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7-Months
At 7-months, my first words were dadda because my parents would repeatedly say it and influence me to say it back. -
1-Year-Old
At 1-year-old, my parents would read me the Qur'an and read-aloud bedtime stories in English and Urdu. This is significant because this is the first time I was being exposed to "big" words, languages, and pronunciations. -
2-Years-Old
At 2-years-old, I would always listen to the ABC's and sing along. I was learning how to pronounce letters and sounds. -
3-Years-Old
At 3-years-old, I was becoming familiar with the letters of sight words and the sounds. I knew the order of the alphabet. I knew which letters were used to spell my name. My mother would grab onto my hand as I was holding the pencil to trace over the letters. I was becoming interested in reading, reading what letters go in each word and the sound of the letters. I loved listening to and reading the "Biscuit" book series. I would retell the storyline to my parents. -
5-Years-Old
At 5-years-old, I gravitated toward books with longer sentences and pictures. Although I knew some words in the books, I would sound out words that I did not know. To retell the story, I would also look at the pictures and guess. I enjoyed reading, writing independently, and having long conversations. -
3rd Grade
My homeroom teacher in 3rd grade would always read to us at the of the day before the dismissal bell would ring. He read with so much joy and he truly inspired me to read in my free time to continue to improve my literacy skills. -
ESOL
At the end of 4th grade, my family and I went on a long family summer vacation to Pakistan. I became familiar with the Urdu language and would speak it all the time because I was exposed to it. When I got back to the USA, I forgot how to read, write, and speak English because I was getting used to Urdu. I had a little accent. I was embarrassed and felt like I had to start over. I was afraid to speak and read again. -
The End Of ESOL
During 5th grade, my goal was to only be in ESOL for a year. I did not want to be an ESOL student in middle school. For my English class, I realized I was in a group for more assistance. I was not proud of myself because I was a good speaker and reader. My goal was to fix my weakness by reading everything and anything. Thankfully, I was only in ESOL for a little bit over 3-quarters of school. I achieved my goal and was confident in my reading and speaking again. -
SAT Prep
In 10th grade, I was taking SAT Prep to help me with math, reading, and writing before I actually took the SAT in 11th grade. SAT Prep helped me with my writing and expanded my vocabulary list. -
COVID-19 Reading & Journaling
After high school, I lost interest in reading books in my free time. When the pandemic hit in 2020, I started to read books that I enjoyed again and write more often. This was important to me because it is helping me advance in my literacy skills, especially with reading.
