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Ayra Nunez
English 5M
Professor Doutherd
29 October, 2017
Slickery
As a little girl, I struggled to read and write. When I had encountered the subject of literacy
at a young age, I became well aware of my disadvantage in that area. One disadvantage I had
was the incapability of completing a simple task; such as, struggling to write a two paragraph
fictional story like the rest of my classmates. Although, there was a significant event in which
occurred throughout my third grade year of elementary in which my reading and writing skills
improved. I had won a dictionary for placing first, after performing a duo monologue. It was a
distinctive moment in my life because after all the frustrations I went through trying to read the
word, slickery, all the difficult hinders had eventually paid off. After this moment on, my
strength in reading and writing increased because I found myself being entertained by scanning
unfamiliar words throughout the dictionary I had procured. Reading the dictionary was one
component out of many where it had an influence in the direction of my maturation in literacy. I
had also acquired my knowledgeable writing skills from my sponsors of literacy, surroundings,
and rigorous class courses in which sculpted my strengths as a multilingual writer.
Growing up, I would surround myself with people who were raised with Spanish as their
first tongue. In fact, about 80 percent of my towns population was hispanic. This is where my
influence of spanglish converged into my everyday dialect. Author Gloria Anzaldua from, How
to Tame a Wild Tongue illuminates how, our tongues have become dry the wilderness has
dried out our tongues and we have forgotten speech (2). What the author is attempting to
convey is her awareness about how native languages have been patented by those who are not
fluent in either language. Therefore, the domesticity of the mother language is destroyed. I could
relate to her figurative logical statement because I came across a difficult situation where I had to
select either Spanish or English to live by. I later established a malformed dialect that had been
an influence from my friends in elementary, destroying the mother tongue of Spanish and
English. This adjustment challenged me academically throughout the field of english because
instructors did not accept a paper with colloquial diction. However, I may have not been
advanced as all the other kids, I was fortunate enough to have two sponsors of literacy heavily
involved throughout my youth. Those sponsors were my older brother and sister who had both
taught me English to become my first language. Due to their teachings, I was becoming familiar
with the dominant language. Whereas, they were raised under a Spanish speaking household
when they were my age. Even though their nurturing was not as perfect, they helped me stay
away from the tough route they had faced while freshly learning how to read and write from
scratch.
Another contributing factor which led me to face literacy challenges, throughout my youth,
was making the decision of picking illustration books over educational novels. If my parents
were like those who were mentioned in Deborah Brandts article, Sponsors of Literacy, where
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the 20th century protestant families claimed that writing was viewed as a vital necessary standard
for their child to have an upward mobility in society (Brandt 47). The beauty about the
protestant family was when they encountered upon flaw in the educational cabinet they would
fight the system. The difference between my parents and the 20th century guardians was, in fact,
under my household any kind of book was okay for my parents, including coloring books.
Whereas, protestant families would have rioted if their child was coloring in school. Despite my
parents not knowing what would have benefitted me, I do not blame them. A young hispanic
woman, presented in Deborah Brandts article, displays a similar connection with my situation
because she did not have strong progressive resources. This lifestyle had set her to take a little
longer to adapt correct reading and writing skills, but it did not impede her from going to a
university. Same scenario for me. Even though I had a setback while coloring at my
developmental stage, I eventually caught up with the reading and writing level I was meant to be.
The reason why my academic skills had increased significantly was due to the maturity
and growth I had accessed as a Multilingual Writer. Since I attended a public high school, they
did not offer students the best advanced english course. Still, I had taken advantage of enrolling
myself into advanced placement courses. I did not begin to get an actual glimpse of what the
college expectations of a reader and writer were until, I took the course of the Advanced
Placement Literature class, my senior year. It took me multiple redos as a bilingual student to be
able to write successfully in that class, and there is no other better way to explain than Anne
Lamott did, Even after Id been doing this for years, panic would set in. Id try to write a lead,
but instead Id write a couple of dreadful sentences, xx them out, try again... (529). This quote
signifies how it took me many tries to be able to write effectively and fluently for an audience.
Luckily, I did not drop the class because I came across life changing literature books. Such as,
Frankenstein, Brave New World, The Namesake, etc. Overall, I began to think complex
and understand how the various formats of writing an author utilizes uniquely.
On a final note, being a Multilingual writer is difficult to adjust to, specifically in an
American educational system. Since I grew up with two unalike languages, enrolled in a public
school with limited resources, and friends who spoke more than one language became a literacy
obstacle growing up. Having said that, I was fortunate enough to have sponsors of literacy who
prepared me as much as they could, so that I could be able to comprehend a fragment of the
American teachings. It was the little opportunities I came across which helped me sharpen skills
in reading and writing. When I was first introduced to reading and writing, I would describe it in
the words of Lamott, the first draft is a childs draft(528). Coincidentally, she was right. I
have been through so many shitty drafts throughout the duration of my life, but because of my
ability of knowing two languages, I know that I will always have trials in reading and writing.
Yet, I have accomplished so much since winning the Oral Language victory. My journey had
taken off after that moment as a Multilingual writer. My ambition to endeavor academic
achievements as slickery as possible.