Presentation Outline:

• Spanish Native Language Reading Instruction

• Overview
o Topic Importance
o Literature Study
o Interviews with Mexican Teachers
o Trends
o Implications for Teachers and Classrooms
o Further Research/The Next Steps
• Topic Importance
o Bilingual Teacher
o Parent
o Reading Teacher
o ESL Teacher
o English Teacher
o Spanish Teacher
o Mainstream Teacher
• Literature Study
o Teaching Reading and Writing in Spanish and English in
Bilingual and Dual Language Classrooms, 2nd ed by Freeman
and Freeman
o Also in Spanish
• Traditional Spanish Methods
o Synthetic – part to whole (whole is considered a sentence).
None of these methods follow Freeman and Freeman’s criteria
for effective reading.
 Alphabetic Method (el método alfabético) Silbario de
San Miguel classic version
 The Onomatopoeic Method (el método onomatopéyico)
Reading instruction begins with reading words that
demonstrate onomatopoeia to teach letters’ sounds.
“The onomatopoeic method capitalizes on children’s
interest in language play. However, the method takes
natural sounds out of context and uses them as building
blocks to help students learn the sounds letters make so
they can eventually identify words” (p. 102).
 The Phonics or Phonetic Method (el método fónico o
fonético).
• Learn names of letters
• Identify sounds the letters make
• Put sounds together to make syllables
 • Make words
 The Syllabic Method (el método silábico)
• Most widely used method.
• First teach sounds of five vowels. Connect with
consonants to form syllables.
• Uses syllables as the basic unit
• Combine syllables to form words and sentences.
• Spanish is a natural syllabic language.
• Sequential lessons that build on each other.
• Often produces word callers
o Analytic – whole to part (wholes are no bigger than words or
sentences)
 The Global or Visual Concept Method (el método global
o ideovisual). See reading as a visual act. Stress on
readiness to read.
 The Lexical Method (el método léxico)
• five steps to present objects
• Say the name of the object
• Write the word
• Divide into syllables and letters
• Form new words with the elements of the
original.
o The Eclectic or Mixed Method (el método ecléctico o mixto).
 A mixture of other methods (both synthetic and
analytic)
 Start with readiness activities
 Introduce letters and their sounds
 Practice syllable sounds and combine them to form
words or sentences
 Teachers have to be careful to not confuse students by
representing a lot of different ideologies about how
people learn to read
• Freeman and Freeman suggested method – Gradual Release of
Responsibility
o Gradual Release of Responsibility – “a model for reading
instruction that builds on the understandings children develop
even before they begin formal reading instruction in school”
(p. 131).
o Components:
 Read-Alouds
 Shared Reading
  Interactive Reading
 Guided Reading
 Independent Reading
o Because of time I will not explain all.
• Mexican Literacy Instruction
o “The first-grade primer, first Published in 1993 and its seventh
edition in 2000, was titled libro integrado (Integrated Book)
(Chapela Mendoza 2000) and was organized around themes
that connect to students’ lives, including “Los niños,” “La
familia y la casa,” “El campo y la ciudad,” and “Medimos el
tiempo” (“Children,” “Family and the Home,” “The Country
and the City,” and “Let’s Measure Time”). The introduction of
the book showed the drastic difference the text represented
from the former government-approved text, Mi libro mágico
(My Magic Book), with its practice sheets that required
students to repeat syllables and practice penmanship.” (Page
90)
• Michoacán Educator interviews
o Urban Public Preescolar Teacher
o Rural Public Primaria Teachers
o Urban Private Primaria Principal
• Urban Public Preescolar Teacher
o School
 3-5 Year Olds
 Part of SEP
 3 Hours a Day, Five Days a Week
o Learning Environment
 Learning Through Play
 Observe and Assess Prior Knowledge
 Songs
 Do Not Teach Reading
• Some Learn from Home
o Reading Readiness
 Storytelling and Read Alouds
 Classroom Library – Encourage to “Read”
• Book handling and building imagination picture-
text connection
 Write Names
 Know the Letters, Sounds, and Words
• Always start instruction with the vowels
  Do not typically know how to read or write all letters of
the alphabet
o Primaria Background – The Next Step
 Most common text – Mi libro mágico
 Finish First Grade as a Reader
• Rural Primaria Teacher 1
o Learning Community
 Multi-age classes
 Limited access to books at home (economics)
 School Rincón de Lectura
o Reading Methods
 Utilizes a Mixture – Eclectic?
 Most Popular - The Onomatopoeic Method
• Mexican method invented by a Mexican teacher
after the revolution
• Example – SSS
o What sound does a snake make?
o Write letter
o Practice letter, sometimes for 15 days
showing many words starting with s
o This teacher made a lot of drawings to
accompany activities
 Most Common Text – Mi Libro Mágico
 Literacy Activities
• Picture Walks
• Cultural Legends and Tales
• Read Alouds
• Fast Finishers – Independent Reading
• One Minute Timed Readings With Records
o Competition and rewards sometimes
• Encourages Use of Rincón de Lectura
o Better to use, but explain expectations.
o Do not have them as decorations.
o First Grade
 Learning to Read Emphasis
 Teacher Decision – Pass or Do Not Pass?
 End of First Grade Emphasis
• Decode Words
• Understand Reading simple, grade level stories
• Rural Primaria Teachers 2 and 3
 o Whole Group Reading Programs
 PRONALES “Leer leyendo, escribir escribiendo”
• Constructivism: Piaget, Vygotsky
• Natural
• Good Results
• Emphasize joy of reading
 Does not use Mi libro mágico
o PRONALES Diagnostic Assessments
 Dictation
• Pictures, Scribbles, Words
• Monitor Progress
o Pre-silábico
o Silábico
o Silábico-Alfabético
o Alfabético
o Rincón de la Lectura
 Currently 40 books
 Grows each year
 Encourage use
 Explore/“Read”
• Invent meaning based on pictures before they
know how to read
o Struggling Readers
 After school extra support
• Urban Private Primaria Principal
o School
 Preescolar – Preparatoria
 $1600/month - other $3000/month (pesos)
 Scholarships available after first year
 18 students/class
o Whole Group Reading Instruction
o Preescolar 2 (4 años) Reading Instruction
 English and Spanish phonetic instruction
 Vowels and 5-6 Consonants
• Consonants after 2 months: m, p, t, s
 Join vowels and consonants
• Mamá, pata
o Preescolar 3 (5 años)
 Whole alphabet
 Compound syllables, such as cla, bra
 o 1° Primaria
 Already readers or 3 month extra support
• Curso de regularización August to December in
the afternoon
 Grammar, Spelling, Accents…
o Read Alouds – Preescolar - 2° Primaria
o Small Classroom Libraries
o Will implement PRONALES in preescolar this year
 Administration (principals and academic coordinator
decide which programs will be implemented)
 Teachers already received training
o Home-School Connection
 Books from Home Cycle
 Constant Communication with Parents
 Most students read at home with parents
 Support for Parents
• Trends
o End of First Grade or Before “Readers”
o Utilize Rincón de la Lectura
o Whole Class Literacy Instruction
o Programs: Mi libro mágico or PRONALES
o After School Extra Support for Struggling Readers
• Implications for Teachers and Classrooms
o Different methods
o Available curriculum and training for bilingual teachers
o Consistent methods for biliteracy development
• Further Research/The Next Steps
o More literature study and descriptions of applications
o Classroom observations
o PRONALES Materials
o Capacitazión in PRONALES
o Investigate biliteracy instruction in Mexican private schools
o Literature study of emergent literacy