<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>I have to admit I"m a little insulted by tone of this response. I find it ironic that open-mindedness is appreciated, but the idea of using children's books is not included in that open-minded attitude. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do selectively use children's books. I use them because as an adult some of my favorite books are still children's books and I use them when I teach English speakers other subjects as well as language arts. As far as my students being insulted, I have never had a student who complained. A lot of it may be in the presentation. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The use of children's books has to be done with an understanding of your goals and the goals of your students, of course. Some books I present because they are part of the culture - "I do not like them Sam I am" and "It's fun to have fun but you have to know how" are phrases from Dr. Seuss, used outside their original storybook context, for example. <BR></DIV>
<DIV><U>Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day</U> is one of my and my students' favorite books, because it reminds us that bad days happen and happen regardless of where you live ("even in Australia") (and how your attitude is in the morning really affects how you see the rest of the day.)<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Some bilingual books, like <U>The Upside Down Boy</U> and <U>I Love Saturdays y Domingos</U> I use because my students are mainly parents, and these books address issues that their children may be experiencing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>David Schwarzer said that if the teacher likes to dance, everyone dances. Maybe that's part of the key. I love children's books. I continue to read them as an adult. I have a large personal collection of books from which my students <EM>voluntarily</EM> (ie., ASK) to borrow. If the teacher, however, dislikes children's books, then clearly he or she should not use them, because that dislike will be transmitted to the students and clearly will not be an effective teaching tool.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In short, I respect your decision to not use children's books and your reasons, but I also ask that you consider the possiblity that the use of children's books is not as "insulting" or degrading as you might think, depending on how and why they are used.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV id=RTEContent>
<DIV><FONT face=forte size=5>Grace and Peace!<BR><FONT face=vivaldi color=purple size=6><B>Glenda Lynn Rose, <FONT face=arial size=4>PhD</FONT></FONT></B><FONT face=tahoma color=black><BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=forte size=5><FONT face=tahoma color=black size=4>512-789-5131 (cell)</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=forte size=5><FONT face=tahoma size=4><A href="mailto:glyndalin@yahoo.com" target=_blank rel=nofollow>glyndalin@yahoo.com</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=forte size=5><FONT face=tahoma size=4><BR> </DIV></FONT></FONT></DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Tue, 12/2/08, Jose Perez <I><joseperez3338@gmail.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: Jose Perez <joseperez3338@gmail.com><BR>Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3214] Re: I don't understand the current thinking behind teaching reading to adults!<BR>To: "The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List" <englishlanguage@nifl.gov><BR>Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 9:19 PM<BR><BR><PRE>Ali,
Thank goodness for young, innovative, open-minded, "thinking outside
the box" individuals like you. We need more future educators like you,
so I want to thank you for your very astute observations and comments.
In my humble opinion, there is no place for children's books in an
adult class--whether it's an ESL class or an ABE class. It is
insulting, degrading and humiliating for adults, males especially, to
be handed children's books. It is a mistake many educators make. Maybe
it's because they don't realize the stigma and unfortunate humialition
these adults go through just admitting that they can't read, or how
hard it is to learn the (complicated) English language when your
native language is, say, Spanish. So I applaud you for not stooping to
giving your adult students children's books.
I know I've said this before, but I am most likely one of their
biggest fans. Have you tried the Junkyard Dan series by Nox Press?
These are books written on a first-grade reading level, but are for
adults and are not the typical condescending, dated, boring books that
we usually give these students. They are crime dramas. I use these
books with great success, and my students can't get enough of them. I
think that as a young, innovative educator, who seems to have a full
understanding on why our current ways are, on a whole, not effective
and not working very well for our adult students, if you visit the Nox
Press website, you will see what I am talking about. Your students
will thank you. But don't take my word for it. Check 'em out yourself!
Good luck in your future teaching carreer, and may you make many great
changes in your lifetime.
Jose Perez
On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Ali Hesami <hesamiar@gmail.com> wrote:
> That's a great point, and exactly what I'm talking about. If we as
educators
> keep extrapolating on teaching methods for children because there are not
> many adult-specific methods, how can we ever hope to develop an
> adult-specific method? I think we can agree that adults of varying ages do
> not learn as children do, and have drastically different literacy needs.
