Name: Ngoc Le Student ID: 800-815782

Professor: Debarati Dutta Course: ENGL 1100

MID-SEMESTER WRITING
(Based on Guofang Lis Family Literacy: Learning from an Asian Immigrant Family)

The reading was assigned to us last weekend is Family Literacy: Learning from an Asian Immigrant Family by Guofang Li. It is about Yang Li, a six-year-old Chinese boy. In this research, Guofang borrows four interrelated facets in the light of Leseman and de Jong to categorize Yangs literacy experiences at home. Four facets are Literacy Opportunity, Literacy Instruction, Cooperation and Socioemotional Quality. First, literacy opportunity is the access to literacy in whatever form. Not only having his own English books and magazines, Yang also has a large world map and an English alphabet. His parents also provide him chances to watch cartoons on English-speaking channels and visit various library and bookstores in town. Second, literacy instruction refers to the guidance or explanations given by parents, teachers or even friends. Since English is a big concern for Yang when he starts school in Canada, his parents design a lot of activities for him to learn English at home. They make flash cards, bilingual word lists and also ask him to copy the books as well as learn the words by heart. Next, literacy cooperation is an insightful factor showing how people participate in literacy activities. Yang is the child that has an active cooperation in his literacy practices. Although he is just six years old, Yang seems to be very interested in books and reading exercises. Finally, there is socioemotional quality. It is a psychological term that denotes the relationship between a persons emotion and the influence of others (others can be parents, friends or the society). In this research, Guofang brings into view multiple of pressures that are exerted on Yang. They come from his parents high expectation, peer pressure or even the differences in Chinese and Canadian schooling system. Analyzing Yangs literacy life through these 4 factors depicts the advantages and disadvantages that Yang and other immigrant children face when attending Englishspeaking community. I am also an immigrant in the United States. Unlike Yang, I came to the States when I was 19. Despite the fact that I have been learning English for 13 years, there are still a bunch of difficulties for me to communicate and get along with other people. I will write and compare the differences between my home literacy environments - when I was in my homeland - Vietnam and when I am in the U.S. Fortunately, even in Vietnam or America, I always have such great literacy opportunities. Since I was 6 or 7, my Mom started to teach me English at home. At this time, the fastest way for me to learn a foreign language is through the songs. Therefore, my Mom bought me some cassettes together with the text books to help me enjoy learning. The song that goes with me until these days is The ABC song. Up until now, whenever someone asks me whether letter j is before or after letter h, I sing that song to

remind myself and figure out the answer. When I was about 10, my parents decided to send me to an English center in town twice a week to practice English with some foreign teachers. At the weekend, they also took me to Xuan Thu Bookstore in downtown. This bookstore was full of English books in almost every topic. I could spend a whole day wandering around this place to find and read books. Then, in middle school and high school, instead of going to the bookstore at weekend, my friends and I sometimes joined some English clubs where many English learners were gathered to practice speaking. Many years later when I immigrated to the U.S, I had more and more chances to improve my second language because America is an English speaking country. Nowadays, I use English, speak in English, read in English whenever I go shopping, visit the doctor or ask for direction. English is everywhere and at every time. Moreover, my friends in Vietnamese Student Association sometimes come to my house to practice dancing. We talk and discuss in both English and Vietnamese. It is the time when I pick up many American slangs and idioms from them, who was born and grew up in the States.

My first English text book is Lets go by Cambridge publisher. Next is my literacy instruction in English. My mom is my first English teacher. She taught me many English songs when I was little. She sang and danced with me whenever we learnt a new song. We usually took turn to read the sample conversations in each English section. My Mom always tried to make me learn English in the most relaxed and enjoyable way. Besides, Mom was the one helped me with the homework I had in class. She revised my work twice a week as I was in elementary school. Not only learning from my Mom, I also had instructions from my teachers and my friends when I was at school. Because once I grew up, my English developed beyond what my Mom could help, she ended with providing me some supporting tools such as dictionaries and Internet. Afterward, when I came to the States, I received a myriad of direct guidance from my uncle, who has been living in America for 15 years. Last January, he spent almost every weekend to teach me how to drive. Every auto parts names that he taught, from the brake to the trunk, the windshield were so much strange for a Vietnamese girl

