical letters based on the ABC books that parents read to babies or even infants. I remembered that I would always get confused with the letters b and d. When I got home from tutoring, I would always practice and practice writing the alphabetical letters on the alphabetical grid line papers. The next day of class, I would show the paper to my teacher. She would always say, Lets continue to develop your skills in English literacy. I could barely recall anything that she had compliments on my improvements. I always thought it was a bad thing; however, I realized that it was a good thing because she expected me to challenge myself even more. I made flashcards and notes for myself to study and catch up quicker to my grade level. I went home to study and review my vocabulary lists for hours everyday where I started to put words together to form a sentence. I would then show my teacher my sentences and she mentioned to me that there are a handful of grammars and spelling mistakes in my sentences. I did not know what that meant. She clearly explained to me what it was but it was still frustrating to me. I started going to the public library to read various mini story books. I finally realized that in every sentence, there is a tense and structure of how it would look. There is always the subject, noun, verb, and different tenses. I continued to go to the public library to read books which became a daily habit for me. I borrowed a few books home to read. My elementary teacher was a motivational role model for me because she guided me in my English literacy including the ability to read, write, and speak just like how Rosetta has served for Judith in My Rosetta. In My Rosetta, Judith learned from Sister Rosetta the people and

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things that are culturally important to her throughout her life. Sister Rosetta expanded Judiths understanding and insights of the world and how it works. In correlation, my elementary teacher was someone who helped me become literate and passionate about becoming more proficient in a new language. I think of my elementary teacher as a mentor that led me to get a broader perspective of the world by encouraging me to get involved with different activities that can thrive my literacy. I began to summarize and reflect on what I read and understand. I began to watch children television such as Sesame Street, Curious George, and Arthur. I listened to their dialogues which took me a while to understand. In class, I would take initiatives to ask and answer questions in which other students taunted and laughed at my accents and pronunciations. I took it to my advantage by persevering and enduring the struggle of learning the English language. As time went by, my English literacy improved tremendously. I still went to additional assistance after school with my teacher. She saw the improvement and development in my English literacy. One day, she invited my mother to parent-teacher conference. She explained to my mother the growth of my English skills which made my mother proud of me. Even though there were still many words that I could not understand, I pretended to stare at the pictures and assumed what it meant, just like how Sherman Alexie did in Superman and Me. In Superman and Me, Alexie taught himself how to read by pretending to read the words and assuming what it meant. Alexie mentioned that in order to survive, reading is necessary. I strongly agreed with him on the point that he made because I believe literacy is crucial in order to respond and communicate with others. Literacy is the basics that humans use to relate and connect with each other.

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As an immigrant, my mother struggled with the English language, but she worked laboriously to earn a minimum wage to support the family. She served as both mother and father for me and my sister. She served as the primary caretaker for my grandmother. Despite these challenges, she never complained about how tired she was. She just wanted to provide her family with the best lives and education possible to make sure that we had a good future. I have used this as fuel to pursue a higher education for me and my family and to contribute positively to the lives of others. Although my family was not rich, my mother would still spend money for me to get private tutoring on weekends to expand my knowledge in English literacy and reading. She even bought me an electronic translating dictionary which I brought with me almost everywhere. After a few months of private tutoring, I started to think more about helping out my mother. I wanted to reduce my mothers burden. I didnt want her to worry about me so much while maintaining work and family. In order to do that, I had a conversation with my mother which I convinced her that I didnt need her to spend additional money for me to go to private tutoring outside of school. I told her that I could study on my own which I did. Throughout my entire life, my mother has served as a motivational figure for me. She has expanded my understanding of the world. She has taught me the importance of education and mindset. She has taught me the importance of perseverance and hard work. I have learned from my mother that education can enable me to differentiate the good from the bad, the reality from the fantasy, and to tackle any challenges. My mothers lessons taught me that education is an investment and achievement. My mother continuously tells me, Always do your best in anything that you are dedicated to. What you plant now, you will harvest later in the future. This quote served as a reminder of my mothers struggles and hard work. I take this as a

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responsibility and principle for life to work hard and be dedicated to become better and better at a new language. To strengthen my knowledge in reading, writing, listening, and learning in the English language, I spent time from reading comic books to short stories to novels to dictionaries. In less than two years, I was able to read, write, listen, and speak the English language fluently. I continued to empower my reading, writing, and listening skills because I believe there is always more to learn from in literacy. I will be a first-generation college student in my family and I value the opportunity that is given to me because I can encounter progress in my literacy. Gaining knowledge is like walking a continuous staircase. My experience of learning to read and write in English made me realize the importance of developing literacy because becoming literate is a way for me to communicate and interact with others from various identities in society. I recognized that I am profoundly dedicated to developing my literacy skill because literacy is essential and fundamental when I am living in this society. Through my journey of acquiring a new language, I learned a lesson that becoming proficient and literate at something requires practice and dedication. I comprehend that I will get out what I put in, nothing more and nothing less. I know that enhancing my knowledge in literacy means that I can become an effective critical thinker, academic achiever, and problem solver. I believe from gaining more knowledge in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, I can achieve my dreams and aspirations in the future.