Literacy Narrative

9/18/19

  By   FNU Adeel 

ENG 1101:English                Literacy Narrative composition I C379/D379 

       

            I don’t know what hurts me more than the fact that I moved to America and being unable to speak English. After I came to this country, unfortunately, I faced many problems. The problem was that my family’s financial problems not having job. One of the biggest problems was that not knowing the language. It was hard to find a job and I felt like flair  because i had a struggle to communicate with others. My only fear was that success would be hard to achieve however, deep down I know one of my strongest qualities l is that I always seek success and never quit.Then My experience with English wasn’t too bad. When I recently came into United States i felt like I will never fit into this environment because English is my second language. The first day in my computer class my teacher gave a dictionary so whenever I have problems with English I look words meaning first in my language so I can remember that word. Dictionary was my first thing to start knowing English then I started watching movies to speak with accents. First semester even my English teacher told me that you should take PM classes ecause I wasn’t passing that class . Then I took evening classes to improve my English. First semester I got failing grades then I start with a new beginning and improved my grades up to 85 %,95%. Then English was my favorite subject which I never ever failed. I read my first book called “A Child Called It”and my experience was great with reading books. Every day I come to my school I learned a new thing a new vocabulary word I take notes and look for meanings . Then I joined volleyball in my school so I can interact with more people. I spoke my broken English in class and whoever I talked too never feel ashamed because I was there to learn something if i’m wrong teachers will correct me. I knew who ever is in this roon with me nobody is perfect in English they are here to learn too. I loved working in groups so I can learn how each person has a different idea than me. I’m good at learning is when I watch videos so it creates an image in my mind so I never forget. I started working at a pharmacy and I wasn’t good at communicating with customers at that time but now i’m very happy to go to work and meet with different people and also help people who don’t speak English because im Trilingual.My experiences with English was good because I wanted to learn English and  anyone can learn English if you are willing to do so . I think that Malcolm X, story is similar to mine because we had to learn something new which we never did before. But everyday when I get to learn something I remember it. This struggle has shaped me to face any problems that I have. This struggle with language as ESL student shaped to me a successful high school student. The struggle with English make me stronger so I can communicate with people with confidence and show who I am and where I have came from. Today I have a good job and learned that there is a good time after a hard time. It is easy to be successful in any part of the world if you know (learn) the language of the country that most people speak. When I see different students from different cultures I feel more motivated and positive. In the beginning I felt like I won’t be able to achieve higher education however now I realize that im capable of higher education and that will give me more opportunities to improve myself. I’m first in my family who is in college and I will make my family proud and be an example to others in my community. And I know there is only one way higher education which will help me to obtain my career opportunities and my dream job. I have full confidence that I will keep working hard in college and turn into my success. English was important to me because it gave me the power to speak for myself. Learning English marked my relationship to reading books and novels. English is a language that always give you something new to learn a new vocabulary that you learn in your life by a lesson that makes you remember words for forever. I would say English is not just a language, it means to explore. 

The power of reading

Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, and reading is a very effective way to stimulate and exercise the brain. I didn’t know all the benefits that reading can cause in human beings. I wasn’t until I went through a certain experience, when I finally realized how important and necessary is for humans to read. The personal experience I had with reading was when I read the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. When I was 11 years old my whole group of friends were interested in reading, however for some reason I wouldn’t get interested in books or in reading. It was like that for about a year, up until I saw that my best friend was reading “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, I asked her what was the book about and she told me the main details of the story. For some reason the plot of the book made me get really interested in it. The book is a novel about an adolescent named Charlie and his path through his freshman year of high school. The novel is composed of letters, which Charlie has written to an unknown person. He tells this person about his life, his struggles, and triumphs but makes sure not to say anything that could point out who he is. I got interested in this book because it celebrates inclusivity and tolerance by showing how people can blossom when they are accepted for who they are and how painful life can be for people who are ignored or mistreated. When Charlie enters high school, he is withdrawn. He does not try to connect with people because he is actively dealing with the pain of the two traumatic experiences he has had to undergo. When I was reading this book, it opened my eyes, by showing me that life is not a bed of roses for some people, and that we have to be flexible and understanding to everyone, because we don’t know what people are going through in their private lives. After I was done reading this book I realized the importance of reading. I realized that reading develops the mind, It is how we discover new things. Books, magazines and even the Internet are learning tools which require the ability to read and understand what is read. I also developed a strong relationship to books and reading. I started reading several books, from different genres. I would say that I started reading at least one to two books a month. I also developed a huge interest in fiction and romance books.
Every since then I have had a huge passion in reading and learning new things by doing it. Having a passion for reading has helped me in several aspects and experiences in my life, such as improved focus and concentration, my analytical skills got better, learning a new language and I have also noticed that my memory has had an improvement too. The one that I considered the most important, was that having a passion for reading helped me to learn a new language, which is English. Two years ago, when to the US, I was able to understand some things but I was not fully able to talk or write in English. However, for me reading was not as hard as talking and writing.When I noticed that I found reading easier than writing and talking, I thought that it could be helpful to read the books I had read before again, but this time in English. Then I started reading books and what I did is that every word I did not understand or know, I would highlight them and look them up. I would write every new word and its meaning in a notebook. Every time I finished reading one of the books I had decided to read, I noticed progress in my writing and understanding of the language. In a matter of three months the progress in the way I spoke and wrote was huge. All the reading and learning I did happened before attending school because when I came to the US, it was summer break therefore I did not attend school until the summer break was over. When I started attending school, after taking an English exam for the school to know my English level. I got the highest level, and it was not necessary for my to take ESL classes or anything related to learning English. I know that if I had not read all those books to get better at speaking and writing en English, I would have not been able to take regular classes. After having that experience, I had no doubt of how powerful and helpful reading can be in several aspects of people’s lives. Reading did not only helped me to learn a new language or made me realize important life lessons, reading made me become a new me.

