Prologue
My creative non-fiction story is based on Margherita (Midge) Goldyn's literacy experience. Midge is our secretary at Our Lady of Hope Regional School. Although I see Midge on a daily basis, I know very little about her personal life and life experiences. She is eighty-two years old. She has seen and experienced much throughout her lifetime. I felt compelled to interview her because I knew she would have much to tell me about her life.
We met twice. Both interviews took place at Our Lady of Hope Regional School in Blackwood, New Jersey. We met for our first interview in the gym teacher's office. The second interview took place in Midge's office. During both interviews, Midge was very gracious and soft spoken. She was also very happy to share her life story with me.
Since I decided to focus my interview on Midge’s literacy experience, I started my interview asking about her childhood and family. I have come to learn that both of her parents came to America from Italy in the early 1900's. Neither of her parents spoke English. So this led me to my question, how exactly does a child learn literacy, specifically English literacy, when their parents and family members only know the Italian language? Moreover, how does a child learn English literacy when their school teachers whom they rely on to learn literacy do not know Italian and therefore cannot translate for them?
The following story, Midge's story, tells of her childhood experiences with literacy and the obstacles she had to face as result of not having a family support system to aid her in learning.
While composing this piece, I decided to use Midge’s exact words, and only her words. I have not embellished or added anything that was not directly stated by Midge. I felt this approach would make her story more authentic. I thought by adding the interview questions, or breaks in the passage, the piece would be choppy. I found my method to be more compelling and realistic in describing Midge’s road to learning literacy.
Through my interview, I have learned many things. I not only deepened my relationship with a wonderful woman, but I also got to learn what it was like in general to live in America during a time period of which I am unfamiliar. Additionally, Migde's story solidified my Italian heritage and helped me to appreciate the struggles of Italian immigrants and their profound experience of settling in America.
We met twice. Both interviews took place at Our Lady of Hope Regional School in Blackwood, New Jersey. We met for our first interview in the gym teacher's office. The second interview took place in Midge's office. During both interviews, Midge was very gracious and soft spoken. She was also very happy to share her life story with me.
Since I decided to focus my interview on Midge’s literacy experience, I started my interview asking about her childhood and family. I have come to learn that both of her parents came to America from Italy in the early 1900's. Neither of her parents spoke English. So this led me to my question, how exactly does a child learn literacy, specifically English literacy, when their parents and family members only know the Italian language? Moreover, how does a child learn English literacy when their school teachers whom they rely on to learn literacy do not know Italian and therefore cannot translate for them?
The following story, Midge's story, tells of her childhood experiences with literacy and the obstacles she had to face as result of not having a family support system to aid her in learning.
While composing this piece, I decided to use Midge’s exact words, and only her words. I have not embellished or added anything that was not directly stated by Midge. I felt this approach would make her story more authentic. I thought by adding the interview questions, or breaks in the passage, the piece would be choppy. I found my method to be more compelling and realistic in describing Midge’s road to learning literacy.
Through my interview, I have learned many things. I not only deepened my relationship with a wonderful woman, but I also got to learn what it was like in general to live in America during a time period of which I am unfamiliar. Additionally, Migde's story solidified my Italian heritage and helped me to appreciate the struggles of Italian immigrants and their profound experience of settling in America.
Capisce? Yes,Menzamenz
I had a very dull life. I started school in the first grade. They didn’t have kindergarten then. I could only speak Italian. My parents were both immigrants from Naples, Italy. They came to America alone and left all their family behind. They settled in North Philly and started a family. I am the oldest of five children and I am the only girl. Neither of my parents spoke, wrote, nor read any English.
I went to Catholic school and all the teachers spoke English. So learning to read English was very hard for me. The teachers helped, but they didn’t give me much attention. They couldn’t translate my Italian to understand what I needed.
There were about twenty five students in each classroom. I would say that half the class spoke English, the rest Italian. We could not understand what the teacher was saying. We stuck with our own and did not bother with the others. They kept their distance, and we kept ours.
While in school, I had to speak English, if I spoke Italian I was out of luck. Because I didn’t understand English, I dodged as much as I could. So did the others. I did not want anyone to bother me because I did not speak their language. The children who spoke English did not help us. I guess they were told to stay away.
Even when we were outside playing, they were not nice to us. They had their teams. We had our teams. We played ball here, they played ball there. It did not bother me because I had fun playing with my own. I never really gave it any thought. It wasn’t like I was all by myself. I had my own Italian friends.
My friends were all from my neighborhood. Everyone who lived in my neighborhood was from Naples. They were all from the same town and everything so we all spoke Italian. They were my family. Ya know we had our goombahs and goommahs that all came from the same town. We called them Zia Lutila and Zio Giovanni; Zia this and Zio that. To be respectful we had to say hello and say their name. And if we didn’t we got smacked. If someone told my father I did not say hello, he would smack me too.
The neighborhood children, we were always together and we helped each other. If anyone came into the neighborhood and spoke English we did not bother with them. If someone came to speak to my parents or if a teacher needed to speak to my parents, they usually got one of the neighbors that spoke English and Italian to translate.
