Chapman 1
Leah Chapman
English 1101-005
Kimberly Turner
November 2, 2012
Literacy Interview with Marco Angulo
Growing up in Lincolnton, North Carolina, I always thought that everybody had the same exposure to literacy as I did. My mom would always take me to Story Hour once a week at the local library where the librarian wouldread aloud from a children’s book, and afterwards my mom would let me select a few books to take home. Since Lincolnton was such a small town, I assumed that everyone else in the world was like me; therefore, they must have done the exact same thing when they were younger. However, my opinion changed after I interviewed my brother-in-law Marco Angulo about literacy in his life. Even though Marco isof a different ethnicity, I have always viewed him as another member of my family. After interviewing him, I was shocked when I realized that not everyone has had the same exposure to literacy as I had, and also not everyone views the definition of literacy the same way[KT1].
The first major difference between an American Caucasian girl and a Costa Rican boy is the geographical locationin where they were raised. Living is Costa Rica is “totally different” then living in America (Angulo). One of the differences that Marco emphasized was the idea of happiness. A young child from Costa Rica might only get a soccer ball for Christmas and that would result in the child being extremely happy; even getting a new outfit “means everything” to a kid in Costa Rica (Angulo). In America the average kidwould probably expect more for Christmas then just a soccer ball. I remember when I was younger I would keep count of all the presents under the tree that had my name on it because I wanted to see if I had received more presents from Santa Claus than my brother orsister[KT2]. The idea of being raised in two countries made me question how literacy was perceived in Costa Rica and how it differed from the United States (Angulo[KT3]).
Although the geographical location is different, I did discover that Marco and I shared similar experiences with our literacy. Marco was first taught to read by his Mabefore he even started school. When we were children, both Marco and I remember playing with blocks that had letters printed on them. He enjoyed playing with blocks but he “hated reading” because he did not like to sit still (Angulo). He even went further into his explaining his disdain in reading by describing the first book he remembered reading. The book he remembers the most in his childhood was a Spanish book entitled Coco Ri[KT4]. He was drawn to the book because the cover consisted of “a hat that really wasn’t a hat but a snake eating an elephant” (Angulo). He never finished the book because “after I heard it was about a snake eating an elephant I knew it was stupid” (Angulo). His older sister would read aloud to him, but he would never really listen to her. He does; however, blame his terrible spelling on the fact that he did not read. The fact that he could not spell came back to haunt him in the future. One of his worse memories of his childhood was when he misspelled the word Thursday in Spanish. His mother made him write the word ‘Jueves’ five hundred times on a piece of paper in order to remember how to spell it. He told me that he will never forget how to spell ‘Jueves’ again (Angulo). Marco gained most of his influence in literacy from his family in his home. He already had a set foundation in reading and speaking before he started school. Even his most memorable memory in writing took place in his home. This shows that he most values the literacy he was taught in his householdas opposed to somewhere else[KT5].
During my interview with Marco, he kept referring to the different approach to education in Costa Rica, and how it was a huge change when he went to school in the United States. I then learned that the schooling in Costa Rica was not taught the same as it was in the United States. Marco attended school in Costa Rica until January of his seventh grade year. “School there was very hard,” he explained to me “the [KT6]standards are set way higher [then in America]” (Angulo). Each student must attend a total of thirteen different classes a week. If a student were to fail one class out of the thirteen then that student would have to repeat the entire grade. Already a connection can be made that the people of Costa Rica took literacy in schooling very seriously. Since there is no government aid in funding schools, students had to purchase their own textbooks and other materials they would need for class[KT7]. Marco [KT8]told me that he did not like reading or writing fiction at all. He has always preferred writing and reading papers that included factual information. He also believes that the most important aspect in writing is to get the point across. Jokingly he added that “spelling should not matter” when trying to make a point with writing (Angulo).Marco’s preferred writing style matches the type of writing he had to perform in school. In a majority of his classes he had to write using formal language and factual information. Marco did admit that he did not always write using formal diction because he tended to write like he spoke. The informal use of language was not deemed acceptable in his schooling in Costa Rica and the United States nor was spelling incorrectly inthe papers he had to write.
In Marco’s household, neither he nor his sisters could score less than a 93 on an exam or they would be punished. His family had very high expectations for him and his sister’s because literacy was very important to them. Once he left his home country to attend school in America, he found the classes to be “so easy it was a joke” (Angulo). It seemed like the American schools had lower expectations for their students[KT9]. The teachers in the United States seemed to help the students that struggled in the class more than the teachers in Costa Rica. Marco had the ability to take honor classes and AP classes in high school because he had already learned the material that would be covered in the regular classes. Also the schools in Costa Rica did not offer AP or honors credit classes for their students. This shows that the approaches to literacy in education in the two countries are different, but both of the approaches are effective on students. Students in America have the option to choose the classes they want to take in both middle and high school. In high school I took a mythology class, I had very little knowledge of the subject prior to the class, but after the semester I had become literate in Norse, Greek, and Gaelic mythology. Costa Rican schools did not allow the students the freedom to pick their own classes; however, they did have a larger school load than the schools in America. Since Marco had to take thirteen different classes a week, he a wider range of subjects he was literate in[KT10].
