Literacy Autobiography

There are several significant events that contributed to my development of reading and writing from the outset. To begin with, the role of my English teacher in shaping my literacy behaviors is undeniable. He was kind, passionate and dedicated to the extent that language mastery was almost a given. He gave us reading materials outside main course resources to occupy our free time and always asked us to give brief reflections on what we have read in writing. Sometimes, one would explain their experience before the entire class before putting the same into writing, which really helped in developing ideas and confidence in speech. I recall multiple times when I broke the English language in one way or another and went on and on with narration before the class despite the awe in their faces. The teacher would normally not interrupt at this point and would take short notes on the progress of your speech. In the end, he would correct you or ask someone in the audience to correct your mistakes, which would be accompanied by humor and lots of constructive engagement. This helped to build a good rapport between classmates which made it easier to speak English as well as build one another fearlessly towards perfection. The teacher also helped a great deal in my language development through the fiery classroom debates that were held at least once a week. In this case, we would be grouped into the opposing side and proposers and take on one another in simple topics within our knowledge. I was one of the best debaters in my class and the rest always looked forward to my presentation. This helped to boost my confidence and establish myself as one of the finest language users in our class at the time. Therefore, my teacher was undoubtedly one of the greatest influences in my language development through the diverse web of resources and engagements that he offered for the class.

Short stories also played a huge role in my language development. I was a huge fan of ogre stories that would scare me in the dark and when left alone. The imagery of someone with fifteen toes, body covered with hair and feeding on humans was always my fascination. I read many of such books though I knew deep inside that they were fictional. I also loved to read about spirits of the dead and vampires, as such stories would open my imagination to many things. My addiction to short stories grew into the love for novels, poems and newspaper columns. These were written at a higher level and offered many language cues that enhanced both my reading and writing. I learnt a great deal of vocabulary and figurative expressions from reading such advanced type of content. In newspaper columns for instance, I would read complex economic arguments and political theory by distinguished academics. This was quite at an early stage given that I was still in high school and a number of those readings were beyond my level. I would however discuss them with friends and even consult my English teacher who would assist in comprehension. This early exposure with rich content helped to shape my reading and writing skills to mastery level. By the time I was completing high school, I was quite proficient in language having combed the works of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare. I particularly developed a taste for Shakespearean narratives more so his romantic tragedies. Therefore, reading story books and other language resources shaped me into a confident language user and enriched my language with variety and sophistication. 

My journey with language would be incomplete without the mention of drama. I developed a taste for drama in high school and have retained it to date. It all began with classroom dramatizations of Shakespeare’s works such as the Merchant of Venice and the Tragedy of Macbeth. As I stated before, I was a huge fan of Shakespeare and thus would not miss a chance to take part in any of his plays in class. I was initially given a bit part role in our classroom adaptation of Macbeth but performed better than others who had leading roles. This led to a more prominent role in Romeo and Juliet, where I played Mercutio. Through the drama, my language also developed significantly. We had lengthy pages of lines to memorize and use in the stage which were expertly written by our English teacher (the de facto scriptwriter). Using the lines in front of a large group of people helped to build confidence and also equipped me with language variety. Therefore, my language development was aided by the role of the English teacher in high school, reading of short stories and other English resources and taking part in drama. To date, one can notice that I am very good at making strong arguments both in written and spoken form due to the many debates we held in class. I also have unique reading and comprehension capabilities, breaking complex treatises into theses and their attendant evidence. The events encountered in the early encounters with language thus continue to shape my usage today.