Remedial Reading By Richard Rodriguez Summary

Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” connects to many of us whose English is their second language specially if one’s coming from a different country than the USA. Amy Tan connects to us in such a personal level in which one starts to relate to her. Coming from a background in where language plays an important role in my life, I indeed started to relate to her in every way. Like Amy Tan, language defines the type of person we are and how it affects our lifestyle on our everyday lives. Although we come to this country and learn an English that is not perfect or “Imperfect English”, doesn’t make one less intelligent nor different from others.

“The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriguez, is an expressive narration about the importance of learning through reading. The essay is a narration of his life from his early school years to high school and how he struggled with the general belief that reading books are the main source of education. “Open the doors of your mind with books” (172) he quotes from a poster over his teacher’s desk. He learned early on that books were the key to academic success. Even though his bilingual parents never read for pleasure, they instilled in him the value of books. This idea was repeated by his teachers that reading was the main activity of learning.

Many kids in school are wanting to learn a new language away from their native language but many students are wondering what language is going to help them the most in the future. English is the clear answer for these students that are wondering what new language to learn for a number of reasons. Through different articles through the book “Language: A Reader for Writers” it discusses how language is the most successful and most useful language to speak. College students who want to learn a second language, that have not learned English, should learn English because it is the most widely used language in the world and it is the most useful language to learn.

Through the effective use of rhetorical devices and the mindful organization of this essay, Amy Tan persuades the audience to keep an open mind about the topic. The audience that Amy Tan is trying to reach with her message in the essay includes many types of people. One group that this essay addresses is those that speak “broken” English like her mother. They are the people that are looked down upon intellectually in the community. Another group of people that is being addressed consists of people that do not sympathize with or have misunderstanding of non-native English speakers. Also those that are like Amy Tan, who help the “broken” English speakers resolve any

“The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriquez is an essay that illustrate how his passion of reading came about. Rodriquez makes use of narration and evaluation to explain how he didn’t like reading because it made him feel lonely. But Rodriquez was told that by reading books he would be “educated” or be successful in “academics”. With “academic success” in his mind, it change the way he feels about reading and eventually enjoy it.

Communicating in an unfamiliar language can be a staggering experience because it requires patience and perseverance. Although I was born in the United States, English was not the first language I learned. My parents were concerned that I would be too Americanized and forget my roots. As a child, I had to learn English in an obscure atmosphere and always found myself behind the other kids at my school.There were moments where I would get down on myself for not being able to comprehend the readings or the directions that were assigned to us for classwork. Ultimately, I realized that I needed to stay persistent if I desired to further my education and be able to read and write at a higher level. Learning English was certainly strenuous because I always felt like I was fighting an uphill battle, but this has led me to feel more confident in myself when facing adversity.

Reading, an activity that has been around for years, centuries even; appears to be reaching the end of its popularity among the modern youth. Reading literature remains the key to a successful and cultured society. Today the ability to read remains highly valued. In our advancing world, there remains much more to learn and know; the importance of reading is increasing. During the Victorian era, wealthy people gathered around and read books for an hour or so, seeing that being able to read was a sign of social status. But, today people not only read for pleasure and knowledge, but to educate and catch up with the events taking place all around us. Almost every job today, requires the basic ability to know how to read and write.

Language is the primary way to communicate, learn and express identity. Some language learners are successful by virtue of their sheer determination, hard work and diligence. However, there are other crucial factors influencing success that are largely beyond the control of learners. ' 'Second language is any language other than the learner 's native language or mother tongue ' '(Mitchell pg 5). To be successful in second language acquisition, there are various factors which act as barrier in the process of learning English as a second language.