>
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Bonnie Odiorne
<bonniesophia@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>>
>> I don't know a lot about adult reading acquisition theories, but I
do know
>> that many researchers take what works for children and extrapolate,
since
>> little work has been done with adults. The most important issue would
be
>> content, as folks have mentioned, and how the brain works, added to
the
>> adult's experience (possible trauma from illiteracy) and passive
oral
>> vocabulary. I've been taught a combination of choosing key words
to remember
>> initial letters and word patterns to help with sound/letter
correspondence;
>> language experience stories that the learner would dictate and could
then
>> "read" relatively quickly, and a quick development of sight
word vocabulary.
>> Also workplace or other realia that the learner needs to function. In
>> relation to using children's books or techniques (the Wilson
method comes to
>> mind) I'd do it only if reading to children was one of the
adult's goals;
>> otherwise learners can make their own picture books with doodles and
>> accompanying text limited to their level and interest. I do have
direct
>> experience with taking a Methods and Materials ESL class whose
professor's
>> only knowledge of adult learners was of graduate assistants in her
>> University, though she claimed adult learning as her specialty;
otherwise
>> her materials came right out of chldren's contexts and K-12
methodology; she
>> didn't appreciate my more "practical" methods and
materials that didn't have
>> communicative language games....
>> Bonnie Odiorne, Post University Writing Center, Waterbury, CT
>>
>> --- On Tue, 12/2/08, Ali Hesami <hesamiar@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From: Ali Hesami <hesamiar@gmail.com>
>> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3184] I don't understand the current
thinking
>> behind teaching reading to adults!
>> To: englishlanguage@nifl.gov
>> Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 12:29 AM
>>
>> Hello all.
>> My name is Ali Hesami, and I am currently a graduate student in the
adult
>> literacy program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond,
Virginia.
>> I've been attending a class called "Teaching Reading to
Adults" as part of
>> my required curriculum, and I have been wondering about the current
methods
>> used to teach reading to adults. It seems to me that the teacher teach
>> adults just as they would teach children, often even using research
and
>> writing on teaching reading to children as guidelines.
>> While I understand the usefulness of phonics, phonetics, etc. by
>> themselves, I firmly believe that an adult can better benefit from
learning
>> to read by simply reading in a classroom environment, guided by
teachers,
>> tutors, etc. An adult in his or her 40s or even 50s simply should not
have
>> to sit through long sessions of syllable by syllable instruction if
all they
>> desire id to be better able to communicate with others and better
express
>> their opinions about the world surrounding them.
>> I speak from experience here. I began learning English as a 14 year
old in
>> an international school in Tanzania. I placed into the 9th grade to
start;
>> no one ever even approached phonics, phonemes, etc. I read and
listened, all
>> the while guided by teachers who helped me with the material at hand.
I
>> became conversational in about three months or so, while I worked on
my
>> writing, also with guidance from my teachers. Conversely, while in
school in
>> my native Tehran, Iran, I was taught English in a similar manner as
here,
>> and I spoke a grand total of three phrases when I left Iran for
Tanzania:
>> Hello, Fine thank you, and Beg your pardon? I'm not even joking
here!
>> I admit as a 14 year old I had an advantage over adults here, but I
can't
>> help but wonder if what worked for me would help adults much more than
>> playing word games and reading children's books.
>> Let's have them read material they can identify with in some way,
and keep
>> them reading, while slowly working on their writing skill alongside.
>> Let me know any thoughts, ideas, criticisms, etc. It has been eating
away
>> at me for a few months now.
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Ali Hesami
>> hesamiar@gmail.com
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Adult English Language Learners mailing list
>> EnglishLanguage@nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
>> Email delivered to bonniesophia@sbcglobal.net
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Adult English Language Learners mailing list
>> EnglishLanguage@nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
>> Email delivered to hesamiar@gmail.com
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Adult English Language Learners mailing list
> EnglishLanguage@nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
> Email delivered to joseperez3338@gmail.com
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Adult English Language Learners mailing list
EnglishLanguage@nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
Email delivered to glyndalin@yahoo.com
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE></td></tr></table>