Julio Goris Wolcott Spring 2013 Literacy Narrative Rough Draft

My journey towards literacy began around the ages of 3 or 4, when I was a toddler. My parents used to read books to me whenever they would have some free time, and these were normally the kind of books geared towards children with large eye-catching pictures. Around this very time, I also began my journey to literacy in my parents native language, which is Spanish. My mother and father both worked when I was a child and my grandparents looked after me during the day. They would speak to me the majority of time in Spanish, since they knew very little English. Due to this, I was able to pick up Spanish just as easily as I picked up English. In my elementary school days, I remember getting mainly As in English, but for some reason in the third grade I was sent to take speech lessons. The interesting thing was that I had no kind of speech impediment, but I was sent there because I would talk very softly, a result of my being shy during class. This fueled me to talk louder during class, and before I knew it I never step foot in the speech therapists office again. When I was in third grade, I was placed into the gifted class, and there I received a device that was a cross between a leapfrog machine and a small computer. This device came with many different reading games that were both very fun and I believe enhanced my literacy at the time. These games rewarded one on spelling as well as comprehension of the stories and morals within, which would, helped not only with my language

literacy, but also reinforcing strong morals at a young age. I was also introduced to the FCAT during this period, and I believe it served as a direct sponsor of literacy for me, because our teachers taught us that material specifically to be able to pass the reading parts of the state-wide test. In middle school and high school, I was still in the gifted program and this would prove instrumental to the strides I was making towards literacy in the reading and writing of English. The different books we had to read each year not only developed my fondness for reading, but it also helped improve my vocabulary as I went up each grade level. Of course the FCAT still played a vital role in my improvement of my reading and writing literacy. One thing about my environment that influenced the way I learned was being in classes that were too big. I had too many friends around that liked to crack jokes and mess around, so it added a sort of distraction in my learning. During my four years in high school, I also built up my Spanish literacy even further by taking two Spanish courses. When I graduated high school and got to college, I also got my first job which was at Disney doing outdoor foods. While one would think that there is not much literacy that would go on in this department, there was a whole lot to be learned. From radio terminology to cash handling, I had to familiarize myself with the terminology and techniques in order to become technically proficient, or functionally literate, at my job. Now I can imagine how those people Brandt interviewed felt, especially the man who worked for the union and had to quickly be able to learn and understand court language in order to be able to do his job, and most importantly, keep his job. Not to mention, the job helped me drastically with my Spanish speaking, as it helped me boost my self-confidence to the point that I no longer am hesitant to start a conversation in Spanish. Originally, growing up I understood all the concepts of the Spanish

language, but I heard myself speak it and I was ashamed at how I sounded. So many others in my same situation spoke so fluently while I had a very dry way of speaking. Thus, I had very little faith in my ability to speak it and refrained from doing so unless absolutely necessary. Working at Disney, I began fielding questions from Spanish guests which put me on the spot to answer, and that kind of question is what served as my sort of coming out with the verbal communication of the Spanish language, because my confidence has since increased. My life-long journey towards complete literacy is nowhere near finished; in fact to me it is still beginning. Theres still the terminology I must learn for the career I choose to embark upon, and also my Spanish still needs a little work. However, these experiences in my life have given me the confidence to carry on with my ambitions in literacy to become well-rounded in both English and Spanish, and to put these to good use for the community and for the people around me.