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The simplest definition of literacy, I have encountered, is the ability to read and write. However, this definition alone does not capture the process and the higher level connections I had to make when I learned how to write. My mom simply did not make me copy alphabets from the book and memorize their names. Instead, she helped me logically create the structure of the alphabets by remembering the simple shapes that they are composed of. I learned to write with my mom.

I can still remember being a three year old playing with my big brothers pencils. My dream was to grow up to be just like my brother, my dream was to go to school like him and learn to read books. For the early stages of my education, I lived in Bangladesh. My brother and I were privilaged enough to attend English Medium schools, but they were very tough to get into.

My mom’s first lesson, from my recollection, was teaching me how to use a penci, this was even before I started going to school. She didn’t teach me how to write out words right away, but instead she made me focus on how to use a tool of literacy. We drew countless lines together and slowly we drew shapes together. She would make me hold the pencil and draw on the paper. When she would notice me struggling, she would physically move my hand to perform the gestures that allowed me to draw the shapes on the paper.

After becoming comfortable with drawing lines, circles, squares, triangles, etc, I finally started drawing the letters of the alphabets. I say drawing because my mom would first tell me to draw a line and then she would tell me to draw a big belly attached to the line. I drew what was called a “b” and if I flipped it around, it was a “d.” Here my mom used the technique of using my pre-exisiting ability to draw simple shapes to learn how to write the alphabets. Writing was a foreign term for me because grown-ups wrote and little kids like to draw on things they weren't supposed to draw on. I was learning to make connections between things I already knew to things I was learning in an early age. However, knowing how to draw the alphabets was not the same thing as naming them. “b” and “d” were the two alphabets that I struggled with the most when came to recognition.

Practicing my writing skills helped me spend more time with my mom, and also helped me feel like I was entering this new stage of being a big kid like my brother. When I learned how to read the small words, being the conversationalist I am, I began to write "letters" to my cousins who lived out of town. Although I didn't fully learn how to write sentences, I still tried to use what I knew to communicate with others. Oftentimes I would draw certain pictures if I didn't know how to write the word. Nevertheless, through my mother, I learned that literacy is something you have to build upon. With every step, I became better at communicating with everyone.