Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 My Literary Narrative I look at the clock, and it is 10:45.

I quickly grab my things and head out of my Calculus class. Im feeling pretty tired because thinking about Calculus at 9:30 in the morning is draining. But as I leave, that tired feeling fades. Im heading over to the College of Health and Human Science. This is something I look forward to as it is where I volunteer as a conversation partner for the English Language Training Institute (ELTI). As opposed to Calculus, I actually enjoy where Im headed next. I get to talk with a bunch of International students so that they can practice their English. Each time I go, there is always someone new so it is never dull. The kids here are really entertaining, and Im getting to know a lot of them. Theres Kenny, who is from the Congo, with his outrageous personality. He always wants to look at my Calculus notes, for some reason he seems to like Calculus. Then there is Alfonso, who is from Venezuela, always with a crazy story. And Ricardo, who is from Chile, who likes to talk to me about meteorology (thats my major). I really enjoy talking with them, and I think I get something out of it too. As I hurry up the stairs to the ELTI room, I reflect on my own literacy past. I dont remember much about actually learning how to speak. However, I do remember struggling with certain words. I remember struggling with words that had the r sound to it. One word in particular was wrench. I just couldnt pronounce the first part of it correctly. It was frustrating because I could say it right in my head, but what came out was something completely different. I never had to actually take speech classes because as I got older it became easier for me to say certain words. And it wasnt all that noticeable to most people anyways. Though, Ive noticed there are certain words I still dont or cant pronounce correctly. For example, the name Roy. I cannot for the life of me say that name. I have no idea why I struggle with it, but I do. There are words that are a lot more complicated that I can say perfectly, yet I cant pronounce a

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 simple three letter word. Its very strange to think about. Ive learned to avoid saying that name if possible. I also found out just this year that I say the word again weird as well. I was talking with a couple of my friends and said the word and they thought it was funny. When I asked why, they told me that I said it with a country accent. This is really strange since I am from and lived in Northeast Ohio. Of course, older brothers are jerks and mine would always tease me about it. My brother would always ask me to say wrench because there were a couple of times I would say it without the r being pronounced correctly. Like I said, I grew out of it pretty quickly. Its funny because I just realized my brother and I are actually still competitive over speech. If hes talking and he stumbles over a word or sentence, I immediately start making fun of him for it. And he does the same to me. It could be as simple as leaving out a word while hes talking. And if one of us uses a big word, the other immediately says Spell it. We actually got into a ridiculous argument not too long ago. He said the word prerogative, and of course I told him to spell it. I knew there was no way he was going to get it because of the first three letters. He spelled it and got it wrong. I told him it was p-r-e not p-e-r. He didnt believe me so we looked it up. And I was rubbing it in his face that I was right when he said, Technically, you never finished spelling it so youre wrong too. I told him the rest of the word was obvious and he told me It doesnt matter because you never finished spelling it. I was so annoyed. We argued over it for a long time. I still count it as a win for me. The interesting thing is that I never really connected what we do now, to how he would tease me when we were little over words he knew I couldnt pronounce. I wonder if there is a connection there. In middle school, we were really competitive over our AR reading levels as well. I remember we had just moved to the West Virginia school system. Our old school never had an

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 AR program, so one of the first things they did was test our reading level. I was in the fifth grade and he was in seventh. My reading level (and I still remember it exactly because we argued about it so much) was 4.6-9.4. The librarian told me that it was very, very high for someone my age. My brothers reading level was 9.2-10.3. I could not stand that his was higher, and he knew it. He bragged about it all the time. What are you reading Heather? Oh, its only a 9.3. Does it have pictures? To this day, when we get into arguments over anything at all, he will randomly say: Who has the higher reading level, Heather? It seriously makes me crazy. I usually just tell him mine is probably higher by now. But again, I never really thought about it being connected to how he would tease me when we were little. There could be a connection there. One aspect of speech that I used to really dread was public speaking. Ive always been a very quiet person and it was always a struggle for me in school to get up in front of the class and give a speech or presentation. I remember one time in particular that was really hard on me. My seventh grade English teacher, Mr. D, wanted us to do a five minute how to presentation. We had to choose a hobby and then give the presentation on it. I had chosen volleyball, it was something I enjoyed and was fairly good at. Just my luck, he had picked me to go first out of the whole class. He actually asked me if I wanted to go first and I had told him that I would really rather not. He told me I would be fine. I thought this was so unfair, but there was nothing I could do. I told myself that I wasnt nervous, but as the date approached closer I started to feel really anxious. On the day of the presentation I walked into the class and was very nervous and anxious. My hands were actually shaking a little bit. I walked to the center of the room and began my presentation. As I was talking I could hear my voice shaking a little bit, and I felt my lips twitching nervously. I was very relieved when it was over. Despite what a terrible experience it was for me I leaned a lot about my pattern of speech. He told me that I talked way

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 too fast and I needed to slow it down. He also told me that I need to speak up. I actually felt like I was projecting my voice, but I guess I wasnt. I struggle with this because when I talk louder it seems to me as if I am almost yelling. This experience helped me to improve on future public speaking events. Even now when I have to talk in front of others I make sure to talk slowly and clearly. Ive also learned to talk loud enough so that to me it sounds like I am yelling. My freshmen year of high school I took Italian I as a foreign language. My instructors name was Ms. Sirocco. She was young and very outgoing. She was also very laidback. She was very fun and my favorite teacher. She genuinely wanted all of her students to do well, and everyone respected her. I picked up on Italian surprisingly fast. It was very easy for me to make sense of the language. I was good at reading and writing it. Ive always been good at reading and spelling in English. To me, its just as easy in Italian. Once you learn the alphabet, it is very easy to spell a word even if it is a different language. At least that is how it works for me. Ive also always been good at reading in English, and its the same in Italian. Pronunciation also came easy to me. Again, once I learned the alphabet, I knew the sounds. From there I could easily string them together. I remember we used to have board races before each exam. We would be split up into two teams and one person from each team would go up to the board; whoever wrote the correct answer first won a point for their team. The winning team would get two bonus points on the exam. Everyone wanted the bonus points so everyone took the game really seriously. I was pretty good at the game and would usually win my round. The other kids would joke and say that it wasnt fair because I was secretly part Italian. This was very amusing considering I dont look Italian at all. This quickly became my favorite class. I loved being able to speak another language. My friends, who took Spanish instead, would try to teach me words in Spanish while I

