Samaha 1

Darren Samaha
Emilia Grant
UWRT 1103
2 November 2014
Literacy and Culture: Vignettes
When I was young boy, at about three to four years old, I obscurely remember
my first experiences with literacy. My literacy began through public schooling, and a set
of reading learning enhancements for children known as, "Hooked on Phonics". Im sure
most of us have heard of this product that almost guarantees your child to learn how to
read in no time. From what I remember about Hooked on Phonics, there were five
boxes of learning materials. Each box was a different grade level, and the difficulty
would ascend with the next corresponding box. Each box contained various audio
cassettes, books, games, and other miscellaneous trinkets. For some odd reason, my
parents bought a set of Hooked on Phonics for me, but they never instructed me on how
to use it, so I just messed around with the materials in the boxes. Looking back,
although Hooked on Phonics seemed insignificant in my learning process, it did set a
foundation for my literacy. From all the small picture books and audio cassettes
contained in those boxes, I was able to learn auditorily and visually. Honestly, I guess I
was more curious than "hooked" on phonics.
My upbringing was rather ordinary and bland, despite the fact that my mother,
and father, both originated from their two different respective countries of the Philippines
and Lebanon. Since English is a major global language, they always spoke English at
home, and never their native languages. In this respect, I feel that I was held back, or

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lacking in other cultural advantages, because I am only fluent in English, and nothing
else. If I had more exposure to and learned my mothers language of Bisaya, plus my
fathers Arabic, It could have made me trilingual. Literacy connects to more facets other
than one native language. In todays competitive job market, knowing two extra foreign
languages gives an edge. Furthermore, I also feel out of touch with the rest of my
extended family who mostly live outside the United States. Literature is such a relative
term, and it cannot just be limited to English alone. Knowing different languages really
spices up how you communicate, and integrate culture into your daily life.
My literacy really changed when I was introduced to the Internet, and its plethora
of resources and entertainment. What fascinated me was being able to watch videos of
every kind, and from anywhere. Youtube, even in its early days, satisfied my curiosity
and I looked up things that I had heard of but never experienced. I absorbed so much of
what Youtube had to offer. I especially enjoyed my discovery of the anime genre. Anime
comes from Japan, so most of the programs and content are in Japanese. A while back,
I was obsessed with an anime called One Piece, which I watched with English subtitles.
Eventually I was able to understand some Japanese words and what they meant in
English. The internet is an ingenious means of communication, but it also sprouted a
seed of negative influence upon me in my adolescence days. Curse words,
inappropriate grammar, and internet slang, slowly worked its way into my literacy and
vocabulary. But there is one youtuber in particular, named DashieXP, who I simply got
engrossed with due to the style of his content.
Dashie incorporated his unique personality with comedic skits, laced with a
"ghetto" atmosphere. This interesting combination with his work brought me to watch his

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videos, over and over, even to this day. However, one problem that arises is the
incessant swearing, which, ironically, is the major thing that appeals to me, and possibly
the majority of his audience. After watching his videos for so long now, Dashies crude
language has been integrated into my daily language. I sometimes find myself repeating
the same phrases he uses in his videos, which may not be considered respectful by any
means. My literacy is being corrupted by this slang which also seems to be plaguing
pop culture. Modern forms of communication, such as texting, seem to make proper
grammar unnecessary. When using Skype, I have a huge tendency to shorten phrases,
words, and leave out punctuation. Not incorporating proper grammar and spelling in the
correct manner can lead to an even greater tendency to forget, or use them incorrectly
when needed. In short, the Internet for my purposes of entertainment has hindered my
literacy to a seemingly less educated level. But one cannot also overlook the positive
effects that Dashies content contains. Throughout his videos in the comments section,
there are comments saying that Dashies silly and rough humor helped them cope with
other less satisfactory parts of life. I also will have to agree with the general consensus
that his content really brings a smile to my face. Even if my language is slightly
butchered by Dashies videos, they might make a real difference to a viewers day.
The best influence on my literacy occurred during my senior year in high school.
Not knowing the expectations of the teacher, or the true nature of the class, I signed up
to take AP English IV for two semesters. English was never my best subject, but I still
decided to try, and challenge myself, in preparation for college. In these classes, I was
introduced to so many new literary terms that I had never heard of before in my prior
English classes. Also my writing greatly improved, where as before, my essays never

