As I have mentioned previously, I
am a daughter of Japanese immigrants. This means that I speak Japanese at home
and English outside of home (except at the Japanese community school where
Japanese speaking is a must)—a norm for my family and me.
Because I was learning two languages
at once, I struggled with reading and writing at school. Communicating was not
too bad, as long as I blend in with my schoolmates by learning the
conversational English used on the school grounds. At home, same thing, as long
as my parents understood what I was saying. With my siblings (my brother and
sister), we communicated in a mixture of Japanese and English.
If you are wondering what kind of bi-language
mixture my siblings and I used, here is an example:
My brother: “I borrowed some manga
(Japanese comics) from nihongo-gakkou (Japanese school).”
Me: “Nani karita (what did
you borrow)?”
My brother: “Doraemon.”
Me: “We need to keep that from Mammi
(we called our mom “mammi,” our version of “mommy” or “mom”). You know
she will okoru (get mad) when she finds them.”
My brother: “I’ll hide it at the bottom
of my kabann (school bag).”
You get the idea.
Because my siblings and I tried to
survive life by using English at school and Japanese at home, we struggled with
reading and writing both languages. I chose picture books as a choice of
literature (illustrated fairy tales in English, manga books in Japanese)
because I felt I got more from the pictures and illustrations than black
letters on a white page. That being said, I did not stop there.
Our school principal encouraged
reading by setting 30 minutes nearly every morning for all students to read. The
students have freedom in their choice of literature (as long as the content is appropriate
for their age group—which includes comic books).
One day, one of my classmates in
grade four, who was an avid reader, made a recommendation to me. It was “The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Sadly, I was one of those who chose a book by
its cover (and its thickness and size of print), so I passed on the book.
However, I realized I needed to read something with more substance than just
picture books, and that was when I came across a slim volume of short mysteries
called “Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective” written by Donald J. Sobol in my
classroom library. I found myself engrossed in the book and soon I wanted more.
Within my grade four learning, I
borrowed more “Encyclopedia Brown” series then moved on to other chapter books (“No
Flying in the House” by Betty Brock, a collection of fairy tales by Brothers
Grimm, “Socks” by Beverly Cleary, and more). After reading those books, I
finally picked up “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and read the entire
book.
Reading was a challenge for me, but
once I discovered that not only it was possible to accomplish, but I also found
the joy in reading. I hope that my readers (or future readers) will be
encouraged after reading this.
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