My Language and Literacy Development

The earliest moment I can remember about my early language and literacy development is when I was about four years old in preschool. My teacher had little paper signs up on a wall that went across from one end to the other much like the alphabet banner that is place above the front chalk or white board in elementary school classrooms. On these little signs were vowels and double, long sounding vowels like “oo” and “ee”. The was a little picture next to each of these vowels such as a bee next to “ee” and a book and a pool next to “oo”. I don’t really remember going over these in class, but I’m sure we did since they stick out in my mind so much after all these years. I also remember that my sheets in preschool that I used at naptime had my first and last name written in all capital letters in thick, black permanent marker on one corner, “SEAN TUCKER”. I remember thinking, “That’s not the way it should be. It should look like ‘Sean Tucker,’ with the little letters, not all big letters.” I remember even telling my mom about it and said “uh-huh” in the half-listening and uninterested way that parents do when their child tells them some trivial fact about their day at school.

Another early exposure I had to early language and literacy development was that my mother used to read to me quite often. I remember her reading my favorite book to me when I was five, a red hardcover book that had brief adaptations of many Disney cartoons and movies such as Pinocchio and some Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck stories. If my mom couldn’t read to me, I also had storybooks with records that I would listen to and follow along with the words and pictures. These were the ones that would chime or beep when you had to turn the page. I had many different ones: The Rescuers, Peter and the Wolf, Bugs Bunny, and Scooby Doo were some that I remember the most. I listened to these so much that I just about had everyone memorized.

Later on in life, from six years old to my teenage years, I always remember my parents reading various novels constantly. In fact, they still do. Because they read so much and read so much to me, I picked up reading leisurely at a vary young age. My grandma gave me many classics such as The Prince and the Pauper, Great Expectations, Treasure Island, The Time Machine, and War of the Worlds when I was in the fifth and sixth grades. My mom got me a set of Conan books and I read all of these and feel in love with them including the books my grandma gave me.

I feel that, for me, my family had a greater impact on my language and literacy development much more than school did. I don’t remember reading much other than little short stories in elementary school and I cannot remember even one of their titles or plots. But I remember all the books I read that my family gave me when I was in elementary and junior high school. I’m sure I did learn a great deal in school, but I just cannot remember specifics like I can with the things I learned from reading at home. In fact, what I do remember from reading at school seemed mechanical and forced unlike the pleasure I felt from reading at home for myself. It’s funny how I can remember the corrections my dad would make on my speech such as saying “may” when asking permission instead of “can” but I don’t remember much from my early teachers other than that they were there teaching something in the classroom. Because of my family’s love for reading, I have this love and I continue to pursue it via education, continued leisurely reading, and reading to my daughter whom I hope will pick up this habit from me as I carry on the tradition of reading to her, taking her to the library, and giving her many different books of which some are already favorites of hers.