Personal Narrative: Overcoming The Language Barrier

I started drawing when I was 16. I was cursing 10th grade, or how is called in my country, Dominican Republic “Segundo de Bachillerato”. It was recess. I was alone in my classroom that day, besides two or three people who were just killing time there, and I didn’t had much to do with my time. I was at the last book of a series of books which names I can’t remember and If I recall correctly the last book was very boring for some reason so I didn’t wanted to read it anymore. So, looking for something to do, I stood from my seat and walked boringly down the aisle of chairs and that was, not my first interaction with art, but the first time I remember i liked art or paid attention to it. Yerkis, a guy of my class: short, chubby and well mannered

Maya Angelou once said “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” With that being said, is it important to take in all the thing people say about you? Personally I don’t think so. We cannot control what happen around us and what people says about us, but we do have the power to avoid getting control by people’s saying. My English learning journey began when I was around 4 years old. For me English is like a second nature; I use it so often that I feel like I’m more connect to it than Chinese. By the time I finish kindergarten my parent wants me to continue my education under a system that involve English. So they decided to send me to an international school. At the start I was thrill by the opportunity, but the best part of all is that I get to study at the same school as my sister.

Despite my parent’s challenges, they were still able to raise me with love and care and surrounded me in an environment where I

From my experiences, I have learned that effort and dedication are the key factors needed to gain magnificent literacy skills. Even though, I had to start from the bottom all over again, I was able to succeed in a new language.That’s why, I feel that it is extremely important to keep expanding our knowledge in order to develop our understanding, imagination and language. Although, I feel that I have improved my literacy throughout my 19 years, I know there is much more to learn.

My experiences as a writer have been both very engrossing and strenuous. I have learned a great quantity on both reading and writing, though, I continue to struggle on things that I have learned by this time, making the same mistakes that I do not even realize. Sometimes things are not so easy to understand when reading information, especially if the wording of an article is difficult for example. I love the idea of learning new things everyday. These past years as a writer have been very interesting, and I have learned and grasped many concepts I have been taught along the way.

Having to write about my own literacy is hard to do, first of all it’s hard to recall things that happened when you were a child let alone when I started to read and write, I remember going to school playing, the teacher reading to us, making vowel sounds and learning to write my name; I recall the teacher giving out the spelling list and taking it home to practice before Friday’s test, I would go to school hoping and praying that I would not misspell any words; as usual I missed a couple of words and I knew what that meant.

My grandfather came to America from Portugal when he was 30 years old. Beside him stood my grandmother and their three year old son. Moving to a new country across the world and learning their language is, in my opinion, the most difficult thing a family could possibly do. English is the undeclared national language of America, and unfortunately my grandfather never learned to speak it fluently.

Being part of the Dual Language program is an experience I cherish because of how it molded me into the person I am today; someone who appreciates their two cultures. I was apart of the Dual Language club in high school, that was a club for bilingual students and for Dual Language students. Further, being part of a diverse program made me realize that I want to continue to celebrate and appreciate my two cultures. The Dual Language program exposed me to a culture embedded in my roots, for that I am thankful for it. Being active and part of two different cultures has impacted me more than any other experience.

My first main literacy who be my relationship with God, oh how I need him every day, I could write endlessly about this one, I feel strongly about my connection with the father and it makes me happy to even know the enjoy it has bought into my life .Oh how my soul rejoices every time I think about how much I need him every day he is the center of my peace and I could not start my day without him. He knows my name he is definitely my main literacy every day. The next main literacy would be my job and which I need that in order to live in this world and be a productive citizen in this society. To have money to sustain my lifestyle. My final literacy would be my whole family. They mean the world to me, there is nothing more important to me than

In all honesty, I don't remember a lot about becoming literate. I didn't have a special moment or time when I knew that reading or writing going to take me somewhere. According to my mom she started to read to me when I was one, so there wasn't anything that could've excelled me much farther before going into kindergarten. One of the requirements in elementary school was to read every night which I believe was an important factor of me improving my literacy. Reading and writing used to me excite me because I would immerse myself into a book or write a whole new universe on a page. I made reading and writing something personal to me. I now realize that every book and every piece of writing can be worthwhile in one way or another.

“Tienes tijeras?” asked a young girl. Not understanding what she had said, I asked her what she needed in English, but she looked back at me with eyes full of confusion. A simple question from one young girl asking for scissors had made me nervous and completely freeze in the moment. Through this, interacting with the children worried me because of the language barrier which would make it twice as hard as interacting with the children at home.

For my inter-ethnic encounter, I interviewed one of my best friends from high school Ashley Arias. Ashley is nineteen years old, so she is a year younger than me. She is currently pursuing a nursing degree at Notre Dame of Maryland University located in Baltimore, Maryland. She is originally from Virginia but now lives in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Her immediate family includes her parents and her younger brother. She also has a bulldog that she has had for three years. I have known Ashley for about seven years, but we have been really close for about five of those years starting during my junior year of high school.

In May 2003, I was a Staff Sergeant serving as a squad leader in a Military Police Company. We deployed to Baghdad, Iraq in support of combat operations; I led a squad of 12 Soldiers. My squad’s primary mission was conducting mounted and dismounted patrols in a neighborhood called Al-Dura in the southern part of Baghdad. Soon after arriving in country and receiving our mission, all squad leaders reported to the Battalion Headquarters for introductions and assigning of interpreters to our squads. I had never worked hand in hand with an interpreter before, I was apprehensive about bringing someone I did not know into our team especially someone who would be serving such an essential role in the success of our mission. I had a distrust of all Iraqi people initially, knowing

I was born in Hong Kong and I grew up in the Philippines. I went to a Chinese school and had to learn four different languages (Mandarin, Fukien, English, and Tagalog) all at the same time. I learned Chinese because my dad planned for us to live in Hong Kong in the future; however, there was a change since my grandma petitioned my dad to come to the United States. Schools in the Philippines teach English since it’s the most common language in the world, but the English curriculum in both countries are different. The language barrier was always, and I had to adjust to the language when I moved here to the US. Because of my previous experience with learning a second language, it was not difficult for me to adjust. However, growing up in an environment that mostly speak Chinese or Tagalog, it felt strange for me to speak in English 90% of the time. My cousins who were born here helped me adjust to the language. They helped me practice my English and taught me the proper way to write essays in English. However, since I was new in the neighborhood and in the country, I was afraid to speak because of my heavy accent. I was scared that other students might make fun of me. Despite my shyness, I was able to make some friends who made me

As a little girl in preschool, I was constantly getting in trouble for talking. The teacher would move me away from my friends, but I would end up making new friends and getting in trouble all over again. I was the type who could talk to anyone. I was not afraid of asking questions or starting conversations. Even language barriers were not a problem for me. In kindergarten, there was a boy who sat next to me in class. He did not speak any English and I did not speak any Spanish but that could not stop me. Every day I would go home and ask my mom "What does this mean" or " How do you say this?" I loved meeting new people and no obstacle could stand in my way from doing just that. Since I had such an interest in Spanish, my mother enrolled me in the dual language program when I entered the first grade. I struggled at the beginning only knowing a few Spanish phrases but I caught on very quickly. By wintertime the mothers of the other children were not only surprised that I was speaking Spanish but I had the other kids speaking English.