Literacy Narrative

I'm a second-generation Vietnamese American, so I grew up speaking and writing Vietnamese and English in my younger years. My parents were refugees from the War, so they came with very little knowledge of English. I spoke Vietnamese first, but looking back now, it was apparent my parents wanted me and my siblings to learn English quickly while maintaining our connections to Vietnamese. Therefore, I learned to live a dual life: I would read, write and speak Vietnamese at home, but would communicate in English while at school.

I grew up in San Mateo, and there were very few Vietnamese people around to communicate in Vietnamese with. As a result, I began to lose my ability to speak Vietnamese and became primarily an English speaker by the time I finished elementary school.

It helped that Vietnamese is romanized, so the transition to English reading and writing was straightforward for me. I remember language being one of my stronger subjects in school and how I enjoyed reading children's books growing up. I had an active imagination and I was a voracious reader; I'd spend a lot of my free time at the public library reading fiction, including fantasy novels.

As a young reader, I found it helpful to read aloud and to annotate, especially for books and articles I did not find very interesting. I also found abstract texts difficult. For example, I had a hard time understanding Shakespeare in freshman English class. The language used felt so foreign to me and I had to use a book that had a "translation" of the text on one side of the page opposite the original text. I really had to rely on coming to class and hoping the instructor would help interpret the meaning, both literal and figurative, of Shakespeare's writings.

As for insights about my own reading process that could make me a better teacher, I would say that it is important to annotate and to read actively. It helps to read with a purpose, i.e. why one is reading the text and what do they hope to get out of it. I think it also helps to read interesting, engaging texts that the reader can connect to. When you have a vested interest in a particular reading, the chances are higher that you will read more attentively and with greater focus.