Spanish is the primary language spoken at home and among his Spanish speaking peers. David’s NLL teacher has noticed little improvement in his literacy development in his native language. She has stated that David and his parents have very low literacy in both English and Spanish. This may play a major part of his very low reading abilities of the two languages. This one fact shows evidence that David has BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) for both languages, but surprisingly little to no CALP (Cognitive Academic Learning Proficiency) in Spanish as well as English not only for himself – but his parents as well.
These mostly industrialized cities had an enormous need for children to learn English. Attending school year-round was necessary for students to learn the English language and it was helpful for parents, both of whom often worked. This contrasted greatly to the rural one room school houses of this time where most of the schooling took place during the winter when the children were not needed to work the farms (Hermansen, 1971, p.9). As education became more of a priority for society “progressive reformers championed compulsory attendance laws while extending the abbreviated rural-driven short hours and days into a longer school day and year” (Cuban, 2008,p. 241).
My third difficult was the first time when I saw a book in English here in this country. I remember I could not understand anything in the TV, magazines or newspapers. I think that my ages slow me down in the language process. Age is very important to learn because when you are young the brain is brand new and like a sponge that catches everything. Julia had this advantages and that’s why she learned faster and better than me.
No other person had such an impact on my growth and love for literacy as a whole as he did. Looking back I’m grateful my parents had me retake kindergarten. Still like reading in a peacefully place, that is relaxing and quiet. My attitude toward reading hasn’t always been one I’ve been proud of, but I’m grateful I don’t take reading light heartedly. The most considerable insight that I can take from my past in literacy, is reading is the most vital part of any education, though it does take work to tone this into a skill that can be used for more than just pleasure later in
In the essay, Aria, he was forced to study English and Richard Rodriguez resented the loss of intimacy in the family. However, he, later, discovered his love in books. Richard Rodriguez switched from hating English to fall in love with books. Education has changed his mind; therefore, changed him. He confesses: “What I am about to say to you has taken me more than twenty years to admit: A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn’t forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student” (598).
But life was very challenging the language barrier, their rules and more. I went to four years of high school to learn the English language. It was amazing how others classmate treated me. In because of my foreign language sometimes they laugh at my accent. It took me several years to communicate to other people because of the fear they might laugh at me.
The easiest way to sum up my overall experience in Torrance High English is to sum it up in three sections. First the ghost of English past lets just say I wasn’t the best student in my second year of English. Next would be my struggles through my English career and how I overcame them. Last but not least is my current experience in Mr. Bostwicks English 3 class. Looking back on my English experience here at Torrance High I believe I have learned a lot.
Matthews 1 Calvin Matthews Professor Serna English 102 13 May 2014 Week 1 Initial Thought Paper, Overview on Literature & Writing My experiences with literature and writing are very little as I am only in my 3rd year of college, but I have taken literature very serious even in grade school. I received my first B in English my freshmen year at Western Michigan University to explain my success at it though. In High school English was one of my more knowledgeable subjects not because I knew what was needed to know about it but because I was just very good at comprehension which is to me the main key to the success of Literature and Writing. So like I said my experiences are very little but I have done very well with the little time I’ve had with it. Even though my experiences with literature and writing are very little I still feel very strongly about it.
Writing felt so endless, and boy did the teachers pile on writing assignments a little before MEAP testing that year. Miracously, I got better at writing at the end of year, as well as reading to advance to fifth grade. Confidence. Websters definition of it is, the quality or state of being certain. One thing I've lacked previously before the end of fourth grade was self confidence.
Throughout my day I deal with literacy in every aspect. I never realized how important it was but reading and writing is such a major part of an everyday life. Learning to read and write is such a privilege that not many take advantage of the opportunity. In some cases when literacy is in your finger tips it is slipped away because the challenge to do more with the knowledge is not there or given. I count myself as one of the lucky few in this world who grew up in an environment where the abilities to read and write were considered very valuable skills.