Relationship With Language

    In fourth grade my school had received a grant to completely refurbish our school library. As a way of celebrating, my entire elementary school had a reading competition. Whoever read the most books in their grade would win a 50$ gift card. Each day teachers would ask students if they had completed a new book. To prove you had really read the book, you had to submit a book report and rate it 1-5 stars. For every book you read, my teacher would add a star next to your name on the class reading chart. 

   At first I was hesitant on whether or not I even wanted to participate in the reading competition. I felt like we were already forced to read so much in class that at home I wanted to play games or watch tv, not read and write annoying book reports. Eventually my family encouraged me to at least try entering the competition. I reluctantly signed up. I soon realized that within my grade the competition was going strong. During recess no one would bother playing soccer or jump rope, instead everyone would sit in the lunchroom trying to get ahead. I started to really enjoy the competition. I also grew obsessed with winning that gift card.  

     I started reading anywhere and everywhere I could. When my mom would pick me up from school, I would make her read chapter books with me on the bus. I would read in between washing cycles at the laundromat on Sundays. I read everything I could find in my school’s library until there wasn’t anything interesting left to read.  I didn’t care about the genre, age level, or author. By the end of the competition I had read Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Hunger Games and more. 

    A couple of months into the school year my school also started its annual spelling bee. I had won fourth place the year before, so this year I really wanted at least third. I decided to change my study methods. I chose to combine both competitions together!  Instead of memorizing words from the dictionary, I made a list of all of the difficult words I would read in my books. Later, I would google their meanings and memorize them. Words like “belligerent”, “exonerated”, “prominent” were all on my list. My use of language and words began to evolve without me even knowing it. The words I would memorize slowly became a part of  my language outside of school. I found that writing and homework for school slowly became easier as well. I was able to express my thoughts better when I knew more words.

     By the end of the reading competition I had read 49 books, more than I had ever read before. I ultimately only won third place, but the competition really changed the way I thought about reading books. It made me view it in a different, more enjoyable light. The competition introduced me to reading outside of school. It also improved my relationship with language, it helped me learn syntax and what good writing looks like. And as for my spelling bee, I still didn’t win but I did accomplish my goal of third place. The spelling bee helped show me that reading can really improve your knowledge of language without even realizing it.