Raphael Rodrigues Andrade de Oliveira

Instructor: Debarati Dutta

UWRT 1101

Raphaels Literacy Narrative

Reading and writing can be learned in different ways, depending on the people, the culture
of the place that these people live in and the incentives they have. I can consider myself a lucky
guy, once I always had books at home, incentive of relatives and was immerged in places which
helped me to develop my literacy. In this literacy narrative, I am going to talk to you a little bit
about my life, since I was a little kid up to the present day and how some facts lead me to get the
literacy formation that I have currently.
I am able to remember when I was learning both how to read and write. I was born in Brazil
and when I was a little kid, around two or three years, I can remember, though restrict memories,
getting some children`s books, which were provided to me by my parents, and trying to figure out
what the author would like to say. Despite the fact that there were some simple expressions in
those books, it was impossible to me to decode what that set of letters would like to say. The why
is because at that point I still had not a background in reading. Then, at that moment, the pictures
were the main things I really cared of. So that, all my happiness was reflected as much color as the
book could provide to me. Thus, my early literacy formation began, mainly, because I had
incentives or, in other words, access to books.
A little older, between three and four years old, during the school time, the books began to
make more sense to me. My curiosity was not only focused on pictures anymore. At that point, the

alphabetic was my fascination as well. I think that the funny way it was introduced helped me to
discover the new world of the words. My mission was to put the finger in a pot of paint in order
to follow the format of the letters. In fact, it was really nice, because I could join my love for
colors/paints with something new for me, the writing. This moment, in my early life, was very
important in my literacy formation, because I could understand that literacy was not pictures only,
but also letters and words. I mean, when a person, a little boy in my case, is able to join the image
and the words that describe that picture, everything seems to make more sense.
My childhood really was a phase of new discoveries for me as it was supposed to be. I learned
to write, or better, to join the letters at age five, or around it. My cousin and I studied in the same
school, in the same class. Then, we had the same obligations and homework. Moreover, as my
school was located so far from my home, almost every day my aunt, mother of this cousin, was
the person responsible to pick us up at the end time of the classes. In addition, my parents had a
bakery which made them very busy in the most part of the day. Therefore, this was the reason for
what I usually spent a lot of hours in my aunt`s house, while waiting for my parents to pick me up.
During this range of time, my cousin and I, after having lunch, usually went to the table to do our
homework. And it was so funny, because the fact that after doing it, we could sit on the floor to
try to read a popular kid magazine in Brazil called `A Turma da Monica`, which is a collection of
books that shows the way for which different kids face their own life. In addition, the house was
very big, calm and very clean. These characteristics, in my opinion, were a plus to make me feel
more comfortable to read.
Despite the fact that my parents were so busy, they always tried to help me to improve my
knowledge. At home, in the shelve, there were a lot of books I really liked. Others than `A Turma
da Monica` were `Ze Carioca`, `Sitio do Pica Pau Amarelo` and American heroes as well, such as

`Spiderman`. So that, my childhood was immerged in the both real and fantasy histories that these
books could provide to me. Moreover, I could improve my writing and reading faster than my little
classmates, for instance, because I had contact with printed books more frequently than they had,
at least I guess.
When I was getting older, obviously my preferences were changing as well. At age 10, the
famous history of `Harry Potter` was something that fascinated me a lot. Even though I have begun
to read the collection of books, I have never finished them up. The reason is because Harry Potter`s
history finished only in 2013, and at that time I had not the same interest as I had when was
younger. In addition, all my efforts, during youth were focused on study the school material to be
approved in the university in Brazil.
Many people might say this should not be a reason to kind of give up all the other things in
order to get an approval for the college, once I could eventually be engaged in both. However, in
Brazil, it is not so easy to get into the university. In there, the education is very different from the
American`s. For instance, all the best schools for students in the range between 3 and 17 years are
paid. On the other hand, the best universities are public/free. Then, to be accepted in this type of
college, the students, after the last year in the school, must take a big exam, called `vestibular`.
The idea of the `vestibular` is to test all the knowledge that the students eventually gained
during all their academic years. Thus, this phase in the Brazilian student life is so stressful and
laborious, because even before taking the exam, we have to choose the specific course we would
like to take. After that, in the big exam, the questions are usually so complex as well as very long
in the way that if you do not have a good background in reading, you eventually lose a lot of time
trying to figure out what is being required by the questions. However, the big issue is not
mathematics, chemistry or even physics, which are the courses that usually struggle the students

in almost all countries around the world. In the particular case of Brazil, composing is known to
be the more difficult test that students need to take, which leads a lot of people to get a bad grade
and as result do not get the permission to take the course which was previously chosen.
The composing, in Brazil, is really very complicated, even for those people who like to read
and write. The rules are super restrict, the time given to you to do the exam is very short and it is
not allowed to use a pencil or have a draft paper. In other words, if you make any mistake in the
beginning or in the middle of the text, usually there is no chance to fix that. Talking about the time
I took the test, I can say that in my attempt, however, the theme of the exam was kind of easy,
because I had to write about something I had a good knowledge of: the way that Brazilian drivers
conduct a car over alcohol effect and what I, as a judge or other officer person, could suggest to
add in the Brazilian constitution to punish these type of drivers. Then, during the exam, I realized
how important my background in reading was important. After all the process, I finally was
approved, but the academic life in the university has not been easy as I already expected.
In the college, majoring Electrical Engineering, the focus has been, obviously, the scientific
language. I have to admit that after some years immerged in this world, I feel myself not capable
anymore to write as well as I did in the past. I say this, because sometimes I sit in my table to write
and when I am done I usually do not like even 50% what I just did. However, even not being as
good as I was in the past, regarding the way I can write in my own language, I can feel that
nowadays I am better in English than was in a recent past. The reason is because almost every
good text or book in engineering is written in English. In addition, the opportunity of studying in
the USA for 18 months has made me read and write more and more in English, what is helping me
to become more fluent in this language, which is used worldwide.

In Brazil, I had the opportunity to apply for an exchange program in the USA, which had as
main requirement the necessity of being a student of a technological course. When I arrived in
America, I studied English in the ELTI program, in the UNCC, for four months before getting the
approval to study in my major during the whole 2015 year. In the ELTI, I really learned a lot about
this amazing language. I feel myself a lucky guy, because I could improve my knowledge in
English surrounding by very qualified teachers who helped me to speak, write and read better. In
addition, the place was very comfortable and the other students were so friendly. Therefore, when
you feel yourself surrounding by all these factors, it gets easier to learn something new, such as a
language, in this specific case. Thus, at the present moment I am majoring Electrical Engineering
for the first semester as a visiting student in the UNCC, and am not feeling any difficult to both
watch and understand the classes. Then, it is realized that when a person has a good support and
other people who are willing to help, what looks hard becomes fun and easy.
Therefore, I feel myself very satisfied about everything that happened and still happens in
my literacy life. I am very grateful for since my first teacher to the current ones, for the friends and
classmates that have helped me since I was just a little boy, and for those ones who has encouraged
me since then.