PsTL 1908W Urban Literacy

I thought the two readings were very interesting and insightful. The first reading “Escape from the Congo� described a situation in the Congo that I was pretty much completely unaware of. Listening to the description the circumstances reminded me a little bit of the situation in Rwanda. And those two countries are miles and miles apart. However, the story about Kabuika was rather heartbreaking but hopeful. Under pretty terrible circumstances, her determination to finish school and re-connect with her family is very admirable. It is one situation where an immigrant can never fully become All-American because they can never forget their connection to their homeland and never fully begin to stop missing it, and that is something native Americans could never entirely understand.
The second reading was equally interesting to me. “For the Time Being� reminded me a lot of the book “Kite Runner.� The book tells the story of a young boy and his journey from Afghanistan to America and then back to save someone left behind. (By the way, It’s a really good book and I would recommend it to all of you if you haven’t read it.) I know we are supposed to focus on the literacy part but I think the story about their journey is more interesting. The false hopes, the successes, and the failures is where the heart of this story came out to me.
The ESL teacher’s perspective of this, however, was interesting because it showed the struggle it is to be a teacher and also the rewards that you could have never imagined would present themselves.