Alvarez 1

Heidy Alvarez
Professor Vana
English 114A
September 23, 2014
My Struggles of Reading and Writing
My experience of learning how to read and write as a child was very discouraging for me
being the daughter of immigrants who departed from Guatemala in 1989. Reading and writing
has been my most challenging subject, however I believe that math has been my strongest
strength. I would not participate in reading out loud because I would get bullied afterward for
misreading the material. Continuing my education in high school, I was introduced into a new
world of reading and writing. However the three main reasons why I struggled to read and write
in general was due to the fact that Spanish was my first language; in class participation made me
feel uncomfortable, and having a low self-esteem but throughout high school I learned different
ways to improve my readings and writing.
Learning how to read and write from my parents knowledge was very challenging. My
mother only spoke Spanish during the time I spent with her as a child, she would teach me how
to read and write in Spanish. Spanish was easy for me to learn because the way words sounded
was the way you would read and write them. Then transitioning to English was very difficult
because of the many rules such as the digraph vowels (au, ea, oi, ou, eu, ai, etc.) was a very
difficult transition for me, in which I struggle in both reading and writing skills. I also had
difficulty reading big words, spelling out words, and structuring the words in sentences
properly. My father would make me read, but he only made reading less appealing. My father
knew only a little English, but he would sit with me and read any Disney book. I dislike reading

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with him because he would yell at me when I did not know how to pronounce a word. If I would
not pronounce the word correctly the second time he would pull my hair or ear and yell, Pne
atencin a cmo se pronuncia la palabra (Pay attention on how you pronounce the word). By
this time, I would be crying, and I was not even half way through the book. However, I would
want to read through the book fast, but my dad would always slow me down. He told me he did
not like me reading fast because he did not understand what was I reading. The real reason was
because since his English was not that great, he needed time to process what I just had read but
reading slowly made it easier for him.
What my father did not know was that he was affecting my reading because at the time a
first grader had to read 40-60 words per minute. Since I would practice my reading with my
father, I was becoming a slow reader so on the actual class test I read 38 words in a minute. My
first-grade teacher Mrs. Campos flunked me because I did not read my 40 words per minute, so
that just brought myself-esteem down, when it was already low. Even though I knew it was not
the real reason why she had not pass me, because a classmate of mine had only read 19 words
per minute, and my classmate moved on to second grade. When I repeated the grade I would tell
myself that since I did not meet the requirement that allowed Mrs. Campos to flunk me because
reading was not my strongest subject.
When middle school came along my grades reflected that my Math grades were always
higher than my English. Just how Amy Tan stated in Mother Tongue, While my English
skills were never judged as poor, compared to math, English could not be considered my strong
suit (Tan 79). I agree with Amy Tan because in sixth grade, my teacher believed I was
advanced in math that she even spoke to the principal to allow me to be a seventh grader in
Algebra 1 instead of taking Pre-Algebra like the rest of my classmate would have. Principal gave

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me a test of 30 questions in which I had to get 21 questions correct in order to be placed in
Algebra 1. On the test, I only answered 25 questions because I knew they were all going to be
right so I did not even bother doing the other five. On the placement test, I got 25/30, so I was
placed in the Algebra 1 class.
When teachers would ask students to participate in reading out loud, I would never raise
my hand, so I wont be called on because I was not confident in my reading. There was a time
where my science teacher asked me to read out loud, and since I did not want to read I told her I
could not see the words because I did not have my glasses with me. The next time I was called
on I was not that lucky as the first time, she made me read, and I was having trouble with some
words I did not know how to pronounce. My classmates made fun of me because I was not on
the same level as them. It made me feel very bad about my reading skill that it made me not want
to read out loud in class anymore. I knew I was not going to be able to get away from reading so
I would look for the shortest paragraph with the easiest word that way I would not be bullied by
my classmate.
In high school, it was very different; during the summer we had a summer reading project
in which the faculties would choose the book we read and answer a set of questions in paragraph
form and a summary. My 9th to 11th grade I attended Gertz-Ressler High School, that the
English teachers called IRP that meant Independent Reading Project, and all the students would
do three every school year. Students would choose a book and needed to get it approved by the
teacher before the due date. After students had a month to do the project, the project consisted of
making a poster, annotated the book, and analysis sheet. My 9th to 10th grade all my IRP books
were by the author Sarah Dessen but my favorite book was Someone Like You. At this time of
my life, I enjoy reading her books; once I would start I wasnt able to stop because I wanted to

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know what would happen next. I just enjoyed reading teen fiction. When 11th grade came along
my teacher wanted his student to read non-fiction, so I went to Barnes & Noble went to the
section teen non-fiction. I have to say I really enjoy reading teen books something I would not
know if it wasnt for my experience in high school.
As for my writing beginning high school, I would always want my first draft to be
amazing, so I would not know how or where to start my essay. I would want to use profound
vocabulary words in my sentences to impress my teachers but that would only make it difficult
for them to read my essay because I did not want them think I was not ready for high school
level. I was afraid my teachers would only accept me if I used vocabulary words but my
profound vocabulary word were causing me a bad grade on my paper. Reading Shitty First
Drafts by Anne Lamott, I realize that not even writers could make first draft to be perfect. A
good advice Lamott gives to her reader is You need to start somewhere. Start by getting
something anything down on paper. I agree because once you have something on paper you
will get the flow of how you would like your paper to sound. Its a process of writing a paper
you do your first draft then you revise it and let someone else revise. That way the writer will
have a chance to grow as a writer and improve its writing skills.