There was a point in my life where the thought of having to read something sent me into a panic and there was nothing I despised more. I was six and could only utter a few things in English, my first tongue being Portuguese; my peers would tell me I spoke “funny” and I soon resented anything to do reading or writing, especially out loud. Tired of being teased, I pushed myself to learn the language and to go beyond what a six year old was expected to know. From that moment on, I rekindled my love for literature and dominated the rest of my class in the subject, earning various trophies. Thus, the courses, Fiction Workshop: Writing Short Stories and Heroes, Lovers, Villains, Fools: Archetypes and Modern Culture, appeal to me the most because I feel that they provide me with the best opportunity to further develop my skills as a writer.

I do not read to challenge myself--that’s what school is for. In English class I can choose the eighteenth-century excerpt and think critically about it. At home, I do not need to continue this. At home, I can read books that are for pure enjoyment. Easy reads that make you feel accomplished whenever you read. Not a book that has language so intricate and text so small that it takes thirty minutes to read five pages. I prefer books that I can breeze through, and like I have recently done, finish it all in three days. This confidence in reading--the fact that “I like to read, and I am good at it”-- will lead to the classroom when it’s time for a close reading exercise. The confidence will drive students to enjoy the hard content and not despise

As a professor at the University of Delaware, Joseph Harris is motivated to help students become more active readers and “strive to be fair and self-reflective” (15) when reading a text. It is imperative, then, for him to write in a way that would deem understandable in the minds of students. To do so, Harris douses his piece with relatability. He begins by getting the reader comfortable, making him/her feel that he/she is about to read something that is not above them or too pretentious. It is common for students to think that reading is the mere road to absolute boredom. An antidote Harris finds is to begin with humor, acknowledging that he unsuccessfully clarified “a joke without seeming like a bore” (14). This type of self- diminishing humor, lets the reader feel at an equal playing field

Growing up reading was my passion, and as I grew older my love for reading completely vanished. I hated reading! Sitting in Mrs. Wagner’s cold, English classroom half asleep as my class begin to read the novel that I have grown to love; I start to pay attention because we were notified that we would have a quiz on the next day. Thinking “No one warned me that AP English 12 consisted of reading as many Bildungsroman novels as we could in 18 weeks”. I knew that I would have to read after I got off work that night. I remember Mrs. Wagner saying “Jamesa, you already not liking Invisible Man?”, but little did she know I had not heard a word she had read.

Learning of English and communication skills in high school and colleges has helped in developing positive attitude towards English and thus boost learning process. Students at all levels not only take the initiative to study the language, but also practice it often. Teachers inspire and guide learners to advance their level of proficiency in English. There are various perspectives which this goal is achieved. First, the student’s attitude is determined because it enables the assessment of the effectiveness of the method used for teaching students about the English language (The National Commission

However, in our society “not” becoming a reader or at least a literate individual is becoming less of an option and is at the very least accompanied by insurmountable social stigma. In order to survive in a culture that values literacy and is so tied to language, the mastery of reading skills is essential. This puts those with learning disabilities, and any others unable to master the skill of reading at an immediate disadvantage because reading has several very important purposes. First, it helps us reach higher levels of understanding and creativity, mainly through participation in the process of “aesthetic reading.” It helps us as readers reach the “thought-in-action” stage that Rosenblatt promotes, where we are participating in the transaction with the text and actively making meaning as we read. Second, and perhaps more significantly, reading sits at the center of our culture. We have to know how to read in order to get the kind of jobs necessary to earn a living wage. Even a cashier at McDonald’s has to be able to interpret menus, food labels, and instructions. Being able to read and comprehend easily is typically equated with success, an equation that gets reinforced in schools as teachers go to great lengths to show students why they need the knowledge they are getting in class. This is not necessarily bad; it motivates students to work harder, and in a world that is virtually constructed of language as Derrida asserts, the ability to read must be emphasized as an

Early in his education, Rodriguez has determined that books are what he needs to read to become educated. He develops this idea from the posters hung on the walls of his classroom by the nuns, “ Open the door to your mind with books. Read the… poster over the nun’s desk in early September. It soon became apparent to me that reading was the classroom’s primary activity” (Rodriguez 542). At this point, Rodriguez knows he should be getting something out of books, but he is not sure what it should be,