I liked school. I really didn’t have a favorite subject. My favorite part was writing. I learned to write in school. I learned cursive and print. I had a nice handwriting. I learned to write with the ink and an ink well. There was an ink well on everybody’s desk. God forbid we spilled the ink.
My mother still, God rest her soul, never learned to write. Well, this was the thing, when we’d go somewhere and she had to sign her name, she would say, “What do you mean I have to sign my name? You spell it.” She tried to hide it. She wouldn’t let them know that she couldn’t write.
I went to Catholic school and all the teachers spoke English. So learning to read English was very hard for me. The teachers helped, but they didn’t give me much attention. They couldn’t translate my Italian to understand what I needed.
There were about twenty five students in each classroom. I would say that half the class spoke English, the rest Italian. We could not understand what the teacher was saying. We stuck with our own and did not bother with the others. They kept their distance, and we kept ours.
While in school, I had to speak English, if I spoke Italian I was out of luck. Because I didn’t understand English, I dodged as much as I could. So did the others. I did not want anyone to bother me because I did not speak their language. The children who spoke English did not help us. I guess they were told to stay away.
Even when we were outside playing, they were not nice to us. They had their teams. We had our teams. We played ball here, they played ball there. It did not bother me because I had fun playing with my own. I never really gave it any thought. It wasn’t like I was all by myself. I had my own Italian friends.
My friends were all from my neighborhood. Everyone who lived in my neighborhood was from Naples. They were all from the same town and everything so we all spoke Italian. They were my family. Ya know we had our goombahs and goommahs that all came from the same town. We called them Zia Lutila and Zio Giovanni; Zia this and Zio that. To be respectful we had to say hello and say their name. And if we didn’t we got smacked. If someone told my father I did not say hello, he would smack me too.
The neighborhood children, we were always together and we helped each other. If anyone came into the neighborhood and spoke English we did not bother with them. If someone came to speak to my parents or if a teacher needed to speak to my parents, they usually got one of the neighbors that spoke English and Italian to translate.
I liked school. I really didn’t have a favorite subject. My favorite part was writing. I learned to write in school. I learned cursive and print. I had a nice handwriting. I learned to write with the ink and an ink well. There was an ink well on everybody’s desk. God forbid we spilled the ink.
My mother still, God rest her soul, never learned to write. Well, this was the thing, when we’d go somewhere and she had to sign her name, she would say, “What do you mean I have to sign my name? You spell it.” She tried to hide it. She wouldn’t let them know that she couldn’t write.
I just about remember learning to read, but I did eventually learn to read. The books were hard as far as I was concerned. I think I finally mastered reading in the third grade. I read just from the readers we had in school. Those were the only books I had. “See Dick run. Run Dick run” Ya know the Dick and Jane series. My mother could not read. My dad could read a little bit, but only Italian writing.
My parents spoke all Italian, and learned to speak very little English. I eventually started to speak both English and Italian. We spoke Italian if we wanted to get something across to them (parents). It was hard because I used to speak both. If I talked to anybody I would speak half Italian and half English. By the fifth grade I had Sr. Mary Edmond. Yeah fifth grade, I started to speak only English and didn’t use any Italian at all. And spoke only Italian when I was home.
My parents spoke all Italian, and learned to speak very little English. I eventually started to speak both English and Italian. We spoke Italian if we wanted to get something across to them (parents). It was hard because I used to speak both. If I talked to anybody I would speak half Italian and half English. By the fifth grade I had Sr. Mary Edmond. Yeah fifth grade, I started to speak only English and didn’t use any Italian at all. And spoke only Italian when I was home.
We did not have television back then. We had radio. We had our Italian programs that would tell us events going on here. Like the news. The announcer was Ralph Borelli. He spoke Italian. He would tell us what songs were playing and things like that. We even had a soap opera. It was an Italian soap opera. I would listen to it with my mother. We were not allowed to make any noise either. But we enjoyed it.
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I went 1 year to Little Flower (high school). We were the same kids going through high school. I mean not that we didn’t have fights in high school. We made up for all those times in grade school where we stayed separated. I finally changed high schools. I left many of them behind. I wanted to go be with the boys. I wanted to be in with the “in crowd.” I went to Simon Grats. I took a business course in Simon Grats. I learned to use a typewriter in school.
I went into the working world right out of high school. Worked for a year then met my husband. I worked through all my pregnancies. I have three boys and two girls. I did not read to my children. Never did. I just never did. Nobody in my neighborhood did so that’s how it was. All their learning to read came from school. I found it hard to help my children with schoolwork.
My children all went off to college. I did not have all the conveniences they did. That did not stop me from letting them go to college. They wanted to go and I sent them. I did not have to encourage any of them. I did not feel that I had to, it was their choice.
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Now, I love to watch TV. I like everything. I watch the news. I like Westerns. I like to watch TV better than reading. I’m just not the book type, still am not to this day. It’s not that I do not feel comfortable reading them, they just don’t interest me. It’s not because I had a difficult time learning to read. It just doesn’t interest me. It takes up too much time. I read Star (magazine). I read the newspaper just to find out information.