A powerful message

My personal experience shaped my relationship with reading and writing because it made me realize that books could be very interesting and they really make you imagine the story in your head. The book that I had read that shaped me into a different reader today was “The child called it” by David Pelzer. This book was both harsh yet very touching to read because it carried a message in which sort of expressed that you could prove people wrong and with the right mindset you could do anything in life no matter your background history, you take those harsh moments and turn them into a beautiful reality. I wasn’t really the type of person to open up a book and start reading because I sort of found reading pretty boring but I gave it a try and this book gave me a different perspective on reading. I guess I found reading boring because in school we were made to read books we weren’t really interested in and I feel like reading would’ve been so much more interesting if we were able to pick and choose what we wanted to read as a class. Now I actually don’t mind reading anything because I sort of learned to like it and I found that it really helped shape my mind better with new vocabulary and a better understanding of things in general. I learn a lot when I read and that’s what makes me want to read even more. Reading gives you knowledge and you’re sort of feeding your mind and it makes you think and create images in your head, it’s like exercise for the brain. Books are a getaway and I was in my own world when I read this book because I wanted to know what was going to happen next and I just couldn’t put the book down. I think opening up a very interesting book could be very stress relieving because you block out the rest of the world and forget all your problems and all you’re focused on is the book. While I was reading “A child called it” (which was based on a true story) I sort of had weight on my shoulders because of all the harsh moments the little boy in the story had to go through but at the end of the story I realized that the same boy in the book was actually the author  of the book. When I found that out, it lifted all the weight off my shoulders because someone who suffered so much made it great in life to prove to himself that life could really be beautiful. Books/writings could send very powerful messages and it’s a form of expression. My experience with this book was very emotional and I cried while reading it because I felt like I was in the little boys shoes, the author wrote it as if he wanted us to imagine every detail in the book and it was as if I was watching a movie because of all the pictures it made me create in my head.

literacy narrative

 Learning English is very difficult for us Chinese-speaker. Especially for writing, my writing level is very poor.

    In the first year of immigration to the United States, I couldn’t understand what the teacher said in class. I couldn’t finish my homework every time. In the second year, the situation got better. I started to keep up with the teacher’s progress.  I also understood what the teacher said in class.

  When learning English, the hardest thing for me is reading and writing. I don’t understand what the author wants to say, and I don’t know how to write the text. The essay teacher who wrote at the beginning gave a low score.

 After that, I often go to see some good compositions in the Internet and some time i will do the homework with my friends. 

   I remember that soon after I came to the United States, my writing ability was very poor. I often wrote quiet as quite, and also wrote angle as angel. Sometimes I wrote diary as a dairy. The teacher was very helpless to me.After so much writing, my writing has become better.

   Compare China and the United States. They have great differences in the learning of children and students. China is more focused on indoctrinating education, while American universities value practice and creative thinking in practice. Therefore, domestic students often have amazing memory and a good foundation in mathematics, which is why Chinese students can achieve good results in exam-oriented education. In the United States, higher education requires students to participate, practice, and create. Many courses are arranged with case study and discussion time, as well as student-centered teaching activities such as case analysis and presentation, so that learning is passive and active. Can more stimulate students’ self-awareness and thinking.