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really flowed properly, or supported an argument. It was usually just fluff that never
stated anything significant. The class incorporated authors such as Shakespeare, and
works that made an impact on society at the time of their release. Despite the difficulty
of the class, the teacher, Mrs. Rogers, prepared the students more than sufficiently for
the upcoming AP exam. My experience in this class has prepared me the most for
higher level writing thus far.
Since literacy is such a relative term, I feel it also reaches out to other languages,
too, besides English. One teacher in specific, and the successive classes she taught,
helped set me up to attain basic comprehensive literacy in Spanish. Mrs. Callahan
taught my Spanish II, III and IV classes, where progressively, my reading, writing, and
oral skills grew. Spanish IV was the class where I felt I improved the most, especially
through actual speaking. Everyday, Mrs. Callahan only spoke to us in Spanish, and she
expected us to respond back in Spanish even if we had a bit of trouble communicating
what we wanted to say. All the practice of speaking in Spanish IV let me be able to carry
a conversation in Spanish with confidence, where as in previous courses, I could only
excel in comprehensive reading and writing. When speaking she wanted us to feel
comfortable, so she encouraged the students to speak what they could, even if it was
not correct. Mrs. Callahan also experimented other ways, such as memorizing words
using visual aids, reading, and dissecting text, and even visiting an elementary school to
teach children rudimentary Spanish. During the semester, for about a month, the class
watched a popular Spanish soap opera. It was a real challenge to understand what was
happening in the story. Regardless, I was slowly able to piece together the story, and it

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boosted my literacy in understanding Spanish, and Spanish media. Thanks to these
Spanish classes, it is safe say, that at the most basic level, I am literate.
There was one instance in seventh grade when I felt somewhat overwhelmed by
literacy. In my seventh grade year, spelling bees were held in every classroom in my
school. I managed to win my classs spelling bee and the seventh grade spelling bee,
so I moved on to the schoolwide spelling bee.
For the schoolwide spelling bee, I was given a book which provided information
about word stems, word origins, and the usual rules for each word. But the book
contained perhaps too much information for me to take in, and I was overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, I was somewhat apathetic towards the schoolwide spelling bee, so I did
not study, or prepare as rigorously as I should have. In this manner, I ended up
misspelling obvious simple words, which resulted in my elimination. I felt that I held
myself back from improving my literacy, and I felt discouraged, because I
underestimated how complicated spelling some words could be. I remember trying to
consciously get eliminated early during the eighth grade spelling bee so I would not be
put under the pressure of studying the booklet, and competing against other students
who might be more prepared, or just smarter than me. I suppose that for many people,
being able to spell does not constitute literacy.
Music, especially rap music, has impacted my literacy in an unexpectedly
positive manner. The culture, diction, and slang promoted by rap artists is disrespectful
to say the least. However for a while now, I have been engrossed in the appealing
combination of rhyming lyrics and rhythmic beat, or instrumentation that rap offers.
Similar to internet slang, rap slang and phrases have also worked their way into my

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vocabulary. When looking at literacy from an academic standpoint, rap is the opposite of
being literate. Regardless, some consider rap to be an art form. In turn, I too have
attempted to imitate the art of rap by freestyling, and by producing a rap song for a
school project. Unfortunately, both endeavors have yielded unsatisfactory results. Rap
is not simply just rhyming words to a beat. It requires timing, precision, diction and the
ability to wrap up everything nicely so that the rap involves a topic or story of some sort.
Rhyming lyrics may not seem like literacy, but sincerely for some, its a medium for truly
expressing one's thoughts and opinions on a topic. Rappers, like Eminem, are literate in
their own craft of music. Rapping is an art form, and literacy in art is very much possible.
It is a shame that I am unable to become literate in the enthralling art form of rap, but
there are more ways to become literate. Literacy requires the individual to build upon
what he or she has learned. Hopefully I can build on my experiences and improve my
literacy in Spanish or even rap, one can never be too sure.