final draft of literacy narrative

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Meza 1 Melissa Meza Professor Ludlow-Mattson English 114 02 October 2013 Literacy Narrative: Reflective Cover Letter By writing this essay I wanted to explain to the reader the struggles that I had to en dure in order to learn how to write in a secondary language at a young age and how I ultimately learned how to write in the English language. I wanted the readers to understand that it was important for me to acquire this language because I knew that it was necessary in order to do well in school and to become a successful individual in this country. I was not onl y working hard to acquire knowledge about something new, but I was also working hard in order to stop feeling like a failure and to assure myself that I am capable of accomplishing my goals and aspirations. Throughout this essay I accomplished all of the things that I wanted to accomplish b y clearly explaining why it was important for me to learn how to write in a new lan guage, the struggles that I had to endure, and how I learned to write using proper English. I provided examples to such situations such as when I was un able to answer questions correctly in front of my class, which made me feel humiliated and like a failure. Throughout my essay, I explained the primary method that I used in order to learn how to write in proper English, which was to copy the contents of children picture books and eventually chapter books. My determination to learn how

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Page 1: Final Draft of Literacy Narrative

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Melissa Meza

Professor Ludlow-Mattson

English 114

02 October 2013

Literacy Narrative:

Reflective Cover Letter 

By writing this essay I wanted to explain to the reader the struggles that I had to endure in

order to learn how to write in a secondary language at a young age and how I ultimately learned

how to write in the English language. I wanted the readers to understand that it was important for 

me to acquire this language because I knew that it was necessary in order to do well in school

and to become a successful individual in this country. I was not only working hard to acquire

knowledge about something new, but I was also working hard in order to stop feeling like a

failure and to assure myself that I am capable of accomplishing my goals and aspirations.

Throughout this essay I accomplished all of the things that I wanted to accomplish by clearly

explaining why it was important for me to learn how to write in a new language, the struggles

that I had to endure, and how I learned to write using proper English. I provided examples to

such situations such as when I was unable to answer questions correctly in front of my class,

which made me feel humiliated and like a failure. Throughout my essay, I explained the primary

method that I used in order to learn how to write in proper English, which was to copy the

contents of children picture books and eventually chapter books. My determination to learn how

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to write in a new language can be depicted in my essay when I describe all of the effort and time

that I put forth in order to learn how to write in a secondary language.

Throughout the course of time that I spent working on my literacy essay I learned several

techniques about conveying ideas to a reader. By doing peer-reviews during class and reading

several literacy narrative essays I learned many techniques that I in turn used in my essay in

order to attract the readers’ attention. For example, by reading Superman and Me, by Sherman

Alexie, I learned that a writer can convey ideas to a reader by using repetition. In my essay, I

repeatedly stated why it was important for me to acquire a new language and what method I used

in order to learn how to write in a secondary language as well as to improve my writing skills. In

addition, by reading Sherman Alexie’s short essay I learned that a writer can also convey ideas to

a reader by changing tenses within the writing in order to make the essay more personal.

Throughout my essay I changed tenses several times in order for the readers to understand that

my essay was my personal story and that acquiring a new language was very important for me.

For example, I used present tense when I explained how my parents motivated my brother and I

to try our best in school and I used past tense when I described the moments that I felt like a

failure and ignorant for not knowing when to write correctly in English.

My opinion of learning how to write in a secondary language remains the same after the

completion of my essay as it was when I first began this essay. I am glad that I had to endure

struggles in order to learn how to write proper English. I strongly believe that it is those struggles

that I had to endure at a young age that have motivated me to put forth my best effort in all that I

do in order to accomplish every single one of my goals and to ultimately become a successful

individual. I am glad that I had to endure such struggles at a young age because they taught me

the importance of acquiring a new language and the commitment that one must put forth in order 

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to accomplish their goals. In addition, learning how to write proper English by using the method

of copying the contents of books have led me to improve my writing skills, enjoy writing, and

encouraged me to want to earn a degree for journalism. My opinion with regards to my story

remains the same to when I first began my essay because I learned several lessons, which include

that I should always work had for what I want, I should never give up, and that I am more than

capable of accomplishing my goals and of succeeding in life.

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My English Endeavour 

I learned how to write in the English language when I was almost five years old. At that

time my parents only knew a slight amount of English and my brother, who is only two-and-a-

half years older than me, was still very young and unable to teach me a lot about writing in that

language. He could only teach me how to speak from what he had learned at school, so I learned

how to speak English by listening to him speak in English to me and by looking at illustrated

cards that contained the English words above the subjects being portrayed. I also learned how to

speak some English by attending pre-school. I do not recall learning much other than speaking

English because it was similar to a day care center where we had more than plenty of time to

 play with our peers and most, if not all of them, spoke Spanish. I did not learn how to write in

English at home because it was a secondary language. My primary language was Spanish. Both

of my parents, who are Mexican immigrants, were only able to teach my brother and I how to

speak and write in Spanish because that was the only language that they knew.

I did not learn how to write in English until I entered kindergarten. I attended a bilingual

school whose primary goal was to teach Hispanic students how to speak and write proper 

English and excel as bilingual students. I distinctly remember that my primary motivation upon

first entering school was to learn how to write in English. I wanted to know how to express

myself by writing in that language because I was aware that it was necessary in order to earn

good grades and to succeed in school. I knew that I would make my parents exceptionally proud

 by acquiring and learning that language because it would open up many great opportunities for 

me in the future, which is what they have always desired for both my brother and I. During my

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childhood and to this day my parents have repetitively told my brother and I that they want us to

take advantage of every opportunity that we are offered and that we should always try our best in

school in order to accomplish all of our goals and to become successful individuals. It was why I

realized at an early age that I had to fully acquire the language in order to succeed in this

country, which not only meant speaking English, but being able to know how to write it properly

as well.