  The calculation of Western students’ grades is: classroom discipline and attendance rate are part of the work, part-time homework scores are part of the group, group interaction discussion is part of the paper, and thesis writing and defense accounts for more than half. From these aspects, the comprehensive situation of students is comprehensively evaluated and compared. Objective and fair. In China, grades are important for students, parents, and schools. High school students do not attend classes and do not write homework. As long as you get a good grade in the college entrance examination, you can enter a famous university.

  Americans are self-reliant, pragmatic and focus on their individual abilities, dare to take risks, openness and innovation, etc., so that American education presents the current quality and strong quality education. American teachers admit that each child has his or her own talent and encourages them to work hard to develop their own strengths. The United States cultivates people who have real skills. For example, the United States trained more than 300 billionaires from 1980 to the present. And countless Nobel winners. This is what the American founder, Washington, said: Let Americans enjoy the best education.

 

Reading to the soul

Domanique king

English 1101

Reading helps develop the brain and keeps the mind flowing with thoughts and ideas and imaginations.Reading with a purpose helps the reader to direct information towards a goal and focuses their attention. My little sister has been reading many books and discovering many different things because of her reading. Every night she’s introduced to a new story that places a smile on her little face. The way she loves to read along and point out things is what brings me true happiness. This gave me a feeling of satisfaction because i knew that was educating her and teaching her skills that she will need once she starts school. From reading short stories to baby novels and then skill teaching books  it helps the mind to grow and expand. Pointing out what the characters are doing, wearing, eating , and even memorizing their names is what is most important to me because I know that she is learning more and more. Reading new things opens up imagination and the first time she had touched the hard cover or soft cover books and was amazed by the multi-colors of the cover and pages I knew she would enjoy reading. Hearing her sound out the words and understanding the meaning behind the words, even if it was just doing the simple action of the word was amazing. Everytime we read a new book it is the start of new beginnings. This shapes my own relationship with reading because truthfully I never use to read as much books when I was younger like how my sister does, not many people get an opportunity to read or write and knowing that any one even if it’s yourself, family and or friends get to do this everyday makes me happy. At such a young age and starting to read and write is what is mainly important because she is learning younger and becoming wiser each and everyday. Reading helps you get more connected with your inner thoughts and more in depth with yourself , so does writing. When people write in diaries and their own personal version of a short story it’s because of the connection they have prior to reading. It helps you express your thoughts on a page and see what you think , that’s why it is so important to read and educate yourself. Her favorite book to read is her peppa pig collection book, she always calls out the characters and objects and the actions that she observes them doing. Comprehension is also a major part in reading and writing, she’s very clever when it comes to comprehending what is going on in the story. A lot of people lack the knowledge of certain criteria and that is because they don’t read enough to fully understand. From the start of your life like my little sister to the ending reading and writing will always teach you new things about life. If you don’t have a desire to want to read and or write you will never learn. 

From ignorance to a Learner

Emmanuel Williams 

English 1101 

Professor Brianna Jewell 

                                                  From ignorance to a Learner 

            When it comes to reading, writing, and learning I wasn’t always the best at it. But I have come a long way to get better with all three categories, which made me a better person in general. When I was younger I never really liked the idea of understanding how to read because it was never really that interesting to me. As I grew up my reading and writing improved because my parents have pushed me to get better. My dad was the one who taught me how to write better, while my mom was the one that taught me how to read and comprehend work. During the week when I had finished my homework my mom will call me to read with her for 30 minutes before I went to bed. We were doing that for the 6th grade until I got better, and the weekends I had to read for 2 hours. My dad though taught me to write was when I was younger. He would sit both of us down and write out letters and sentences for the week until my writing became better. In school when it was time to read out loud it was a struggle to know when to pause and when not to, but as I dedicated to reading more the better I got at it. I had to make time for myself to read on the weekends with my free time to have a better understanding of reading. Meaning that I had to focus upon myself to become adequate in my pronunciation and the use of my punctuation as well. I also had to make sure I understood what was going on in the reading, so that meant I had to be asked analytical questions about the text and I had to be quizzed on. At one point I moved to a middle school where I was tested on my reading skills. I didn’t have any idea about how good or bad I was doing, but the results showed that I was actually pretty bad and needed a lot of work. Same thing with my writing because it had a large number of grammatical errors and it didn’t really make any sense what I was writing about. Learning for me took a ton out of me since I was a child who would rather play a lot, but I had no choice at this point in time I had to learn as much as possible and fast too because I had to catch up to the other kids in my class. Over time I grew in my skills in reading, and I even took it upon myself to actually read on my own time and start enjoying reading books. I took the most exciting-fictional books that were interesting to me and read for the joy of it. This ultimately made me a better writer, especially now that I knew more about grammar and how punctuations worked. Additionally, I became happier knowing that part of my potential was unlocked because of accelerated successes. I was able to get better grades, especially in my writing and reading classes. 