I asked Marco to describe how his literacy affected his culture. The major connection he made was about his accent. When Marco started school in the United States, he did not speak English. He was placed in an ‘English as a second language[KT11]’ class to help him gain a better understanding of the language. It took him two years before he was able to speak and write fluently in English. He found English to be very confusing because he “was taught proper English, and people did not speak that way” (Angulo). This shows that literacy is not just speaking but also the culture of people[KT12]. I took a French class my senior year in high school. Although I passed the class with an ‘A’ average, I am still not fluent enough in the culture to survive living in France for the rest of my life. Marco learned English, but he also had to learn about the English culture as a whole.
Marco’s ethnicity has also caused him to appreciate being literate. In the country of Costa Rica, children were given the option to either go to school or to work. Unlike in the United States, if a child decided to pursue an education then they were not allowed to work[KT13]. When I was in high school, a majority of the students had extra part-time jobs after school. This was not the case in Costa Rica; education was considered your job in that country. “I come from a place,” Marco described to me “where if you don’t go to school you go to work even if you are six years old” (Angulo). I was never forced to become literate[KT14]. I have always enjoyed learning, so I never questioned why I had to attend school. Even when I was younger, I spent my free time reading and writing. I have always seen literacy as being second nature whether I am at home or at school. However, not all people have been as lucky as I am. Marco and his family had to make the decision whether to send him to school as a child or to spend him into the workforce. Lucky for Marco and his family, they were considered upper middle class in Costa Rica so money was not a huge issue for them. This allowed Marco and his sisters the opportunity to gain an education[KT15].
Marco can today be found today working as a manager at McDonalds. Every day he must use his literacy skills. As a manager, it is important to be able to communicate with the workers and with the customers. Also he has to deal with sending emails to the regional manager, reading reports, and understanding manuals. Many people may think that working in a fast food restaurant would not require a lot of literary skills. I always thought that fast food restaurants were a place where high school dropouts went to work[KT16]. However, after talking to Marco I learned that working in the fast food industry a person still needs to have the basic literacy skills in reading, writing, and speaking. Even simple everyday tasks require a person to comprehend the task and use literary skills to complete it. People who are taking the orders must be able to communicate clearly with the customer and also be able to comprehend what the customer is ordering. Every worker at McDonalds must be able to read because the customer’s order shows up in words on a screen (Angulo). This shows that literacy will always play an important role in everyone’s life. After a person finishes high school, they will still be forced to use different styles of literacy everyday of their life.
At the end of my interview with Marco, I asked him what his definition of literacy was. I was expecting the typical response of the “ability to read or write,” but instead he answered with “literacy is the want to learn and the want to know[KT17]” (Angulo). His perception of literacy is different than mine; however, I do agree with him that the impact literacy has on a person’s life is due to the effort they put into learning. “You [KT18]are not ignorant just because you don’t know how to read or write because if you want [to learn] then that makes you not illiterate” (Angulo). Some people are not given the chance or the option to learn to read and write. In the future, Marco plans to go back to a community college and take English classes to help him become more fluent in all aspects of the English language. Although he was brought up in a different country thenI, his literacy still plays an important role in his life, and he plans to keep expanding it in the future.
Works Cited
Angulo, Marco. Personal Interview.28 2012.
Leah,
This is a very interesting paper! I think you’ve done a fantastic job of breaking down some difficult issues, and your choice of interviewee was smart. One thing I challenge you to do is consider how gender has influenced your literacy, as well as Marco’s. Does it differ from culture to culture? Work on a few of those grammatical errors and address the questions I asked as I read, and I think you’ll have a top notch work!
[KT1]Fantastic intro!
[KT2]Okay, this is certainly interesting. How exactly is this related to literacy though? I think you’re trying to get at the idea of the have and have nots. But I think you need to make the connection more obvious.
[KT3]You don’t need to cite unless you quote directly.
[KT4]Italics, not underlining
[KT5]Great job! Also, very interesting.
[KT6]me. “The
[KT7]Does this hinder people from going to school? Is this a subversive way of keeping lower class people of school? I think there’s a lot to unpack with this idea, and I don’t know that this is the best place to introduce it or gloss over it.
[KT8]This seems like a good place to break up this paragraph. You’re switching topics here.
[KT9]Ah, very interesting. What do you think about this? Is this a reversal of the way we tend to think of schools in America and other countries? Or do you think this is an accurate portrayal?
[KT10]Very good!
[KT11]Second Language in this instance is capitalized. You can also use its abbreviation, ESL, from here.
[KT12]How did he become literate in the culture?
[KT13]Well, kind of. We have labor laws, so you can’t work under a certain age. It’s also illegal not to attend school in the US – check out truancy laws for more info.
[KT14]See above comment
[KT15]So if they had been poor, would they outcome be different? Would literacy then still be as important or more important?
[KT16]What led you to this assumption? Is this a cultural assumption of ours in America?
[KT17]Ah, very insightful!
[KT18]Make sure you’re introducing quotes instead of just plunking them in the middle of paragraphs.