Meza 1 Melissa Meza Professor Ludlow-Mattson English 114 24 October 2013 My English Endeavour I learned how to write in the

English language when I was almost five years old. At that time my parents only knew a slight amount of English and my brother, who is only two-and-ahalf years older than me, was still very young and unable to teach me a lot about writing in that language. He could only teach me how to speak from what he had learned at school, so I learned how to speak English by listening to him speak in English to me and by looking at illustrated cards that contained the English words above the subjects being portrayed. I also learned how to speak some English by attending pre-school. I do not recall learning much other than speaking English because it was similar to a day care center where we had more than plenty of time to play with our peers and most, if not all of them, spoke Spanish. I did not learn how to write in English at home because it was a secondary language. My primary language was Spanish. Both of my parents, who are Mexican immigrants, were only able to teach my brother and I how to speak and write in Spanish because that was the only language that they knew. I did not learn how to write in English until I entered kindergarten. I attended a bilingual school whose primary goal was to teach Hispanic students how to speak and write proper English and excel as bilingual students. I distinctly remember that my primary motivation upon first entering school was to learn how to write in English. I wanted to know how to express

Meza 2 myself by writing in that language because I was aware that it was necessary in order to earn good grades and to succeed in school. I knew that I would make my parents exceptionally proud by acquiring and learning that language because it would open up many great opportunities for me in the future, which is what they have always desired for both my brother and I. During my childhood and to this day my parents have repetitively told my brother and I that they want us to take advantage of every opportunity that we are offered and that we should always try our best in school in order to accomplish all of our goals and to become successful individuals. It was why I realized at an early age that I had to fully acquire the language in order to succeed in this country, which not only meant speaking English, but being able to know how to write it properly as well. I clearly remember that my kindergarten teacher began emphasizing that we would learn how to write the fundamentals of proper English throughout the course of that school year, which included how and when to capitalize letters, end sentences, and how to spell words correctly. I recall doing various activities in which she wrote words and phrases on the white boards repeatedly and as a class we would review what the words meant. After going over the meanings of each of the words and the phrases various times, the teacher would have each student write the words and phrases on their own. I always paid a great amount of attention to these lessons because I wanted to learn how to write without having to be assisted by others as soon as possible. I was like a child who really wanted a prize that the teacher was giving away, but in my case, the prize was learning how to write properly in a language that I had yet not fully acquired. Whenever I returned home, I would continue to practice writing the words and phrases that we had gone over in class that day until I memorized what they meant and how to spell them correctly.

Meza 3 I practiced how to write a lot during my own time at home because I really wanted to write correctly without the assistance of others. Throughout certain days of every-other-week, my teacher would have our class write journal entries about random subjects. During most of the school year I would blank out and not know how to write many words correctly, capitalize letters, or even when to end a sentence when we were given these assignments. These instances made me feel like a complete failure and greatly decreased my confidence as I observed other students writing with what seemed to be with no struggles at all. There were also instances in which my teacher would call on me to answer questions about how to spell certain English words and I did not know the correct answers. During those instances I felt very ignorant and ridiculed. As a result, when I returned home from school, I would read picture books that my parents had bought for both my brother and myself and I would then copy all of the books content on my own. Eventually, as the school year progressed I began to fully understand when to capitalize letters and when to end sentences. I even began to practice my writing during my lunch times because I began to enjoy writing and I was excited that I was finally learning how to write proper English. I also continued to practice my writing in English because I did not want to feel left behind when we discussed about our writings as a class as I had felt in other instances. Throughout the rest of the school year I continued to copy the contents of children picture books at home whenever I had an opportunity. I recall copying the contents of books such as Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and various other books written by Dr. Seuss. I was motivated to continue to improve my writing because I did not want to feel ignorant or incapable of writing proper English as I had felt when I was unable to answer questions in front of my class, which was extremely humiliating. I wanted be assured that I was capable of doing something good with my life and that I was capable succeeding. I knew that I was capable

Meza 4 of writing English as long as I had determination, which is why I continued to practice my writing every day during and after school. I even had a notebook that was full of journal entries about random subjects that I had created on my own time. By the end of my kindergarten school year I learned how to write proper English. I learned how to spell more words correctly, when to capitalize letters and when to end sentences as well as when to place commas within them. However, I knew that I could do more in order to further improve my writing. By the beginning of my first grade school year I began to copy the contents of Junie B. Jones books because they also contained some illustrations, but much more writing than other children picture books. By then, I felt much more confident in my writing and I had greater self-esteem. I was less self-conscious about feeling intellectually inferior to my peers. Even my first grade teacher told my parents that I had wonderful writing because I constantly wrote using proper grammar for my young age. I continued to copy the context of many books and even chapter books up to when I was in the fourth grade. I began to write down many chapters of books such as those of The Serious of Unfortunate Events and other chapter books whose titles I do not remember written by Sharon Creech. Ultimately, this method of copying the content of books, from children to chapter books, not only helped me learn how to write a lot, but it also helped me improve my writing skills. Even though I can clearly recall becoming very frustrated at times, doing such procedure helped me identify proper grammar techniques such as when to add a colon or semi-colon to a sentence, how to write a dialogue within my writing, etc. Now, when I work on any writing assignments or writing on my own I feel much more confident about my work and I have a greater self-esteem about both my intellectual and writing potentiality. I know that I am making my family proud by

Meza 5 continuing to attempt do my best in school despite the impediments I had when I first entered school as a child, when I did not completely comprehend the English language. Despite all of the struggles and moments of frustrations where I felt ignorant and incapable of reaching success that I had to endure in order to learn how to write in the English language, I have now grown to enjoy writing. In fact, I like to write a lot. English has become my second favorite subject in school ever since I learned how to write proper English. Even many of my teachers, including my favorite high school teachers, have said that I am a good writer. Now that I am older and just began college, I am considering getting a minor in journalism. I think that I have a great potential in order to succeed in this career, which would be secondary to my nursing career, because I am always able to put forth my best effort whenever I write anything, which includes doing writing assignments and even when I write random journal entries at home. My experience of learning how to write in English became important to me not only because I acquired and learned how to write and read better in the primary language of this country, but it has also defined who I am and what I want do in my future. Recalling upon my experience has further motivated me to want to get a second major in a career that involves writing. It has also reminded me that I am capable of doing what I truly desire and accomplishing my goals as long as I work hard for it even if there are struggles along the way. I am glad that I had to endure all of the struggles that I did in order to learn how to write in English because looking back at it, it is those struggles that have allowed me to appreciate the English language and that have motivated me to work hard for everything that I want in life in order to become a successful individual.