like me. He asked me to learn all these new vocabularies by heart in order to pass the driving test and most importantly, to drive in safe. My uncle also helped me correct the essay when I applied to UNC Charlotte and explained what I didnt understand about the lessons at school. I have been learning a lot from him, not just some English skills or vocabulary but also the U.S lifestyle. Furthermore, thanks to his little sons, I can exercise listening to the U.S accent and sharpen my oral skill. His little kids usually show me the mispronounced words and my mistake in placing the emphasis. They point out my problems in pronunciation and help me fix them. Assuredly, The United States is where my English takes a momentous step toward fluency with a multiple of help from other family members.

Celebrating Thanksgiving 2012 with my cousins Third, I will describe my attitude of cooperation in literacy. Since the day my Mom had my little sister and got busier with her work, I got accustomed to learning on my own. In my homeland, students were not provided any lookers at school, so we had to carry books and other school suppliers back and forth every day. In addition, for the reason that I have about 12 different subjects in a week, I had to check the schedule and reorganize my backpack every day. At first, it was pretty hard for an 8-year-old girl like me to discipline myself to finish homework, and prepare books, pencils, boards or other stationery for the next class day. But soon after, I no longer got indolent to make preparation because when I did a good job, my teacher always paid me a compliment in front of the class. These little words encouraged and made me very enjoy self-learning. As I moved to the sixth grade, English became a compulsory subject at school. For each semester, I had about 20 tests in English. All of them were written tests which focused only on grammar and reading comprehensive. My English since then were improved academically in written form. Because English was not my daily language in Vietnam, I did not have much time to manifest my speaking skill if I was not in an English club. On the contrary, at present I communicate in English almost every day. The English I expose to right now is more conversational than what I had learnt before. However, the grammar rules, sentences structure, and wide range of vocabularies that I was taught in Vietnam become a solid foundation for the colloquial English I use

today. Furthermore, to gain confidence in English speaking, I invest time to talk with my little cousins and watch videos on YouTube with closed captions. I always have my little notebook with me to jot down new words with special spelling and emphasis too.

One of the activities in my English club about the topic Casual Clothes Last but not least, there is socioemotional quality. My English learning pathway is divided into three eclectic periods. From 6 to 14 years old, learning English is my passion. I could spend a whole day reading books while listening to M2M or Backstreet Boyss CDs. From 15 to 18, learning English is my duty. I have to study very hard in order to get good grades. And when I came here, English is my future and at the same time my biggest pressure. I neither was born in America nor grew up here, so my English accent is somehow heavy. It comes with a spate of difficulties for me to make myself understood when speaking English to both native and non-native speakers. I always have the feeling that not many English-speaking people are interested in talking with me because my English is not as fluently as theirs. When I work in group, owing to the language barrier, I cannot fully express my ideas and persuade people. Additionally, like many Asian parents, my Mom and Dad also expect me to get a high GPA in college and find a stable job after graduation. My parents transferred all of their dreams to me when deciding to immigrate to America at the age of 50s. I know it was the most prodigious and sacrificial decision in their lifetime. Therefore, I had to try my best to success and make them proud of me. But due to the limited in this second language, I am so nervous whether my ability is recognized by the

employers. Similarly, family responsibility is one of my concerns. Because I am the oldest child and my English is absolutely better than my parents, I take responsibility for all of the English-related issues at home. I act like parents to take care of my little sisters homework, pay bills, make appointments and do all the paperwork. All of these intellectual aspirations, incumbencies, and language difficulty burden on and exhaust me sometimes. In a nutshell, after reading Guofang Lis research about Yang and thinking about my home literacy environment, I found a lot of connections between me and Yang. Born in the Asian country and immigrate to the English-speaking community are what I share with him. The familiarity in family background gives me a precious key to enter Yangs world and have a thorough thought about the writers idea. But unlike Yang, my literacy is the combination between Vietnamese and English. Although there are a lot of challenges ahead for my English literacy, I believe that I can achieve my dream if I work hard.