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I have never really understood what the word literacy" meant when I was smaller,
I
since I am bilingual. I am 100% Hmong so with that I am able to speak it fluently. But
have struggled to write it and read it. Since I have not learned the alphabet of my
primary language that I am fluent in. I am obviously able to read, write and speak
fluently in English as it was my secondary language
ha e
wor s o e ences ut at the same time I
struggle to come to an understanding of some of the things mentioned in som
having, a harder
ituations sometimes grasping the meaning of vocabulary words and
my life, after
time understanding what something meant in an assignment. Later on in
concepts of writing
many years of attending school and being able to learn many new
the years as I
and reading. My understanding of the word "Literacy" has expanded over
words
grew older n some situations sometimes grasping the meaning of vocabula
and avin
Later on in my
a harder time understanding what something meant in an assignment.
concepts of
life, after many years of attending school and being able to learn many new
over the
writing and reading. My understanding of the word "Literacy" has expanded
years as I grew older.
From as long as I can remember my parents only spoke Hmong to me.ß6V
until.Lwa round 8vt09yearol . Growing up I
struggled a lot in the subject English because my parents couldn't help me practice my
English sight words nor read stories to me.
So from when I was littlegrowing up I had to advocate for myself to
ask my teacher for the help that I need.

norderto•help
teacher had given us flashcards that had words on them focus
(o study every week.

On the day when receiving my flashcard I would put them in my backpack a

the end of the day when school was about to be over because I have to walk with my
teacher to the bus stop. men getting on the bus and sitting down I would take back m
flashcards out of my backpack and study them on the bus when I am on-my way home;
As a kid I loved studying my sight word on the flashcard because I wanted to improve
understanding of

enjoyed learning about English even if didn't like

Subject at first because it was difficult for me to process everything.@hrpughmysmal)
head'
 English has never been one of my strong subjects ecause alhave always
struggled with even the smallest things. For instance, knowing when to end my
entences with a period, spelling out vocabulary words and sometimes using what kin
"term for a writingdiscussionone thingl have always enjoyed about English was
reading picture books when I was in my first to second grade year in school. M}
eachers would always have story time during the afternoonsession of the day and le
the class pick a story book from our class library bookshelf for my teachers to read oui
Coudto the class. During every afternoon session when it was story time all of my
élassmates would gather around my teacher. So my teacher would start to read thé
Story book that had been chosen and read that book that had a lot of pictures to thé
Class. As my teacher read she used her finger to point to the
picture in the book thaws
Showing us a visual of what is happening in the story. This was the first time when
ecame interested in reading picture books because I found it to be fascinating€ Sinc
picture books have a lot of visual drawing along with the
writing of the story line, it wa
esieFto read and understand faster than other types of books.
As a kid when readin
éicture books by myselfUwould struggletopronounce some
words. So when reading So
picture book I would use my imagination and understanding
at the time to interpret the
3 Scene on eachpage*/ Vvhich helped me a lot euring those years in English because I
was ot very good at English in the first place. In short, I was able
to understand and
improve in English béause my interest in picture books at a young age. Some of my
avorite books to read during that time were mostly writtenby the
author Drseuss
During those years picture books had become like my best friends and it
was really fun
to read and flip through the different pages. On the other hand
Iwas not realliåSiU
writing at the time because I always struggled to trace the words in cursive
in my fourt
grade year in primary school. During my fourth grade year in elementary
school my
teacheiwould assign a lot of writing assignments which made me not like
writing. Bü
dost important of all I would struggle to write hardeövocabulary words on my
homewo
assignment that would be assigned every week about the reading of a short
story and
the vocabulary words of the week. During my fourth grade year in elehentary
school, it
Was the time I struggled a lot in English mostly about writing because during
this time
beriod would know how to pronounce the word to a term I want to write in my
assignment. But I wouldn't know how to spell out the term that I am trying to write
tn m
assignments. So I would always have this problem when I am stuck with not knowing
how to spell out a word. I would find a dictionary and look for the term in a dictionary
and copy the term onto my paper and then continue doing my assignments. Lately}
While doing mostof my assignments I woul<alway€ be questioning myself as to why do
we have to practice writing ncursive everyday andd&mßfétlng a lot of wiitiÅ6
assignment just in general. of years passed
understanding that $éjngable to start learnjngæaOQ14i writing and reading from the
will be deafly] helpful in the future like in middle school.
 Middle school as,made me change my view on writing and reading. As time
passed more into the year I slowly came to enjoy literatureand found myself being more
interested in writing analysis for reading that I had read about because in my English
class we had to have a daily reading log that would be neede to complete eac class,
eriod. So the night before attending the English class I will have to read my persona(
eading book before going to sleep every night. The next day in English class I will be
reading
ßrepared to write about what I read in my book the night before onto my daily
about in
og. On myreading Iou I write an analysis summary about the chapter 'l read
abou it on m
eny book that Cchose to be my persona reading book just sofcan write
I started to
eaily reading logfor my English Class. It was due to this English class that
books I read
eally get into reading books that don't include any visual picture. Some
These three
Were "The Forgetting", "Dark Tide" and "James and the Giant Peach".
for me to
books were really fascinating and interesting.The text level was okay
daily reading log
Understand reading most of the storyline just enough to write it into my
daily reading log tQ
By the end of eaqmquarte my English teacher would eollect our
being more gravitated
00 ver it an grade From there to high school I found myself
school and writing
toward novels. I found myself liking to read fiction novels a lot in high
always have to
a lot more because of my English and governmentclasses. We yvould
government and be
write a lot of essays based on a topic we were given to talk about in
my process o
ready for a seminar to have a discussion and debate on the topic. During
struggled
riting my essay for my Governmentclass in my senior year of high school. I
come up with ideas on how to start off the topic sentence and introduction paragraph
me to
$0 1would always ask my teacher to help me start off my introduction in order for
6et a brief idea of whatJwasreally going to talk about in my essay. It wasn't easy for
me at first to write å 5 to 9 page essay. But as I continue to graft my outline of ideas i
bullet points I got from my teacher helping me with my introduction paragraph. I started
(ofinish writing my first then second draft.papevBy just keeping revising and making
e d aft of m essa I lear t improvemy writingthrough class. For my English
class I had to read and finish at least one book per quarter and write to 4 page
essay about what thoughts ere abou the book/novel I read. MVsophomore yea
English class has helped me become a better writer and understand more about literac
because it helped me improveon the thing I was still not so good at yet. For example
per quarieFand requiringa 2 to 4 page writtenessay
*bout my perspective or thoughts on the book/novels is really intensev Since my high
School has four quarters I was required to have a submission of four essays on my
deading throughout the whole year. Some books that were read as a class that als4
helped me improve my reading knowledge were "The Great GatsbyVT@$ill
Scarlet Letter" and "Mice andUe 's" Lastl I think that throughout
my whole learning process Starting from primary school till now. During every year I
have gained a littlemore knowledge about literacy and gotten better at reading and
writing over the years.
In conclusion, I overcame my struggle as a writer and reader through striving to
improve my weakness. dqtoimprpve myworKand how to ge
ast strug le Over the years as I have grown as a person and my skills have
improved from the beginning. have„become be tera wri in and readin After many
years have passed I came to know that literature isn't just something that we used for
school. It can be something that will be used mostly on a daily basis in your life. Also
writing can be fun when you are enjoying and know what you like to write about
because in life writing is what will make you successful and can help you achieve your
goal in the long term.

c)vuJ-a VI-neo