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Darren Samaha
Emilia Grant
UWRT 1103
3 September 2014
Literacy and Culture: Vignettes
When I was young at about three to four years old, I obscurely remember my
beginnings with literacy. Those beginnings were established with public schooling and a
set of reading learning enhancements for children known as, Hooked on Phonics. Im
sure most have heard of these products which almost guarantee your child to learn how
to read in no time. From what I remember of Hooked on Phonics, there were five boxes
of learning material. Each box was a different grade level and the difficulty would
ascend into the later boxes. They contained various audio cassettes, books, games and
other miscellaneous trinkets. My parents who bought the set never seemed to guide me
on how to use it so I would just go out of the intended proper order and mess around
with the materials in the boxes. Looking back, Hooked on Phonics seemed like an
insignificant part of my learning process, however; I bet that it really set a foundation for
my literacy. From all the small picture books and audio cassettes contained in those
boxes, I was able to learn auditorily and visually just with the exposure to the material.
Honestly, I guess I was more curious than hooked on phonics.
My upbringing was rather ordinary and bland despite my mother and father
originating from the respective countries of the Philippines and Lebanon.
Since English is a major language globally, my parents spoke English at home and
never used their home countrys language. In this respect I feel that I was held back,

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since I am currently only fluent in English and nothing else. Exposure to my mothers
language of Bisaya and my fathers Arabic could possibly make me fluent in two other
languages besides English. In a competitive job market such as the United States,
knowing two extra foreign languages really gives an edge. Due to this I also feel out of
touch with the rest of my extended family who mostly live outside the United States.
Literature is such a relative term and it cannot be just limited to English alone. Knowing
different languages really spices up how you communicate and integrate culture into
your daily life.
My literacy really changed when I was introduced to the internet and its plethora
of resources and entertainment. What fascinated me was being able to watch videos of
whatever I could find up. Youtube even in its early days satisfied my curiosity and I
looked up things that I had heard of but never experienced. I absorbed much of what
Youtube had to offer, especially in a new gem I discovered which was anime. Anime
majorly comes from Japan so the original content is in Japanese. Back then I was
obsessed with an anime called One Piece and I watched it in Japanese with English
subtitles. Eventually I was able to understand some Japanese words and what they
meant in English. The internet is an ingenious means of communication, but it also
sprouted a seed of negative influence upon me in my adolescence days. Curse words,
lack of grammar and internet slang slowly worked its way into my literacy and
vocabulary. There is one youtuber in particular, DashieXP, who I simply got engrossed
into the style of his content.
Dashies content incorporated his unique personality into comedic skits with a sort of
ghetto atmosphere. This interesting combination has brought me to watch his videos,

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even to this day. One problem that arises is the incessant swearing his content
contains, which is the major part of his appeal to me and the majority of his audience.
After watching his videos for so long now, Dashies crude language has been obliviously
integrated into my daily language. I find myself repeating the same phrases he says in
his videos, phrases that are not respectful by any means. My literacy is being corrupted
by this slang which also seems to be plaguing pop culture. Modern forms of
communication such as texting seem to make proper grammar unnecessary. When
using skype I have a huge tendency to shorten phrases, words and leave out
punctuation. Not incorporating grammar and spelling in the correct manner most of the
time leaves an even greater tendency to forget or use them incorrectly when actually
needed. In short, the Internet for my purposes of entertainment at has at least hindered
my literacy to a seemingly less educated level.
The best influence on my literacy has occurred during my senior year in high
school. Not knowing the expectations of the teacher or the true nature of the class, I
signed up to take AP English IV for two semesters. English was never my best subject
so I decided to try and challenge myself in preparation for college. In that class I was
introduced to so many new literary terms that I had never heard of in prior English
classes. Also my writing greatly improved, where as before my essays before never
really flowed properly or supported an argument. It was usually just typed fluff that never
stated anything significant.
The class assimilated texts such as Shakespeare and works that made an impact on
society at the time. Despite the difficulty of the class, the teacher Mrs. Rogers prepared

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the students more than sufficiently enough for the AP exam. My experience in this
class has prepared me the most for higher level writing thus far.
Since literacy is such a relative term, I feel it also reaches out to other languages
besides English. One teacher in specific and the successive classes she taught helped
set me up to attain basic comprehensive literacy in Spanish. Mrs. Callahan has taught
my Spanish II, III and IV classes, where progressively my reading, writing, and oral skills
grew. Spanish IV was the class where I felt I improved the most especially through
actual speaking. Everyday Mrs. Callahan only spoke to us in Spanish and she
expected us to respond back in Spanish even if we had a bit of trouble communicating
what we wanted to say. All the practice of speaking in Spanish IV let me be able to carry
a conversation in Spanish as in previous courses I excelled just in comprehending
reading and writing. When speaking she wanted us to feel comfortable so she
encouraged the students to speak what they could even if not correct. Mrs. Callahan
also experimented with other different ways of learning such as memorizing words using
visual aid, reading and dissecting text and even visiting an elementary school to teach
children rudimentary Spanish. During the semester, for about a month the class
watched a popular Spanish soap opera and it was a challenge to understand what was
happening in the story. Regardless I was slowly able to piece together the story and it
boosted my literacy so much in understanding Spanish and its media. Thanks to these
Spanish classes it is safe say that at the most basic level, I am literate.
There is one instance in seventh grade where I felt somewhat overwhelmed by
literacy. In my seventh grade year, spelling bees were held in every classroom in my

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school. I managed to win my classs spelling bee and the seventh grade spelling bee,
so I moved on the schools spelling bee.
For the school spelling bee I was provided a book which listed information about word
stems, word origins and the usual rules for each word origin. The book contained
perhaps too much information for me to take in and I felt overwhelmed. Unfortunately, I
was somewhat apathetic towards the school bee so I did not study and prepare as
rigorously as I should have. In this manner, I ended up misspelling an obvious word that
resulted in my elimination. I felt that I held myself back from improving my literacy and at
the same time I felt discouraged, because I underestimated how complicated spelling
some words could be. I remember trying to consciously get myself out during the eighth
grade spelling bee so I would not be put under the pressure of studying the booklet and
competing against other students who might be more prepared or just smarter than me.
I suppose that for many people, being able to spell does not constitute literacy.
Music, especially rap music, has impacted my literacy in an unexpectedly
positive manner. The culture, diction, and slang promoted by rap artists is disrespectful
to say the least. However for a while now; I have been engrossed into the appealing
combination of rhyming lyrics to a rhythmic beat or instrumental that rap has to offer.
Similar to internet slang, rap slang and phrases have also worked its way into my
vocabulary. When looking at literacy from a book-smart standpoint, rap is the opposite
of being literate. Regardless some consider rap as an art form. In turn, I too have
attempted to imitate the art of rap by freestyling and by producing a rap song for a
school project. Unfortunately both endeavors have yielded an unsatisfactory result.
Rhyming lyrics may not seem like literacy, but sincerely for some its a medium for truly

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expressing one's thoughts or opinions on a topic. Rappers like Eminem are literate in
their own craft of music. Rapping is an art form and literacy in art is very much possible.
However it is a shame that I am unable to become literate in such the enthralling art
form of rap.

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