We are making progress in reading

Just before I left for my vacation in May I realised that Estefani was not catching on to reading. I though that during the month I was away this might happen but when I got back June 1st she was more confused than before. So, I started an immediate attempt to help her. Basically she had not caught on that the letters were the clue to what the word was and not the expression on my face. She said a word and looked at me expectantly - the word was almost always not what was written. I tried with letters on little pieces of heavy paper - but the confusin continued. Spanish is almost 99 percent phonetic and the kids start by learning the 5 vowel sounds (there are only 5 - one sound for each vowel - a bit different than English. After they learn them consonants are added one at a time. She knew the sound for the consonants well but when it came to the consonants, even when we were concentrating only on M, P and L she was confused. My first plan with the letters on heavy paper was a bust - but I tried another approach - first teaching her that at this point each consonant need a vowel next to it and then lots of practice. Today she was able to read correctly 10 or 12 words (all nouns) using the letters M-P-L-S- and N abd then write them. We have a little pile of cards with a picture on one side and the word on the other. Today Maria Isabel (also in 1st grade) joined us and she did well too. The words are mamá, papá, luna (moon), puma (the animal puma) mapa (map) etc. This is a real break through for her. She is one of the girls who has been/is being tested and as I though she is very weak in verbal skills. On the other had she loves numbers and is doing beginning addition and subtraction.

All the girls are going somewhere for Father's day so the home will have no one but myself and the dogs for 48 hours. A number of the girls don't have dads as part of their lives but will enjoy a visit with relatives, with one exception - and she has a nice place to go visit.

More later, Tia Sue