James Franco

Grant
UWRT 1103
Draft due: 10/02/14
Three Vignettes
1
Growing up in a house with two languages may be difcult for some. I was one of those people
whom it was difcult for. Growing up, I was learning two languages at onceEnglish and
Spanish. Now while this is such a huge advantage in society, especially in America due to it
being a melting pot, it was a little disadvantage in my literacy as I was growing older. In my
elementary school days, I was the kid that was hauled out of my classes to be put in another
classroom for a brief moment to help me with my speech. I was a splendid student back in the
day just as I am now. I had no trouble thinking, writing or listening to the English language, but
when it came to speaking it, my Brocas area was not in favor of me. To top that, I couldnt even
write or speak Spanish, I could only understand it. I gure that the two languages intertwined
together in my mind and this is where It made my speaking difcult for me. I always loathed the
one-on-one speech sessions that I would have with my speech teacher. I remember the
hollowness and coldness of the room. It resembled a library. It would just be me and my
instructor. I would be practicing my speech as I continued to fail saying certain words. Of course
one could imagine the frustration that I was experiencing due to the difculty that I had
completing such a simple task. As I kept going to those sessions, my speech gradually got better.
I was learning the difference between English and Spanish. See, heres the reason I believe that
my literacy was affected, my parents both spoke to me in Spanish. I replied to them in English. I
believe that if I would have kept everything Spanish at home and everything English at school I
would have been able to distinguish the two languages. They might never would have intercepted
with one another. To this day, I continue speaking to my parents in English as they reply to me in
Spanish. Another reason I wish I would have kept these two languages separate from one another
is because I still cannot speak, write or at times understand Spanish 100% uently. If my parents
are watching the Spanish news I cannot keep up with the reporter at times because the talking
seems really rapid to me. Im not trying to complain too much about this. I still appreciate the
fact that I at least know two languages.
2
Ive always been a video game nerd. Ive been enthralled by video games from the rst time that
Ive actually played one, until this very day. I began playing video games on the reputable
nintendo 64. I cant recall the rst game that Ive ever actually played, but I know that I loved it.
It amazes me to see such improvement over the years. I feel that as the technology of games have
improved, so has my literacy. Ive had the nintendo 64, super nintendo, gameboy sp, nintendo ds,
wii, playstation 3, xbox one and now the playstation 4. Gaming to me is something that is
tranquil even if its a violent game such as God of War or a fast paced shooter such as Call of
Duty. Ive learned to understand the language of gaming. A non-gamer may ask what the
language of gaming is and how could it even have a language? Well, if I were to say words like
noob camper and acronyms such as KD or FPS they may not know what meaning these
terms hold. Ive become literate in gaming from all of the experience that Ive had with it for
these past 18 years of my life. I can buy a game Ive never played and get used to it within a
couple of minutes. I know the basic concepts of gaming and I am able to understand the controls
very easily. One of the game franchises that have impacted my literacy considerably is the well
known Call of Duty. It is the franchise that has consumed the most amount of hours out of my
life. Not only has it provided me with the literacy of gaming, it has taught me a multitude of facts
about the military. Im no military specialist or enthusiast or anything, but I for sure know more
about it than I would have known not playing it. I guess you can say that your literacy can branch
from one video game to many other types of literacies. Now if I were to have one of my parents
play a game like Call of Duty it would be equivalent to them trying to speak Russian. If I were to
have them play a much easier and more simple game like Mario, it would still be like them
trying to speak Russian, theyre not literate in video games. As a gamer, I am also able to
understand the serenity and joy that gaming brings to an individual. It denitely relieves my
mind of stress and other worries. I dont game as much as I once did, but I will always consider
myself as a gamer.
3
Moving from the North to the South denitely impacted my literacy in ways I may not be aware
of. Moving to North Carolina from a Yankee state like New York was a big change in dialect. I
moved here to North Carolina at the age of 10. I wasnt at the age yet that I acquired the full
Northern dialect but I still wasnt used to the southern language just yet. Slang terms like yall
and aint were foreign to me. I had to get comfortable to hearing words like these because I
would hear them almost everyday by basically everyone. Down here in the south the majority of
people also use the word cuss rather than saying curse when profanity is used. This is one
example of a change I cannot get used to. I dont ever see myself using it because it is not
comfortable for me to change what I am already used to. When I say that moving impacted my
literacy in ways I may not be aware of, I am referring to my accent. Im not sure whether or not
my Northern accent has been altered to a more Southern accent. I personally think I still have a
Northern accent, but Im not able to tell on my own. I may not also be aware of the way I
structure my sentences. Its hard to evaluate due to the fact that I moved at such a young age.