Riahipour 1

Cover Letter
The revision process was way easier than writing the draft version. Ive done two main
revisions to my memoir. First of all, I corrected all the grammatical errors, especially those errors
that my friend had written on my memoir paper during peer workshop session. Then I added more
details and explanations to it in order to make the memoir clearer to the readers. I tried to revise
the vague parts of the memoir based on the feedback that you had given to me, by adding more
detailed personal experiences. I also tried to explain what caused what! For example, in the
paragraph that I had said that I decided to go to an English-institute, I had not explained why I
took that decision. Therefore, I revised that part by explaining the cause of my decision. The
hardest part of the revision process was that sometimes I did not where should I put new details
and sentences, therefore I had to try it in different ways in order to find the best possible option for
adding new sentences. I mean organizing sentences and paragraphs after adding new sentences
was a little bit tough. I also used an MS word add-on called Grammarly which helped me find
some grammatical errors. Lastly, I changed some words with their synonyms in order to avoid
using a single word multiple times through the memoir.

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Kiavash Riahipour
Professor Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1101-007
7 October 2016

Is it easy to develop a second language?

Literacy seems to be a very simple word since most people define it as the ability to read
and write, but it is not as simple as it looks. For instance, personally speaking, literacy is the ability
to do daily tasks easily, while, when I asked my mother about the definition of literacy, she defined
it as the ability to read and write, hence, different people define literacy as their own experiences
and that is what makes thinking about literacy more interesting. I have been developing several
literacies in my life such as computer literacy, internet literacy, school literacy, and sports literacy.
Even though every literacy is different from one another, the combination of various literacies is
the key point that leads us to be more successful in the future. For example, the combination of
American literacy and English literacy is the best possible way to improve both of the literacies.
The most challenging literacy development that I have had is English Literacy. Undoubtedly, all
my classmates in the UWRT course have developed their English literacy, but those classmates
who were born inside the United States have developed it in a completely different way than I
have. The following paragraphs illustrate the story of my English literacy development as I moved
between different countries with different cultures.
I was born in Iran, a country in the middle east, and its first language is Persian. The very
first time that I started developing my Persian literacy probably goes back to when I was a little
kid and I started speaking at home with my parents. I have been speaking, thinking, and writing in

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Persian all my life and in different places such as school, college, and home. You do not know
how you have learned your first language! The only thing that you know is that you can express
your opinions without thinking on what to say, hence, I have not had any difficulties in developing
my first language.
In contrary, when it comes to learning a second language it becomes more difficult. Since
English is the first language in the world, I, as every other kid in Iran started learning English by
taking English courses in the school. When I was about 10 years old, I started learning English.
But since the English class was way over my head I did not like it. Taking the English class was
not by my own choice, but because I had to take the course like everybody else in the school.
Needless to say, the first steps of learning English was becoming familiar with the English
alphabet. I remember the first time that I looked at an English letter I was sort of confused! I had
not seen anything like those letters before. I had been writing from right to left before that time
since Persian is written in that way, therefore, my confusion increased when I noticed that English
is written from left to right. The first English assignment was about writing and pronouncing
English letters in a correct way, for instance, I wrote a complete page of all English letters in order
to get the hang of it. I thought to myself many times about why I have to learn English while I am
not using it. It seemed to waste my time because I never thought that I would start speaking and
writing in English someday. People around me were speaking and writing in Persian, in other
words, I had access to Persian-speaking community everywhere such as home, school, college,
etc. On the other hand, my access to English-speaking communities was limited to the English
classes only and it seemed not to be an essential skill. As I was growing up, English courses got
more and more advanced by introducing new grammar rules, new vocabularies, new expressions
and so on. The first English sentence that I learned was hello, how are you?. If taking English

