With teaching Hispanics....a person
cannot read well in a language he does not
speak (well)....We have found that if we
teach an Hispanic child to read (for the
first time in his life) in Spanish, FIRST,
then that child automatically learns the
phonics (in Spanish) which he will also use
later in English....many reading skills are
the same in Spanish....left to right
progression, etc. With many different,
English-speaking (mono-lingual) students,
perhaps we Americans can practice a bit of
tolerance, realizing that different methods
are appropriate for different individuals.
Many students who never learn to read at
all, by the time they were fourteen....one
method....SIGHT WORDS worked well with
those students, especially if those sight
words were very meaningful to those
students. A bit of phonics could later be
introduced gently....but PRACTICE READING
A LOT....to become a good reader....if a
person wants to be good at something, he
has to do it regularly. Activity always
preceeds interest....a child who has just
had his first, enjoyable airplance ride
could suddenly develop an interest in an
airplane book etc. Another factor, here in
Polk County,Florida, most of our
elementary schools are all female-
staffed.....female educators do help to
influence the basal reader
textbooks......boys are often
overlooked....with a much better balance of
race and gender faculties in our elementary
schools, such role models can motivate and
inspire our young, impressionable children.

Arthur E. Coords, ESPIGADERA@cs.com,
11/24/02

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