I clearly remember that my kindergarten teacher began emphasizing that we would learn

how to write the fundamentals of proper English throughout the course of that school year, which

included how and when to capitalize letters, end sentences, and how to spell words correctly. I

recall doing various activities in which she wrote words and phrases on the white boards

repeatedly and as a class we would review what the words meant. After going over the meanings

of each of the words and the phrases various times, the teacher would have each student write the

words and phrases on their own. I always paid a great amount of attention to these lessons

 because I wanted to learn how to write without having to be assisted by others as soon as

 possible. I was like a child who really wanted a prize that the teacher was giving away, but in my

case, the prize was learning how to write properly in a language that I had yet not fully acquired.

Whenever I returned home, I would continue to practice writing the words and phrases that we

had gone over in class that day until I memorized what they meant and how to spell them

correctly.

I practiced how to write a lot during my own time at home because I really wanted to

write correctly without the assistance of others. Throughout certain days of every-other-week,

my teacher would have our class write journal entries about random subjects. During most of the

school year I would blank out and not know how to write many words correctly, capitalize

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letters, or even when to end a sentence when we were given these assignments. These instances

made me feel like a complete failure and greatly decreased my confidence as I observed other 

students writing with what seemed to be with no struggles at all. There were also instances in

which my teacher would call on me to answer questions about how to spell certain English words

and I did not know the correct answers. During those instances I felt very ignorant and ridiculed.

As a result, when I returned home from school, I would read picture books that my parents had

 bought for both my brother and myself and I would then copy all of the books’ content on my

own. Eventually, as the school year progressed I began to fully understand when to capitalize

letters and when to end sentences. I even began to practice my writing during my lunch times

 because I began to enjoy writing and I was excited that I was finally learning how to write proper 

English. I also continued to practice my writing in English because I did not want to feel left

 behind when we discussed about our writings as a class as I had felt in other instances.

Throughout the rest of the school year I continued to copy the contents of children picture

 books at home whenever I had an opportunity. I recall copying the contents of books such as

Clifford the Big Red Dog , The Very Hungry Caterpillar , and various other books written by Dr.

Seuss. I was motivated to continue to improve my writing because I did not want to feel ignorant

or incapable of writing proper English as I had felt when I was unable to answer questions in

front of my class, which was extremely humiliating. I wanted be assured that I was capable of 

doing something good with my life and that I was capable succeeding. I knew that I was capable

of writing English as long as I had determination, which is why I continued to practice my

writing every day during and after school. I even had a notebook that was full of journal entries

about random subjects that I had created on my own time.

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By the end of my kindergarten school year I learned how to write proper English. I

learned how to spell more words correctly, when to capitalize letters and when to end sentences

as well as when to place commas within them. However, I knew that I could do more in order to

further improve my writing. By the beginning of my first grade school year I began to copy the

contents of  Junie B. Jones books because they also contained some illustrations, but much more

writing than other children picture books. By then, I felt much more confident in my writing and

I had greater self-esteem. I was less self-conscious about feeling intellectually inferior to my

 peers. Even my first grade teacher told my parents that I had wonderful writing because I

constantly wrote using proper grammar for my young age.

I continued to copy the context of many books and even chapter books up to when I was

in the fourth grade. I began to write down many chapters of books such as those of The Serious

of Unfortunate Events and other chapter books whose titles I do not remember written by Sharon

Creech. Ultimately, this method of copying the content of books, from children to chapter books,

not only helped me learn how to write a lot, but it also helped me improve my writing skills.

Even though I can clearly recall becoming very frustrated at times, doing such procedure helped

me identify proper grammar techniques such as when to add a colon or semi-colon to a sentence,

how to write a dialogue within my writing, etc. Now, when I work on any writing assignments or 

writing on my own I feel much more confident about my work and I have a greater self-esteem

about both my intellectual and writing potentiality. I know that I am making my family proud by

continuing to attempt do my best in school despite the impediments I had when I first entered

school as a child, when I did not completely comprehend the English language.

Despite all of the struggles and moments of frustrations where I felt ignorant and

incapable of reaching success that I had to endure in order to learn how to write in the English

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language, I have now grown to enjoy writing. In fact, I like to write a lot. English has become

my second favorite subject in school ever since I learned how to write proper English. Even

many of my teachers, including my favorite high school teachers, have said that I am a good

writer. Now that I am older and just began college, I am considering getting a minor in

 journalism. I think that I have a great potential in order to succeed in this career, which would be

secondary to my nursing career, because I am always able to put forth my best effort whenever I

write anything, which includes doing writing assignments and even when I write random journal

entries at home. My experience of learning how to write in English became important to me not

only because I acquired and learned how to write and read better in the primary language of this

country, but it has also defined who I am and what I want do in my future. Recalling upon my

experience has further motivated me to want to get a second major in a career that involves

writing. It has also reminded me that I am capable of doing what I truly desire and accomplishing

my goals as long as I work hard for it even if there are struggles along the way. I am glad that I

had to endure all of the struggles that I did in order to learn how to write in English because

looking back at it, it is those struggles that have allowed me to appreciate the English language

and that have motivated me to work hard for everything that I want in life in order to become a

successful individual.