ABSTRACT

The clock struck 11:30 A.M. It was time for the loneliest part of my day as a 1st grader at Robert C. Dodson Elementary School: lunch and recess. I was new here. I had arrived several months before from my home country of India. I missed my relatives, friends, and a language that I could understand. I felt like an outsider. The loud buzzing of the bell distracts me from my introspection, and the strange words on my paper. We line up by height order and march to the cafeteria. While waiting in line for food, I search for an unoccupied table where I can be left alone. I get my food and make my way over to the table. As I eat,  I notice kids going to the school store and purchasing snacks and cool gadgets that my parents never bought for me nor gave me money for. Lunch hour drags on and now it is time for recess. I throw out my garbage and line up with the others to go outside. As we go outside, the crisp October air bites my skin, and I shudder for a second. The other kids rush into the playground and organize games with their friends. I, however, sit with the kids who were in detention, not because I was a delinquent like the others, but because I didn’t want to feel more excluded by not being picked onto any team. I hated being secluded by others so I secluded myself. The aides, whose job it was to make sure the kids behaved, walked away to talk about their mid-life crisis with one another. As they walk away. I find myself face to face with the biggest bully in our grade. He says something to me in English and becomes angry as I do not answer. He was not appreciative of my lack of responses to his stupid questions (mainly because I did not understand him), and shoves me off the bench. I fall to the floor, and, to add to my misery, I land in a puddle of mud. I pick myself up, and look around to the scores of faces that were on me. Some were sympathetic, others were afraid and scurried back to their groups lest the same predicament befall them. I fight through the tears, and get back on the bench. As I sat there, I was determined to learn English so this won’t happen to me again. In that moment, I found myself helpless, afraid,

     The following summer, according to the advice of my parents, I began to read. I found myself visiting the library several times a week. I started off with the basic reading level. I read the famous works Dr. Suess, the adventurous tales of The Magic School Bus, and my favorite, Curious George. I read twenty beginner level books in a about a week. I soon realized that I loved to read. The next few weeks, I moved on to harder levels of reading. As I read more, I spelled and wrote better. By the end of the summer I was reading war novels, which for some odd reason, piqued my interest as a 7 year old. The following year, I aced all my classes. I received all threes and fours on my report card. Then I was bullied for being a nerd…I guess some things never change. Over the next several years of my academic life, I read about 3 books every month. This greatly increased my vocabulary, spelling, and writing skills. I was never bullied for not knowing English again. Over the course of those years, I was amazed at the power of reading. I used to struggle with putting words together. I learned to read words by memorizing how they looked like. So, while everyone was learning to read through phonics, and spelling, I memorized how the alphabet was put together to make certain words. Reading books also removed my accent. I was fully convinced that reading was the key to mastering English. Reading improved my spelling by giving me examples of how words are spelled and memorizing the correct arrangement to make the words.

     My encounter with the English language was jarring. I was thrust into a society where those who did not understand the language were outcasts and considered ‘dumb’, and made subject to bullying and humiliation. However, reading was the key that lifted me from that pit of isolation and depression.  On the flip side, if it had not been for the bully, I would not be who I am today. The motivation I gained from that experience in life, regardless of how lonesome and sad it may have been, enabled me to become a better reader than most kids my age.  Whenever I reminisce on those dark days, I remember a  quote by Horace Mann: “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” The best piece of advice I would give anyone struggling to learn English today would be to read anything you can get your hands on. Reading more can translate into a world of good. Always remember, hard times do more in shaping who you are more than the happy pleasant times.

The purpose of this language and literacy narrative was to inform the reader about the importance and the effects of reading on developing skills necessary to learn a new language. Language is an important aspect of human life. It is important for children to have basic linguistic skills that would enable them to grow and become a functioning member of society. Over the course of writing this paper I learned the importance of reading in developing linguistic skills such as reading, writing, spelling, and speaking. The personal reflection also enabled me to be grateful for the hard times in life that made me who I am today. If I had not been bullied,  I probably would not have been motivated too start reading and trying my best to learn the language.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,

Joshua Lalu Daniel