Personal Narrative: My Literacy In The Classroom

823 Words4 Pages
I grew up being a translator. At a young age I had to listen to everything that was being told to my parents, especially if it was in English, because it was the more common language when we were not at home. I had to learn how to communicate with adults and ask questions about making payments, applying for school and purchasing necessary items for the family. I can say I became literate when I learned English, but it was when I started kindergarten in native language, Spanish. I was not until Spanish classes were offered late in life that I finally realized people have different definitions of literacy; mine was when I learned how to strengthen my English literacy with my native tongue, Spanish. My transition into English classes was in the second grade. I remember being told “Anna, you cannot be talking Spanish, from this day on it is all English.” Code- Switching is not easy, going from Spanish to English became like going from land to water. I have to remember to breathe sometimes; remember where I come from, which means I have to speak my native tongue and practice it as part of my literacy. Ever since my teacher told me that it just stuck to me which made me forget about my Spanish nativity. When we are young we do everything our teacher tells us, because we fear…show more content…
I did not think it was necessary a first, because people should just know how to pronounce names. It is something that has to naturally come to someone, but does not literacy come naturally? No, it does not because reading any type of text is like getting into someone else’s mind. We never fully understand what the author writes because we all interpret it differently. We have to be able to communicate and express what we want and try to make others understand it. This is what I began to do without realizing it. I began to use Spanish readings in order to understand what I was doing in my English
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