How I Became Literate

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How I Became Literate “Senora su hija se quedo dormida otra vez, por favor venga a recogerla,” said my pre-kinder teacher. My teacher would call my mom, because I would fall asleep in class. Since I wouldn’t understand English I would find the class to be boring. I am a citizen of the U.S., but because of financial reasons my mom ended leaving to Cd. Juarez when I was born. My two older brothers and I grew up there until I was about five years old. We then came back to El Paso, Texas, and I started pre-kindergarten. Most of the kids in my school knew English, so I had to learn the language in order to interact with them, and make friends. My mom would only speak Spanish, so we had to learn English on our own. That’s when I turned to watching only the English channels on TV even if I didn’t understand. By the time I was in first grade I was very good in my English, and I started picking up interest in reading. “Mama estoy aburrida me compras un libro?” is what I asked my mom every time I finished my homework. Reading became part of my daily routine. I would rather stay home, and read than going outside to play. I would find myself lying to my friends about not being able to go out just because I wanted to finish my book. My mom had to buy me a large bookshelf to store all of my books. I preferred reading big chapter books instead of the ones made for kids of my age. When I was in the third grade my teacher placed me in a Gifted and Talented program, because I was reading at the level of a seventh grader. I received many awards and trophies for my accomplishments in reading, and other courses. We had transferred to different Elementary schools, and the last one required students to start in a bilingual class before going to an all English class. Early in the school year my teacher and school counselor had scheduled a meeting with my mom, so she
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