We have now distributed 263 books to three schools. Two of the schools, Nueva Pantoja and Salitrillo are now actively using the books as learning tools.
Nora and I have had the opportunity for the past 2 Mondays to assist the teachers at Salitrillo by reading the English portions to the kids. The first week was a bit disorganized. The kids in Nora’s group (1st and 2nd graders) were unattentive and concentrating more on the pictures. This week we learned to be more hands-on and concentrate more on individual children…essentially roaming the classroom. The Magic Boots book seems to be a perfect starting vehicle for the younger children.
In my class, the 3rd and 4th graders read I Know and Old Lady Who Wanted a Garden. As in the other class, the first week the students were concentrating more on the pictures. Luz and I read the first half of the book to get the kids comfortable with the format. This week was much different. We were able to read the entire book…both in Spanish and in English. The kids were more attentive, interested in the story and reading along in Spanish and even in English…somewhat. At the end of the class, I assigned them homework from the back of the book….learning key words: colors, numbers, names of plants and vegetables, etc. They were told that more teachers would be returning on Wednesday to continue with the story.
The bottom-line to all of this is, the teachers as well as the students are learning how to use these books as learning tools.
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