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courses was not mandatory, I would not take any English courses until the age of 15! I was
developing my English, but probably not in the most effective way because I was not interested in
the second language.
When I was around 15 years old, I was not that little kid who didnt want to waste his time
on learning a second language. One day I saw my uncle in his home while he was reading and
English book, I asked him why he did not read a Persian book, he said that because English books
are more accurate and are more up to date compared to Persian books which are mostly translated
into English. In addition, every video game that I was playing at that time were in English and I
could not understand conversations between the characters in those video games. I noticed that I
needed to improve my language as it could help me become more literate and knowledgeable and
it could help me gain access to more resources. My tendency to have more skills, lead me to take
an English class in an English institute called Kish English institute. The classes met three times
a week in the afternoon. Every time I had to get to class, it was either by a taxi or bus. I was doing
all these things because I was becoming more interested in English and I was more motivated to
speak English. At this time my access to English was still limited to English classes in the English
institute and high school. Those classes in the English Institute helped me develop my English
literacy a lot since we talked about various subjects in the classes, such as cinema, music, and
sports. Unfortunately, my passion for being a good English speaker did not last that much long
and my math and science in school were getting harder, hence, I stopped going to the English
institute after about 2 years.
I was still studying English from the age of 17 to the age of 20 in the school and college,
but not for a specific purpose. When I was 21 years old, my family and I moved to the United
States. This was the time that I felt that I was lacking English skills. In the first days, I could hardly

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understand what other guys who were around me were saying since they were talking so fast! In
addition, I could not speak English well, because I thought It is bad not to talk fluently. Therefore,
I was holding myself from talking and expressing my ideas in English! As time was passing, my
listening skills were getting better without doing any special effort to improve it. Being among
American people, watching movies, TV shows such as Jimmy Fallon, and family feud helped me
a lot in improving my listening skills and understanding what others say around me. Actually, it
was not my first time that I was watching a movie in the English language, I had watched numerous
English-language movies and series before, but I did not pay attention to what they were saying
since I was using Persian subtitles, so I just read the subtitles instead of listening what people say
in the movie! Meanwhile, I started studying various books in different categories, a grammar book,
vocabulary book, expression book, and American accent book was among the books that helped
me develop my English literacy. Actually taking the TOEFL test; which is a test for non-English
students who want to attend to college inside the United States was the main reason that made me
read different English books. All of these English books as well as the English-speaking
community that I was living in, with the best possible sponsors, have helped me gain and develop
English skills.
I have been developing my English literacy in very different stages of my life. At the first
stage, my English teacher and the English books in school introduced English to me as a second
language. In the second stage, my individual passion and tendency of being good at English
persuaded me to take English class in an English institute. Until that time my access to English
had been limited to English classes. At the third stage, which is the most important stage of the
development, the American community and people who were speaking around me, TV shows,
Radio and specific English books played a key role in the developing process. In other words, my

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access to English community increased a lot in the thirds stage as I have been in totally English
communities such as college.
As for now, I am still struggling with English, I sometimes do not understand what other
people say because of different accents that they have, and It is still hard for me to speak English
fluently. I gain new knowledge in English and learn new tips every day, for example, I remember
that I used to speak exactly like I was writing, but afterward, I noticed that spoken English in
different from formal English. For instance, in the formal form, I should say Are you okay?,
while in the spoken form, I say you okay?. I also take notes of new words that I hear that I do
not know their definition, for example at the beginning of the semester I heard the word literacy,
and I did not know what it meant, therefore I wrote it on a piece of paper and after class I looked
up in a dictionary to find its definition. In addition, I have just started watching friends series in
order to improve my spoken language, I take notes of conversations and words that seem to be
useful and essential. Therefore, after each episode I learn new words and expressions simply by
watching the series, not only it is fun but also it helps me to improve my English skills.
As a final point, the most important thing is that Im keeping up with developing my
English literacy, no matter how long it takes and how many times I will make a mistake in writing
and speaking English. My goal is to be able to communicate in English in a proper way by
efficiently using the significant and helpful sponsors that I have.