              Even though American charter schools helped me to get to the point where I am, there is still work to get done in the American education system. Not every school can give access to books and extra help for students to get better, and not every parent or tutor in America is able to teach a child how to get better in the English language. If there were more fun activities or maybe even challenges to get kids reading more, then there will be a promising education system in America. 

The ‘horror’ story

It was a little over ten years ago, in my bedroom with a black and white composition notebook and a wooden pencil when I wrote my first “book”. It wasn’t your average book,however, it was a scary story that I completely made up from start to finish. As a child, one of the many things that interested me the most was scary stories and horror movies. During my elementary school days, I can remember vividly searching through the horror/mystery genres in book fairs, not only because these were the only books I was interested in, it was because these were the only one that left me on the edge of my seat every time I read one. Not to mention I was the only child until the age 9, so being my fathers only kid led me to watch all his favorite horror flicks with him. With an interest of scary stories and having a father that loves horror movies as much as you do, it wasn’t too long after that for me to develop the idea to create my own “horror story”. The story I made was about this girl that triggered a parallel universe that had immortal people/creatures in it, back then I obviously had a completely different idea of ‘scary’ than I do now. However , with the knowledge I had based on all the movies I watched and the stories I’ve read, it was the most detailed piece of writing I’ve ever done. Not only was this the first time I was writing something outside of school and on my own, but it was also the first writing I was technically invested and fascinated in. I spent every possible chance and free time I had to adding, revising, and sketching in that book, and ironically till this day it does not have a title. Thinking back the most difficult part was keeping track of the different characters dialogue, making sure nothing was repeated and simply if it made sense. I remember being so frustrated at times because I wouldn’t know how to get the thoughts I had into words, I felt as if there was so many words I had missed out on that was preventing me to fully express myself, or I had “writer’s block” and just had a moment of loss creativity. But something I can never forget is my parents support and every time a moment like that happened they never took “giving up” as an answer.

Writing this book resulted in many things such as putting more meaning into my writing in and outside of school. I realized during this process that my vocabulary needed to improve and because of this I then started to engage more in learning different words and the use of them, thus improving my overall writing style. Furthermore it expanded my reading interest and made me more aware of the other genres to read from. However this influenced more than just my reading and writing but my passion for art and the major i’m deciding on today. Concurrently to writing my ‘horror story’ my grandmother would teach me how to sketch different things around the house and different animals. I will also frequently do that on my spare time, and still do today, even incorporated some sketches in my ‘book’and I eventually gotten better. Over the years I continued sketching and drawing and later developed a hobby doing sfx makeup. For those who don’t know what that is, SFX stands for special effect makeup, also known as prosthetic makeup, which involves using prosthetic sculpting, molding and techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. It wasn’t until then I felt as if my drawings were coming to life. Developing this hobby came from watching the ‘behind the scenes’ of horror movies I’ve watched. By this time I was sketching out pieces I wanted to recreated using prosthetic makeup. I hit a moment of realization , and I knew I wanted to study what I loved doing the most, so when applying for college came around, picking a major wasn’t hard at all. Although i’m still deciding whether majoring in architecture or graphic design will put me on the path I want, I know I want to be in a field where i’m utilizing my passion for art. Ironically this ‘horror’ story I wrote had so many benefits that came out of it that made MY ending better than it’s own. This experience did not only impacted my writing and interest in reading but it gave me so many ideas on what I want to do in the future.

