2014 Winning Essays
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| Essay Contest Winners: Luisa Yoder, Diana Lopez and Saida Loaiza-Ramirez with Director, Diana Silveira |
FROM COLOMBIA TO THE USA: MY NEW LIFE
by Diana Lopez
My new life started when I came to the USA with my daughers, Ma Paula and Valeria. Now 16 and 20-years old, my daughers’ adaptation to this American system and culture has been easier and more comfortable than for me. Despite taking many English courses in Colombia and spending a lot of money, when I came to the USA, I felt frustrated, because I couldn't communicate with other people. I needed to live deeply in my new home in Palm Harbor, FL and in this new society. Then I found the Palm Harbor Library where they offered me the opportunity to "Learn English as a second language with individualized teaching, one tutor for each student". I applied to the literacy program and a sweet lady named Tania found a tutor just for me.
Since then, I have seen improvements in my life, in my work, in my daily routine, in any place and in any moment. Now I feel comfortable going alone wherever I go, because I can communicate with others and others can understand me! For one of my classes, my tutor, Bernadette, and I went to the thrift store. Karlina, a woman who has known me since I moved here and who also owns the thrift store, noticed that I can speak English now! Having better fluency and literacy in English has been key to having more meaningful conversations with English-speaking friends and strangers.
The literacy program has also improved my life, because now I enjoy reading articles, newspapers, and magazines. I can watch TV shows, movies, and the news and understand the stories. By learning English, I already have better access to a great wealth of entertainment and knowledge and will be able to have a greater cultural understanding.
Learning English has also opened doors for my family. Recently, I helped my daughter apply for a volunteer position at the hospital. Valeria hopes to work with patients with Down Symdrone one day. Because Valeria is only 16-years old and a minor, she needed me to accompany her to the volunteer information session and give parental permission. After learning how important this volunteer experience will be towards her career goals, of course I gave her permission to volunteer. This experience has taught me that by learning English, I have helped open up opportunities for both me and my daughters.
Learning English has been challenging and time consuming, but I am more motivated than ever to improve my English. I will be an ESL student for the rest of my life, and that’s okay. The English language is like a window to our world. Literacy has been the key to socially, culturally, and educationally life-changing opportunities for me, and I thank God every day for my new life.
Literacy; the key to my Journey
By Saida Loaiza-Ramirez
In 2001 my family and I moved to Florida leaving behind political problems in my country Colombia, we needed to start a new life.
In the beginning my husband and I had jobs where not knowing the language was not a problem. These were not quality jobs, the salaries weren’t good, and they were very hard jobs also. At that moment I felt like an illiterate person, even though I went to college in my country. I wasn't able to speak, read or write in English. How would we get better jobs or help our children in school? It was then we realized that if we wanted to get better job opportunities and improve our family's lifestyle we needed to learn English as soon as possible. Literacy would be the key to our success!
In 2002 I heard about the Literacy Program at the Library. When I came I learned about the program, I filled the application out, and one month later I was contacted by Tania, she interviewed me and explained to me about the program. Soon she had a tutor for me. First, I had George, a very sweet man who with books and cassettes helped me to learn the basics of English. I started with the alphabet, reading and writing small sentences. At that time I was pregnant and it was hard for me to understand the papers from the doctor so he helped me with the information about my baby and I. After my baby girl was born, I had to stop my classes because my family needed me.
After 4 years I came back to the program to improve my language skills. My second tutor was a lady named Teresa. She was from Cuba and thanks to the program she learned English, so she wanted to give something back, by helping others with the language. At that time my English was getting better, I was able to read and write at a more advanced level. She helped me a lot with pronunciation. It's still the most difficult part for me.
Then I got a job; however, between my family and work there was little time to study so I had to stop again.
Then, in March of 2014 I decided to return to the program because my children were older and I had more time for myself. I had a better job , and I wanted speak, read, and have even better opportunities. Now, I have Eddie as my tutor, he is a very nice and funny guy. His mother was a tutor also, so in her memory he decided to do something to help someone like me. I know my English has improved but to learn a language takes a lot of time and practice and he is helping me with the writing and pronunciation using The Voyager Guide books. Today I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to the library, to the wonderful people that make this possible and for developing this program because literacy is indeed the key, the key to being successful. Now I feel more confident, I can read the information that the school sends me home, go to a doctor's appointment or have a job interview. Literacy makes a difference in everybody's life and also makes a difference in this beautiful country that is the home of so many people from around the world. Thanks to everyone, you are so appreciated. You really are making a difference in many people life's, and I hope to give back what you have given me in the future.
LITERACY IS THE KEY
By Luisa Yoder
Literacy is important because it is the foundation to reading and writing in order to be successful in life.Reading and writing are the keys to success in our culture. For me it is important to express myself in order to share my thoughts and feelings and artistic abilities. Many times we could just talk about what we need, but to understand us correctly and intelligently we should have studied specific or just different things in everyday life issues. Reading and writing, therefore are good tools to help us.
In my personal life I would like to continue my career in the jewelry and graphic design businesses in this country. I need to be able to read and write about it in the native language. In order to do this, it is essential to study English on a daily basis, how business works in the USA,computer technology and culture. So I can earn money here I need to translate my resume and business notes from Spanish to English. I also need to pass the American citizenship test. I would like to have a worthy future with my husband and have a child. Therefore, literacy is the key to opening doors for success in my life.
In Colombia some people don't have the opportunity to go to school. These people are working as farmers in the countryside or are poor in the cities. They are illiterate and have a very hard life without opportunities. In Colombia, of the 47.7 million people, 1.6 million are illiterate. I hope they'll have more solutions soon because not being illiterate is the key to opportunities.
There are many reasons why reading and writing are important. For example:
a) To understand signs in different places such as streets, stores, restaurants, doctor offices, salons, libraries, and movie theaters.
b) To read about foods in recipes, grocery stores and menus.
c) To understand for our health the prescriptions, tests, health insurance and what the doctor says.
d) For travel and transportation it is important to know where you are and to be able to follow a map or GPS. With this we can get to the places where we want to go. Being able to read we can plan our trips and learn new things and use our imagination to explore the unknown.
e) It teaches about the world around us. If you want to be informed, you need to read the newspaper or websites on the computer, iPad, tablets, or smartphones. This is also true when traveling to another country, city or community.
Socially you need to read and write e-mail, chat, text or letters. I have family and friends and I like to make new friends to keep in touch with them. These abilities can only be achieved through education. In order to communicate with each other in our culture, have a better job or better future, we need to be able to read and write. Therefore literacy is the key to our lives.