I consider myself as a young woman on my late 20’s and always making fun of my “old” husband who is in his early 30’s. But trying to remember how I learned to read and write makes me feel older than him, because it is hard to focus on a single event that could have changed my perspective about reading and writing. The first time that I thought about how I learn to read, it came to my mind images of my grandmother and my mother reading me bedtime stories before I fell asleep. My passion about books and interesting magazines came from my grandmother stories and was reinforced by my mother’s encourage to read.
Looking back through the years I have a vivid memory of my bedroom at my grandmother’s house, it was a big bedroom with big and old windows from ceiling to floor, just covered with curtains made of small laces. We did not need to use a fan to cool the room, because it was cool enough in a hot and humid summer night. I used to stay with my grandmother, a petite and dark hair woman, because my mother had to travel when I was at school. Every night while I was ready to go to bed I had to choose a book from an old and rusty bookcase that my grandmother used to have outside the guest’s bedroom. I remember choosing a book just by its number on the spine, when I opened one and each of these books they had a particular smell like a fresh tree in the cool spring and the pages were not white but light yellow due to the pass of years. These books were part of my grandmother’s collection of Aesop fables.
I wasn’t able to read at that time, and my grandmother used to read to herself like 5 minutes the book that I chose and then she started reading it to me. I really enjoyed those stories with great endings and fun topics to learn about.
As time passed by I learn to read at school and as soon as I realized that I was able to read more than one page, I went to my grandmother’s house and look for those Aesop fables that she read me every night that I spent with her. Sadly I found out that those stories that I used to love and enjoy were just boring and hard to read.
My literacy journey commenced at a young age. My story begins with the typical bed time stories and slowly progresses into complex novels. Some points in my literacy journey have made me admire the written word but other times literacy frustrated me. These ups and downs within my story have made me the person I am today. My parents noticed that my reading was not up to par with other children in kindergarten and I was diagnosed with mild dyslexia at the age of five. My parents provided me a reading mentor named Mrs. Mandeville who has shaped my literacy journey in many ways. Events in my childhood have shaped my literacy in various ways.
When I Glanced inside the torn cardboard box that had “Family room” I discovered one of my mom’s old book named Petals on the Wind written by V. C. Andrews. While she was putting her already read books on the empty oak bookshelf, I asked her “would I be able to have this book?” Despite that it was a book above my reading level, she generally smiled and agreed. Over the years while we sat there watching television, my eyes would wonder like an antiquarian over to the old and new novels. Having my imagination running wild and wondering what type of adventures or mysteries lay inside. My family was firmly about education, with a father that was completing up his Masters and a mother who was continually reading, they both pushed us in the same direction.
Aesop's and Sappho’s works can be viewed across numerous works of modern literature. Their work has been used as the basis and inspiration of modern day literature. Aesop’s Fables and Sappho’s poetry depict much about the time period they lived in. Their uses of myth and folklore reveal the culture and community they originated from. The use of myth and folklore emphasizes the importance of the morals and emotions they want to convey.
We were also required to read a certain amount of books to test on and write stories of our own. This meant that we had to take our knowledge to the test and find books that would interest us. As we went to the library once every week I was very eager to read many different books. I would go home and read so that I could try and finish books as fast as I could. Since I had nothing else to do as a child I always read after finishing my homework. Reading was my favorite thing to do because it kept me from feeling lonely or bored. My parents would see that I was trying my best to read as much as I could, which made them proud of me. They knew that I was capable of becoming a good reader and
Once I took the book home, I began to really like it, and wanted to learn how to read it. My reading wasn't the best during these times. I would get my mom, dad, aunt, grandma, or just anyone who would agree to help me read it, or read it to me.
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
The first thing a child learns how to do in school is to read and write. I, unlike most of my classmates, didn’t actually know how to read fluently until the first grade. I remember my Kindergarten class had to read The Polar Express on our own and I was only able to guess what the book was saying. My friend’s dad had to read to me while she read on her own. Reading wasn’t practiced much at home. In fact, my mother doesn’t even remember reading to me, “I don’t remember, but I know I read to you at some point.” The only book I ever found and looked through in my house was my father’s algebra book. That algebra book became my favorite book since I didn’t really have anything else to read. However, after getting the hang
Throughout my childhood I was never very good at reading. It was something I always struggled with and I grew to not like reading because of this. As a child my mom and dad would read books to me before I went to bed and I always enjoyed looking at the pictures and listening. Then, as I got older my mom would have me begin to read with her out loud. I did not like this because I was not a good reader and I would get so frustrated. During this time I would struggle greatly with reading the pages fluently, I also would mix up some of the letters at times. I also struggled with comprehension, as I got older. My mom would make me read the Junie B. Jones books by myself and then I would have to tell her what happened. Most
As a child, I have always been fond of reading books. My mother would read to me every single night before I went to bed and sometimes throughout the day. It was the most exciting time of the day when she would open the cabinet, with what seemed to be hundreds of feet tall, of endless books to choose from. When she read to me, I wanted nothing more than to read just like her. Together, we worked on reading every chance we had. Eventually I got better at reading alone and could not put a book down. Instead of playing outside with my brothers during the Summer, I would stay inside in complete silence and just read. I remember going to the library with my mom on Saturdays, and staying the entire day. I looked forward to it each and every week.
“Introduction to Aesop's Fables.” The Chesterton Review, Feb 6. May 2001 XXVII. 1&2 (2001): 17-20. Print.
Ron Padgett, the author of Creative Reading, recalls how he learned to read and write as though these things happened yesterday. Like Padgett, I tried recalling my reading and writing history.
Now that I’m older, people meeting me after a long time come up to me and exclaim that we remember you, you were the little girl who always had a book in your hand. As I grew older, my love for reading also grew; my interests extending to every kind of book, except for schoolbooks.
I also remember as young girl learning how to read and my favorite book that I could quote word for word was “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr.Suess. I loved that book so much I still have that today. As I got older my love for reading and books started to diminish, I went to a private school for my elementary years and their curriculum was very intense. It was required to read a book from their approved list and complete a book report each summer before the school year began. Not to mention the numerous books reports I would have to complete during the school. At an early age books and reading was something I had to do and not what I wanted to do.
I already know a good amount about the Aesop’s fables before doing any real research. Almost everyone as a child was introduced to the stories such as “the boy who cried wolf” or “the tortoise and the hare”. As a child many adults would read these stories to me because they have a very strong moral. It can guide children to do the right thing when they are in doubts. I have a very personal experience with the tortoise and the hare because since I am a tennis player, my coaches would always mention these stories in regarding to practice and how we should be playing. This actually taught me a lot and made me the player I am today. I know that all fables are made up so that they can teach a life lesson/moral to kids to help guide them through life and that is the exactly what happened to me by reading fables as a child.
The process I took to find this information on Aesop’s fables was long and challenging. To start off, I was absent on the first day of the assignment, leaving me behind the entire class. Once I finally caught up with the class, I found the assignment very interesting. The first day our class went to the media center was very frustrating. That day, our school had been experiencing severe power outages, and by the time I could get my computer to start working, class was almost over. I quickly did as much as I could in the short time, and took the rest home to finish. The very next day, I had trouble ...