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 would try to teach them words in Italian. I think this was a major milestone in my literary history because I learned the speech patterns of another culture. I became comfortable speaking words that I was previously unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, at the end of the school year Ms. Sirocco resigned, so I turned to Spanish. My sophomore year I took Spanish I. That year we got a new Spanish teacher, Mrs. Trigg. She was an odd character to say the least. She was a heavy-set woman with bright red hair that was very curly and frizzy. She was originally from the United States but had been living in Guatemala for the past several years. She was not very well liked. She did know her Spanish and was very fluent in it. However, she wasnt very good at teaching it to her students. Also, she got angry and upset over the silliest things. I very much disliked her. She was, in my opinion, unprofessional and therefore hard to take seriously. I remember her handing back one of my tests. She had graded it in crayon and there were coffee and food stains all over it. She frequently marked things wrong that were actually right. This is a big part of the reason why nobody took her seriously. In class, she didnt actually teach the material very well. Sometimes she corrected us if we said something wrong and sometimes she didnt. This led to a lot of confusion as to what was right and what was wrong. Her tests were very difficult for everyone, probably because we were unprepared. These tests were a lot more difficult than the tests I had in Italian. I found that for the first time, I really had to study extensively to get the grade that I wanted. Despite her poor teaching methods and difficult exams, I also picked up on Spanish fairly quickly. After I adjusted to her techniques and methods, I started to do very well. I became very interested in the Spanish language just like I had in Italian. Even though I did not like the teacher, I really enjoyed

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 Spanish. Spanish II was much of the same because to everyones vast disappointment she was still the Spanish teacher. Spanish III however was very different. Everyone in Spanish was ecstatic to hear that Mrs. Trigg was no longer the Spanish teacher. (Probably due to the many complaints by both parents and students as well as the poor grades.) Our new teacher was Miss Wright. She was young, about 26, and very cool. Everyone in Spanish III was either a junior or senior so she was close in age to us. Because of this she related to us very easily. She was one-hundred percent different from Mrs. Trigg. This is probably why everyone loved her. She was really funny and would actually swear in class. This was something we were not used to from teachers. She acted more like a student than a teacher. Despite this she taught the class in ways we could easily understand. She was consistent in her teaching methods which was really helpful. She quickly became well-liked. Spanish III became the class that I most looked forward to. Everyone did very well on the tests. She made Spanish fun which was something we were not used to. I became very confident in my Spanish capabilities. I remember her telling us that she had studied abroad in Spain for a semester in college. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. She would tell us tales about what it was like. Im actually now considering studying abroad my junior year in college. My literary journey is far from over and I am even now continuing it. Right now, I am a volunteer conversation partner for the English Language Training Institute (ELTI). Every Wednesday I go to the ELTI lab in the CHHS building. I basically hang out in the lobby and talk with the students there who are in the process of learning English. This gives them the opportunity to practice their English in a relaxed atmosphere. I also feel that it is beneficial to me as well. I can be very quiet at times and this kind of forces me to be more talkative. It also

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 requires me to think upon my own vocabulary. For instance, if theyre struggling for a word, I have to think of the word in English that gets their point across. It is very interesting talking to students who are in the process of learning English. They make me reflect upon the English language. For example, last week they were asking about American slang. They especially wanted to know what it meant for someone to be tripping. We told them it had three definitions: acting crazy, a bad reaction to drugs, or literally falling. They asked why the word had three definitions that were completely different and had nothing to do with each other. This stumped me, and I started wondering the same. For the first time, I realized how confusing English must seem for someone in the process of learning it. Its a great experience talking with them because I get to view English from their perspective. Its really interesting. I know Ive talked a lot about my foreign language classes and foreign language in general. This is because I think these classes were a big part of my literary history. I also think these experiences have impacted the decisions I make today. I never really thought about it before, but I see the connection now. All my experiences with different aspects of language is probably connected to why I now volunteer as a conversation partner. Also, by opening myself up to learning new languages, I became more confident in my native language. I would compare Spanish and Italian to English, and I would find the similarities and differences. I believe this gave me a better understanding of my own language. I also think it gave me more confidence speaking in my own language. After having to do public speaking in a language that I was not fluent in, by comparison giving a presentation in my own language seemed a lot easier. Spanish and Italian instilled a lot of confidence in me and for that I am very grateful. I think foreign language is very beneficial because not only do you get an understanding for another culture, but you get a deeper understanding of your own language.

Heather Davis September 18, 2013 English 1103-011 It may not seem like much to some people, but I believe these are the events that have made up a big portion of my literary history. The best parts of my literary history were my foreign language classes in high school. The worst parts? My public speaking experiences. Whether I liked or disliked these experiences, I had something to learn from each of them. Because of these experiences I feel confident in using my language skills. I am a lot more confident with speaking in public. I am also more confident in ability to use English precisely. This confidence can be traced back to these past experiences in my literary history.