My Literacy Analysis

Literacy has always been an important part of my life, but in my early years, reading and writing was a tremendous challenge for me. When I reflect back on my childhood, I’m reminded of a variety of things, moments like going camping or riding a bicycle. But most importantly, being the oldest one and having to set an example for my sisters. It’s what I had to do since I was the oldest. If I didn’t advise my sisters on the right path since the beginning, then they wouldn't be as far up the trail of education as they are today. Although the experience of being the oldest and having some kind of influence towards my three sisters was a blessing, I can say being the first child wasn’t all fun and games, there were some rough patches along the way. …show more content…
My father read to me every night when I was young but it was always in Spanish. I developed my Spanish vocabulary rapidly and was able to read and write well since my parents were teaching me. At the time, my school only began teaching English until about the third grade. I vividly remember my childhood as being one with books, I always reading even if it was late at night; I always enjoyed a great book. Learning to read is not particularly easy, you can’t just grab a book and learn how to read in the course of a day, learning how to read when English isn’t your first language is far from simple. There are a variety of different factors that have to go into consideration and it wasn’t a piece of cake, I’d always try to pronounce a word in Spanish, or I’d spell English words that were similar to Spanish words incorrectly. I also had to remember that along the process of learning English I also had to keep my Spanish flowing, I had to communicate with both my teachers and parents so that meant that I had to learn two things at once. Reading has shaped me in many ways, I used to be a quiet girl who barely spoke in the classroom, to a translator for a student that didn’t speak English. Although I am still that shy girl who never wants to raise her hand, I know that I am not that same illiterate person with little to offer to my school. What impressed me the most as a child was how teachers and the encouragement from family members …show more content…
Three years later she had another girl and two years later she had another one. Being the oldest of the siblings is bittersweet, I couldn’t make mistakes or do something wrong because kids do what they see, when a baby mumbles its first words it’s not because it just popped into his head, the baby has been hearing the word and they are just repeating. That is why I always read, whenever I had the chance I would read with my sisters and I would teach them everything about reading. Parents just expect more from us and it’s not simple. To me, the toughest part of being the oldest one was how much I am expected to do. To this day I am still learning that I am never going to escape my sisters. Being a sort of role model for my sisters helped me a massive amount, I never want to be portrayed as a bad person in the eyes of my sisters and it just made me work harder. I still think that I learned to read and write just so I could help my future sisters with their work. The school system has grown over the past few years, knowing that my sister knew more than what I did in first grade gives me a sort of pleasure because I know that they won’t have to go through with what I went through. It might not sound hard to learn how to read, but different people have different perspectives in things. Having to teach my sisters to read was an obstacle, I never