Sapna

Professor: Dr. Christopher Allan Black

ENGL 1010-E02

05 February 2024

Literacy Narrative: No limits to Literacy

My literary journey started from childhood when I was only five years old. I sit on my bench

with other kids and just listen to my teacher, miss Sophia my Class teacher. She teaches us things

like A for airplane, B for bicycle, and we all repeated the same thing after our teacher, this is

where I started reading and writing. My home country is India, and people with diverse cultures

living in India with different languages but our native language is Hindi. I face a lot of struggles

in learning a different language other than my native language, because in my primary school we

do not have English as a source of speaking rather we only have English as a subject. When my

school change from primary to high, I have difficulty in speaking English language because the

rules of that school are different from my earlier school, their rule was that when we talk to

teachers and classmates, we must talk in English. But with practice, and with the help of my

teachers, I learn and understand good English. My English teacher helped me a lot to learn

English, she told me to start using English in my daily life. I start learning one unfamiliar word

and one new sentence every day to build my English.

Moreover, schools start giving priority to English language, they try their best to supply the best

knowledge for English language, this language helps to build our confidence to live in this
modernized world. I got good support from my parents; my parents are not well-educated, but

they want to educate me, my brother. My parents provide me and my brother with everything

that we need for our studies, they give it to us even before we ask. Also, the environment of our

house is very friendly. Whatever is in my daily schedule, I share everything with my mother and

when I told her that I am learning English she asked me that she also want to speak in English.

We both had the same passion for learning this language and my mamma start leaning the basic

English language too. My daddy and mamma wish for us to be successful in our careers and they

never pressure us to do anything. They leave this matter to us. My father told me that whatever

you do, do it as per your interest and then give your best at it. My parents always support me for

my interest in reading and writing and I feel incredibly lucky that my parents are always with

me.

My interest in reading and writing is developing day by day. I started reading books from the

library. I love reading APJ Abdul Kalam books and he is one of my favorite authors. He has a

book called “TURNING POINTS a journey through challenges” this book was written by him,

who inspire every citizen of the country. He discusses seven turning points in his life, and how

those points take India to the next level of development.

There was also a turning point in my life when I decided to study in the United States and my

struggle journey started from the time, I took this decision. My parents always support me in

everything but when I share this with my parents, they don’t allow me to send me so far for

studies. I tell them how studying from United States helps to build my career and it also gives me

practical experience of real-world challenges along with my studies. They were worried about

me, how I adjust in a new country with different people. I didn’t take this thing seriously at that
time because I was extremely excited to study abroad. My fantasies about studying abroad are

different from reality. I got permission to study abroad from my parents. After this, I fulfilled

some needs of the country to come there.

As “Deborah Brandt” writes in Writing about Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug

Dawns, 4th edition, 2017 on page number 244 (para2) that “people do not become literate on

their own; rather, literacy is sponsored by people, institutions, and circumstances that both make

it possible for a person to become literate”. I want to introduce America as a literacy sponsor for

me after my parents because this country teaches me lot of things and the sponsor can be anyone,

it can be a country too.

My struggle for myself began when I arrived in the United States. My own belief is that I am

particularly good at English. I can speak well, write well, and listen well. But whenever I try to

talk to someone my confidence starts breaking. I will never forget this incident that happened in

my life when I came here. That was, I was at the airport and looking for a taxi and did not see

any taxis around me. When I asked someone, they told me that you must book your taxi online,

and I have a phone but without an internet connection, I do not understand what I do next. But I

never lose my hope, I start praying and I saw a police officer, to whom I asked for help. I told

him that I need some help with my taxi, and I want to go to this address. He asked me a lot of

things to know more about me and I am unable to answer him in the same way he asked. The

main reason was that I did not understand him. I was amazed that I know English so why I am

not able to understand his English. But he understands me, that I am an international student

whose native language is not English. He booked my taxi and after that I reached my room.

When I am in my room, I look at myself in the mirror and tell myself that you need to learn more
English to survive in this country. I start taking help from online YouTube videos to improve my

English.

I also found here that American people have different accent, Chinese people have different

accent and Indian people have their own accent to speak English. We all speak the same

language and same words but with different pronunciations or accents. I have difficulty

understanding advanced English, but day by day I start improving mine English with practice. As

“Vershawn Ashanti Young” writes in Writing about Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and

Doug Dawns, 4th edition, 2017 on page number 328 (para 7) that “we hear that background in

the speech, and it’s often expressed in the writing too. It’s natural”. I appreciate that American

people never make fun of other people when we speak English with our accent. I heard one thing

that in British countries people make fun of us if we don’t speak in their accent. As Young

mentioned in his writing, speaking with your own accent is natural because you can’t change

your culture and beliefs. So, it depends on us to adapt to diverse ways of speaking. I improved

myself a lot here in speaking, writing, and listening.

My literacy has developed in many ways by reading books, adapting to separate ways to speak

English language. My interest in reading and writing started boosting when I was in college. I

start getting books from the library and then read that at home. I always have time for my books

like I have my studies, work, and some housework too but I manage my time properly for my

books. Reading books improves my vocabulary and pronunciation to a proficient level. My craze

for reading books is the same as before, I face some difficulties, but those difficulties are for

some time. This country makes me an organized person, fluent speaker. I am not fully fluent yet;

But I am working on it to improve myself more.