Literacy History

Besem Etta-Ashu
Contemporary Literacies
Introduction post - Literacy History
February 2, 2020

MY LITERACY HISTORY

My name is Besem Etta- Ashu, I am 19 years old and I was born in Cameroon, Africa. My journey with learning how to read and write began when I was around 4 or 5 years old. My parents took turns teaching me how to read and write. Sometimes my mom would teach me reading while my dad taught me writing. I was taught at a very young age the importance of knowing how to read and write. If you do not know how to read and write, you are going to have a hard life. My siblings inspired me into learning how to read and write because I was fascinated by their skills of knowing not only how to read big words on paper but also how to spell them. Since my older brother and sister knew how to read and write, I wanted to also have that special talent of theirs. I am really grateful that my entire family supported me through my journey of knowing how to read and write. My dad would sound out the alphabet letters to me while my mom would hold my hand helping me trace the letters of the alphabet. My older brother and sister would read their novels to me as well as let me watch them spell out words. I was definitely encouraged to develop my reading and writing skills. My earliest memory of my literacy experience was when I was in pre-school and the teacher was teaching us the alphabet but since my parents began teaching me earlier, I knew the letters already. I was able to pass all my pronunciation and tracing tests, because of that I became the star student in the class. I really liked being praised for my accomplishments, so that inspired me to keep studying hard on learning how to pronounce and spell more advanced words so I can keep my reputation as the star student.

Since I do have the actual video of me learning how to read and write when I was young, this video is an example of the types of videos I used to watch in class when I was learning the various colors and also how to spell those colors.

I began to feel literate when I was able to read a novel and actually understand what is happening in the book. My English teachers have always liked the essays that I wrote. During my second semester of freshman year in college, my English teacher liked my final term paper so much that he decided to use it as an example for his English classes. That amazing feedback made me realize that I am not only a good reader, but also an amazing writer as well. Growing up I loved reading books like Twilight and The Hunger Games. It took me an entire month to read both series of these books. It was an easy read for me because I was obsessed with the movies as well as the books. The one thing that I can think of that frustrates me about reading and writing is having to read a book that I am not interested in, then having to write a paper on it. Scientific books are quite difficult for me to read because I have no interest in reading those types of books and so I do not retain much information. I do not really have a role model for literacy. My main belief is that, education is the key to success and in order for me to succeed in education and life, I need to know how to read and write because that's the base to everything. 

I think literacy is highly important because once you know how to read and write, you can do anything. There are words all around us, from street signs to textbooks in school. Everything is made of words, either those words are spoken or written. Once you understand what those words mean, no one can stop you from becoming powerful. When we talk, we use powerful words, when we write we use powerful words, words ARE powerful. I use literacy every day of my life. Being a college student, literacy is very important. I use literacy to communicate with my teachers by doing the assignments, reading books, writing papers, participating in class. Asking for assistance and supporting others educationally is another way in which literacy impacts my life. I feel most literate when I am able to have an intellectual discussion with someone. Teachers are continuously sponsoring and inspiring my literacy development because every day in class I am able to learn something new. There are several teachers that students encounter with a day, which means they are guaranteed to learn something new because every day in class, teachers teach something new.