I speak the Italian language once in a while. I feel more comfortable now speaking English. Right now I am finding that talking the Italian I was taught is like slang. They (people from Italy) talk high class. When I visit or they come to visit me they have a hard time understanding me because they have a more high class Italian. I have a dialect.
I had a very dull life.
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I went 1 year to Little Flower (high school). We were the same kids going through high school. I mean not that we didn’t have fights in high school. We made up for all those times in grade school where we stayed separated. I finally changed high schools. I left many of them behind. I wanted to go be with the boys. I wanted to be in with the “in crowd.” I went to Simon Grats. I took a business course in Simon Grats. I learned to use a typewriter in school.
I went into the working world right out of high school. Worked for a year then met my husband. I worked through all my pregnancies. I have three boys and two girls. I did not read to my children. Never did. I just never did. Nobody in my neighborhood did so that’s how it was. All their learning to read came from school. I found it hard to help my children with schoolwork.
My children all went off to college. I did not have all the conveniences they did. That did not stop me from letting them go to college. They wanted to go and I sent them. I did not have to encourage any of them. I did not feel that I had to, it was their choice.
******************************
Now, I love to watch TV. I like everything. I watch the news. I like Westerns. I like to watch TV better than reading. I’m just not the book type, still am not to this day. It’s not that I do not feel comfortable reading them, they just don’t interest me. It’s not because I had a difficult time learning to read. It just doesn’t interest me. It takes up too much time. I read Star (magazine). I read the newspaper just to find out information.
I speak the Italian language once in a while. I feel more comfortable now speaking English. Right now I am finding that talking the Italian I was taught is like slang. They (people from Italy) talk high class. When I visit or they come to visit me they have a hard time understanding me because they have a more high class Italian. I have a dialect.
I had a very dull life.
Afterword
After interviewing Midge, I found her life experiences to be anything but "dull." Interviewing Midge was a unique experience. Through her story, I have come to appreciate the struggles that many immigrants and English Language Learners experience when learning English literacy.
Ultimately, it seems that the English language is mastered through your environment as much as from learning within the school setting. Midge learned literacy not only through schooling, but by her listening to those around her speak English. Midge’s experience was a matter of survival. To live her life in America and be successful, she had to learn to be an American. Growing up in an Italian speaking home and surrounded by a neighborhood of Italian speaking people, her road to learning English literacy was not easy. Yet, she learned to master English.
In addition to sharing her literacy experiences with me, Midge also discussed her childhood and adult life history. She explained some of the details of her parents arranged marriage and her family's experiences during World War II. She also described the the events that led to her father's upset with her brother. As a result, she was unable to attend her brother's wedding, or should I say, forbidden to attend.
Shortly after finishing high school, Midge married her husband Dan (now deceased) when she was nineteen. They had five children together, three boys (two are deceased) and two girls. Her son, Dan, died of cancer when he was in his early thirties. Her youngest son, Chris, died suddenly from pneumonia this October (2010) at the young age of forty. Chris was special for many reasons. Not only because he had Down's syndrome, but because he was one of the most kind and loving people you would ever want to meet. I know this not from first hand experience, but from hearing about him through Midge. Her love for Chris and all of her children is apparent. Midge spoke of her children with love and pride.
I found Midge's story to be fascinating. I know we have formed a strong bond through our personal conversation. Midge is a true role model. Her drive to learn English literacy is commendable. At the age of eighty-two, she has a wealth of knowledge and experiences that make her life something to marvel.
I am ever grateful for having the opportunity to get to know such an extraordinary woman in such an intimate way.
Ultimately, it seems that the English language is mastered through your environment as much as from learning within the school setting. Midge learned literacy not only through schooling, but by her listening to those around her speak English. Midge’s experience was a matter of survival. To live her life in America and be successful, she had to learn to be an American. Growing up in an Italian speaking home and surrounded by a neighborhood of Italian speaking people, her road to learning English literacy was not easy. Yet, she learned to master English.
In addition to sharing her literacy experiences with me, Midge also discussed her childhood and adult life history. She explained some of the details of her parents arranged marriage and her family's experiences during World War II. She also described the the events that led to her father's upset with her brother. As a result, she was unable to attend her brother's wedding, or should I say, forbidden to attend.
Shortly after finishing high school, Midge married her husband Dan (now deceased) when she was nineteen. They had five children together, three boys (two are deceased) and two girls. Her son, Dan, died of cancer when he was in his early thirties. Her youngest son, Chris, died suddenly from pneumonia this October (2010) at the young age of forty. Chris was special for many reasons. Not only because he had Down's syndrome, but because he was one of the most kind and loving people you would ever want to meet. I know this not from first hand experience, but from hearing about him through Midge. Her love for Chris and all of her children is apparent. Midge spoke of her children with love and pride.
I found Midge's story to be fascinating. I know we have formed a strong bond through our personal conversation. Midge is a true role model. Her drive to learn English literacy is commendable. At the age of eighty-two, she has a wealth of knowledge and experiences that make her life something to marvel.
I am ever grateful for having the opportunity to get to know such an extraordinary woman in such an intimate way.