Literacy Narrative

English as a Second Language It is a faint memory of mine, but I still remember learning the English alphabet for the first time at Kay’s Montessori, which was a daycare my parents had me attend at the age of five. Up until I started attending Kay’s, I only knew Vietnamese because that was the language my parents taught me as soon as I could speak. My journey to become literate in English began the day I first learned the alphabet at Kay’s. From this point on, I developed my abilities to read and write in English by attending American public schools. Although it was a struggle for me to become literate in English, these challenges motivated me to expand and improve my literacy skills. My kindergarten teacher at Boudreaux Elementary was very influential in advancing my literacy skills. She had a huge collection of basic to advanced-level reading books, and she challenged us by making a competition out of reading these books. Each student could take one book home per day, read it to our parents, and return it once we finished reading the entire book to add a sticker next to our name on the “You’re a Star” board. Since I was a competitive young girl, I was determined to get the most stickers at the end of the year by reading one book per night. Little did I know that my competitive nature would help me quickly advance my reading skills. Looking back on this, I realize that this helped me to become a better reader, and that this was one of the best things that could happen to me in my educational career. Another influence to the development of my current literacy skills was my participation in the English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) and Gifted and Talented (GT) Programs. In kindergarten and first grade, I was pulled out of class an hour each day to focus more on reading and writing in English. My ESL teacher was effective in building my reading and writing skills by assigning me various challenging yet fun activities that helped me to spell, read, write, and

2 understand bigger English vocabulary words. Since I showed a huge progress in first grade, I was tested for the GT Program. When I became a student of the GT Program, I began to learn how to read, write, and think more creatively. The GT Program helped to foster my growing curiosity by teaching me Latin and helping me to connect Latin root words with the English language. During my later years of elementary school, computers were advancing and becoming more available to students. My GT teacher used this to our advantage by educating us on this emerging technology and used the Internet as a tool to instruct us and advance our way of thinking critically. From what I can remember, this was the first time digital media had an impact upon my literacy skills. Today, the digital media has tremendously influenced my literacy skills. In most of my college courses, my homework, study guides, assignments, notes, and other academic materials are posted online. This not only helps me to access my assignments quicker, but I can use, share and compare information with other students. Digital media is very much a part of my everyday life. When I become curious about a certain topic, such as fainting goats, I can trust that Google will provide me with several reliable articles for me to read within seconds. The fact that I can access information so quickly helps me to advance my reading skills. Because I have quick access to so much knowledge on the Internet, I am driven to read and learn more about the world around me. The more I read on the web, the more engaged my brain is, and the more my brain will develop. I use the Internet as a tool to help me develop my reading skills. Without my laptop, iPhone, and the Internet, I would not be able to access and gain all this knowledge as rapidly. Therefore, the Internet plays an important role in improving my literacy skills. It has been quite the journey for me to become the literate young Vietnamese-American woman that I am today. If it were not for my parents enrolling me into Kay’s Montessori,

3 reading over 100 books in kindergarten, and participating in the ESL and GT programs, I would have struggled to become a fluent speaker, reader, and writer in English. I was able to overcome the struggles of learning English as my second language, and today, I continue to advance my English literacy skill through the use of digital media. Now that it is no longer a challenge for me to read, write, and speak in English, I am motivated to further advance my literacy skills, which will help me become successful throughout my educational and occupational careers.