unit 1 literacy narrative

Unit 1 literacy narrative

E1101 Justin Bartholomew

The Importance of Learning English
In elementary school, I never like to read or write. Few years later, I gain knowledge by learning something new from reading a newspaper article or from reading the author’s stores. Writing allow me to take more time to put in my thoughts so that I can communicate better. I learned that reading and writing is one of the most important ways to develop my learning experience because it develops my communication skills, it can help me to get my education, and it allow me to build up my ideas.
I believe that reading and writing can improve my communication. When I read, I feel more confidence of English language. Reading also build up my vocabulary that allows me to speak English with different words. When I get comfortable of speaking, most of the time my teachers can understanding what I am saying. When even I talking to someone one on one, I always think about what sentence I will say before I speak. As I keep reading it will increase my vocabulary and I will feel more comfortable while I am speaking. Writing is a way to help me to form my sentences to my grammar.
Reading and writing is one of the best ways for getting an education. During in elementary school, I wasn’t good at reading or writing. My teacher told me that I was better at writing than reading because I had good ideas to write down my example for each paragraph. In high school, when I heard students that they had something to study for in college, it took me a while to figure out what I want to study for in college. That’s when I realize that reading and writing is important because in college to get to the classes that I want to study for, I need to pass classes that involved with reading and writing such as English and social studies.
Developing our thoughts by reading or writing will allow us to improve our argument in the real world. I remember in high school, I had a lot of information about writing an argument essay that was about smoking in parks should be illegal from reading “Whatever the Science Shows, Banning Smoking in Parks Makes Sense” by James Colgrove. Based on the argument, I agree with the author and I had supported my reasons by explaining how smoking can cause a health risk and nonsmokers will get effected by smokers for being around public spaces. Reading this text make me think back at the time when I had been seeing many people be smoking near by parks and beaches people didn’t have a chose but to inhale the cigarette smoke.
I believe reading or writing is important in our daily lives because it guide us to get an educated job and develop our relationships. Writing stories or an argument is also one of the best ways to communicate with others. Writing gives me more time to focus to write down more of my thoughts, when I read, it allows me the ability to learn more information to develop my communication such having the ability to talk to one of my classmates. Learning English can help us to reach our goal such as finishing our classes.

Personal Experience Essay

Angel Torres

Back then in 2006, I was a small kid in elementary school with big dreams of my future. I had good times with my friends and teachers thought out my 5 years of elementary school. My family guided me into having good times with friends and teachers. I spend great times in that school every time I past by, memories come and happiness, joy and surprises come to my head. Specially one teacher that I had and changed my life was back in her class when I started to learn and fill my little brain with knowledge. She was inspiring because she helped me a lot in school but learning the english language. I would stay after school to practice with her and do homework and class notes to get  better at reading and writing english. She was hispanic and learned english kind of the same way I did which is why she was committed to teach me, along with other students having trouble with english. Now she has a career and helps out many students in schools as a teacher for a bright future. In my last elementary school day, she told me this, “ I was in your shoes when I was younger, if I can do it, you can too”. She say those final words to me because she saw something me me that can change  my life and that of others. I was really sad that I had to continue my journey without her, she taught me the language required for my future. Thanks to her, I now know the language and mastered parts of it and I have the motivation and pride to continue my journey to my dreams and goals to help my family and prepare myself for life.

Motivation

“Motivation” that’s the word that has been in my vocabulary the most these past two years. It did not just happen like that, there is a whole background story. It all started 2 years ago when I was faced with a huge challenge taking an exam in a totally foreign language for me (English writing).When taking  that exam I knew that I did not put my maximum aptitude in studying to pass it because in my mind I would fail anyway.So after getting back my results a totally different feeling got to me, I was angry at myself. Not one ounce of pride was present in myself  because I knew I could do better at that exam. That’s when  the story about motivation began .That exam helped me to know where my weakest areas were is it more about vocabulary or grammar in my case it was all. So I started taking action to work on that .I started extra hour in school “youtube classes” and some reading. I knew that all that would pay off one day so I set my mind to work. I was motivated to study and pass any other exam that  I would have to take which  I knew in order to pass I had to understand English and know how to put my thoughts into words . Throughout the year I was seeing some results from my hard work and  motivation .Now I was less shy when speaking up in class unlike in the beginning when i was ashamed of my accent or how I sound. I felt like people did not understand what I was saying and it was frustrating .That experience made me believe in one thing which is” With motivation, everything is possible “because in less than month I was not the girl who was ashamed of her accent but the girl who talks in front of 10 20 or 30 girls to empower them in clubs. I wasn’t the girl who’s not confident when taking exam, I was the girl people would come to study with ask question whether it’s in English or another subject.  I was the girl who passed all her exams  with honors the girl who joined clubs and interacted with important people in our society . A lot of things changed in less than one year but most of all I felt I had grown . All of this happened because because of the motivation I had and still continue to have.If that experience has taught me something it’s that education is what you make  of it . What I mean by that is, even if you go to the best school or have the best instructors in the world if you are not willing to or do not have motivation to study learn or educate yourself it will not work and as an example for that we can take my experience with the English exam . I am not saying my teacher was the best in the world, but he was good .The problem was with me not having the motivation to study because to me failing was a certainty . For me, motivation is  one the keys to achieve any goal in life.