Multimodal Literacy Narrative

Growing up I was raised in Mexico but born in the U.S. being in Mexico I was taught about
my culture and religion. I learned Spanish literacy up until I moved to the U.S at the age of seven. In
the U.S I was taught English, Learning it was really challenging. When It was time for me to start
school I felt so lonely because I couldn’t communicate with anyone or understand what they would
tell me all I understood at that point was the hand signals. Till I made a friend who was just like me
we both helped each other out. School started to be kind of less scary and confusing. Here I thought
that was enough of a challenge but when they gave homework it became an even bigger challenge I
obviously couldn’t read yet and neither could my parents. I had to pay extra attention and try and
figure out what I needed to do. By the 5th grade I was reading chapter books and making my way to
becoming an ultimate reader(smartest and fasters readers of all time become this) it was my goal to
achieve this to prove everyone wrong that anyone can achieve anything weather they are form the
U.S or not. Reading a lot helped me exceed in my final exams and learn new vocabulary. At home
was also a challenge I would come back home from school and would start talking English
unfortunately my father was not okay with it and told me I had to speak Spanish at home only and
English in school. Younger me hated that part of home I was just getting used to the new language.
On the other hand my mother would ask for me to translate for her whenever she got mail or wanted
to use coupons and even in school when we have a teacher conference I would translate everything
the teacher said to my mom in Spanish felt really important when I did this because I was able to
help others communicate with each other. Sometimes it was hard not to speak English at home
because I was getting used to talking it more and more at school and also because I didn’t want to get
made fun of at school for having a Spanish accent’s secretly at the time wanted to get rid of my
accent I believed talking only English would help with that. Eventually my younger brother was born
and well I started teaching him some English words and even try to talk to him in English so when he
first started school he wouldn’t be as confused as I was and also because I didn’t want him to go
through what I had gone through. Middle school was one of the most challenging phases/times of
my life. By that time I knew how to speak write and read English and I wasn’t embarrassed of it until
I started to get bullied for talking because of my accent and to make things worse I would mix my
words together and make up a whole new word from both languages.at the time I felt so comfortable
speaking two languages mixed together after all we are in the RGV close to my home I didn’t see the
problem with it till It hit me like actually. It eventually got so bad to the point where I chose to not
speak ever again. During those times my writing skills got a whole lot better since I used it to
communicate with others. At some point I realized I wasn't going to let peoples comments get to me.
I started taking therapy in which I slowly started to talk again. I no longer cared about what people
had to say about my accent it was a part of me and I wasn’t going to let anyone bring me down for
being myself. I learned a lot during those times in a way it helped me but also put me back in my
literacy skills of reading out loud. By the time I was in high school I was really proud of myself for
improving in my writing skills during my last year of high school. I was able to have an amazing
teacher who taught good writing methods for students. She really connected with students. She took
the time to get to know us and help us in whatever literacy struggle we had. As time went by I
noticed a lot of improvement since I first started to learn English literacy. Looking back and seeing
how I started off with not knowing English to being capable to read write and talk the English
language at the same time as I learned the other language at home a big challenge but I was able to
over come that challenge. Even though till this day I every so often struggle with it but now people
are more open to both languages. I’m truly grateful to say I am fluent in both languages because both
are a part of my identity of who I am.