Atienza 1 Allen Atienza Professor Duran Educational Autobiography 4 October 2013 Lola and me

When I was young, reading was one of my favorite activities to do. I grew up here in the U.S. and life was somewhat easy for me. The reason for that was because there was someone very dear to me (besides my parents), who has cared for me and has helped me learn how to speak and read English. My lola/grandmother helped me through this process because it was tough for me to learn how to speak and write English. My grandmother was such a loving and kind person. She knew a lot of people and she would always introduce me to people around the neighborhood. Every day, I would remember that my lola would make champorado or oatmeal to wake me up in the morning. Once we were done eating, it was off to the living room and start reading books. My grandmother had one of the sweetest voices I heard at the time and that is something I will never forget. I remember in the afternoons we would go with a family member to go shopping, grocery shopping, or just to go out. At night, if my parents were coming home late, we would watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Later on in life, those shows would actually benefit me in learning the English language. My grandmother would use different techniques to help me learn how to speak and write English in a fun way. My grandmother helped me learn how to speak and write English by reading many children books to me. I didnt know how to read at the time because I was around the age of 2-3 years old. My grandmother would read me these stories, and she would tell me to repeat words she had read from the story. One of the books I remember reading was Snow White and the

Atienza 2 Seven Dwarfs. The one line I can remember to this day while reading this story, was my grandmother telling me, Remember the dwarfs name was Doc because he was a doctor. But for me to understand what she said, she would say, Doc is a doctor. I could relate to Sofia Gomezs literacy narrative, Mother Goose in Monterey, because we both learned how to speak English though Disney. The difference between our experiences was that Gomez would watch Disney movies, while I read about them. Over the years, my grandmother and I have read many childrens books and stories. I remember going out on a trip with my grandmother to Barnes & Noble. We didnt go to the library; we went to Barnes & Noble. To this day, I dont know why she wouldnt take me to a library, but I am still thankful for going to the book store. When we entered, she would buy a cookie for the both of us from the caf inside before we would go to the childrens section. When we were at the childrens section, we would get a workbook with exercises in it and do some of the activities in the workbook. Now, I know why my grandmother told me not to write in one of the workbooks at the store. At this point, my grandmother knew how I have progressed, so she helped me to start reading the childrens books. Another way my grandmother taught me how to speak and read English was to literally read everything. The first word I said and spelled was VONS. I think the reason to that was because it was a four letter word, and my family would always go to VONS to buy groceries. My grandmother and my parents were so proud of me when I said, VONS. When we got home that day, they told me to read many words and little phrases. After that, I started looking at words around the house I could read. One word that Im pretty sure many of my family members saying was TV. I was in the living room when this happened. I saw the TV and spotted the SONY logo sign on it and thought to myself, I know how to say and spell TV! So I quickly rushed to my parents and my grandmother, and I told them, Mom, dad, lola, I know how to spell TV!

Atienza 3 They were all amazed and asked me how to spell it. So, I spelled it as if I was in a spelling bee. I proudly said, TV. S O N Y TV!. The next thing I knew, I saw my parents and my grandmother laughing. To this day, my family members and I would have a good laugh about this moment. Another way my grandmother helped me read and write in English was to help me with my accent. I didnt have such a thick accent, but it was quite noticeable. When I entered the first grade, my parents decided to move me to a private school. At that school, many students looked and acted a lot smarter than myself. I felt that I wasnt at their level and it put me down at times. I proved my classmates wrong by being a good boy and doing all the classwork and homework assigned to us. The part that scared me the most was sharing with the whole class. The reason why I was scared wasnt because I was shy; it was because of my accent. For example, when I read a sentence stating, There were three apples in the tree. I would say, Dere were tree appols in da tree. One day, my teacher picked me to share something. Even though I was scared, I was still able to say something. I then saw my classmates hold in their laughter. When we were released for recess, I saw my classmates laugh at me. From that moment, I felt like I wasnt even speaking English. I felt like I was speaking a language no one else could tell I was speaking. Like what James Baldwin wrote in If Black English Isnt a Language, Then tell Me, What Is, he talks about,when my brother, or my mother, or my father, or my sister, had to convey to me, for example, the danger in which I was standing from the white man standing just behind me, and to convey this with a speed, and in a language, that the white man could not possibly understand, and that , indeed, he cannot understand until today. (If Black English 35). It was like I was speaking a different language than anyone else in the class wouldnt know, but I was speaking a universal language. It was my accent that held me back, lowered my self-esteem,

Atienza 4 and ultimately put me down. I also felt like the laughing stock for the rest of the day. I felt like the student who wrote Diary 2 in The Freedom Writers Diary written overall by Erin Gruwell. The student wrote, Dear Diary, What the hell am I doing in here? Im the only white person in this English class! Im sitting in the corner of this classroom (if thats what you want to call this chaos), (The Freedom 8). When I came back to class, thats what I was wondering. Thoughts like, What are you doing here?, Why did I have to say something?, and I know I talk differently from other people, but was sharing something worth the laughter? all went through my head. When I arrived home, I went straight to my room. My grandmother came to me and asked what was wrong. I told her everything and she told me not to worry about it. From that day forward, she would help me say words with an American accent instead of a Filipino-American accent. I had to struggle in the class with constant teasing, but as I progressed with the accent, I was no longer teased. In this experience, I felt like I connected to Majorie Agosin in her literary narrative, Always Living in Spanish: Recovering the Familiar, through Language. We both wanted something in common and that was change. Agosin didn't want her poetry to change, like I didn't want my accent to change. But we both accepted the change when times got rough. Growing up while learning how to speak and write in English, made me feel like an insider because I was accepted by people while I was learning. Unlike when I went to school, I felt like an outsider because I was constantly teased and felt like I wasnt accepted by people while I was learning. Out of this whole experience, I feel like I had a growth mind-set. According to Carol Dwecks The Perils and Promises of Praise, she writes, in the growth mind-set, students care about learning. When they make a mistake or exhibit a deficiency, the correct it. For them, effort is a positive thing: It ignites their intelligence and causes it to grow. I had a growth mind-set when I wanted to change my accent. No matter how hard it was, I stuck to

Atienza 5 it, and was able to get rid of the accent (not totally). I am very pleased to my grandmother for helping me to read and write in English. Without her help, I wouldnt be the person that I am today. Now, I am in English 100 at Pasadena City College. Out of this English class/course, I would like to improve my writing skills. I would also like to be able to read a text, analyze it, know what is going on, and know the deeper meaning of the text.