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Conflict of Two Languages
When I was 4 years old I was living in Karela, India and I went to an English-medium school were English was the primary language taught. Malayalam is the primary language of Karela and wasn't the language focused on teaching. Trying to learn a second language, one that wouldn't help me to live and navigate around Karela, was frustrating. The two languages have no similarities and was a confusing start to my literacy history. A clip of Malayalam -
Movie Subtitles as Literacy
As a child my I didn't do much reading outside of what I required to do for class. My parents never really read books to me. I loved watching movies and I used to watch a lot of Indian movies that were not in my language. I would watch these movies with subtitles and reading the subtitles while watching these movies was the most reading I did. One of my favorite movies as a child was Devdas -
A Child Called It
When I was around 12 years old, was when I first showed any interest in reading. One book in particular caught my interest and that was A Child Called It. I found the book to be sad yet interesting. It was the book that made me want to help people, especially children. I read it multiple times and would not find another book I cared to read for a while. -
Bharatanatyam, Literacy in Dance
Around age 13, I got really into an ancient form of classical Indian dance called [Bharatanatyam]9https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0K16Kp_Mr4). This was a very popular style of dance to get involved with in the part of India where I am from. It is a type of literacy that involves music, facial expressions, body language, and dance to tell a story. It occupied a lot of my time and I learned how to express myself though literacy in a very different way than the norm. -
The Kite Runner
My senior year of High School I had to read a book for a class that changed my attitude toward reading and literacy in general. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was the first book I read from start to finish for a class. It opened up a lifetime of love for reading that brought many great books to me. It was a moving story that will live with me my entire life. It my eyes to things around the world and taught me a lot. The Kite Runner now a movie. -
Literacy Through Art
In 2008 I started art school and developed my skills in literacy through art. I used drawing, painting, and sewing as a way to express myself. I became very passionate in this, which in turn taught me to become more literate in colors, shapes, fabrics, textures, and mediums. The Starry Night is one of my favorite paintings and I'd look at the for hours trying to understand it and it's emotions. I was inspired make dresses out of vintage sarees that my mother had which told a story of it's own. -
Map of Florence, Italy
I moved to Florence, Italy for art school and had to learn to get around the city on my own. I had to teach myself how to be literate in maps. I had a paper map of Florence I used to find my way around everywhere. It was the first time I've used a map and soon was able to get around all of Florence by just looking at that one map. Learning to read and navigate through a map expanded my literacy skills and immensely and became a skill I can use for the rest of my life. -
Reading to my Nephew
When my nephew was born, I babysat him a lot and spent a lot of time reading to him. This got me very interested in many children's books. Such as Shel Silverstein's books, fairy tales, Peter Rabbit, and many more. I would read to him as much as I could and that resulted in his love for books an being read to. Doing this provided me with the opportunity to explore children's books and stories, which lead to my love to analyze and blog about children's books and fairy tale.
