A presentation about a class of adult Spanish literacy learners, and what I, as a volunteer teacher, learned from them. Una presentación sobre una clase de aprendices adultos de la alfabetización en español, y lo que, yo, como maestro voluntario, aprendí de ellos.

1. En Mi Pueblo No Hay Cocos
A Presentation by Francis Timothy Walsh, Ph.D.
timwalsh65@yahoo.com

2. The Sociocultural Problem

3. Data Regarding Mexican Immigrants to New York City
“Mexicans had the highest rate of population growth of all the major
racial and ethnic groups in New York City in the 1990s.”
“Among all cities in the United States, New York is now ranked No. 11
in terms of the size of its Mexican population, ranking close to cities…
such as San Diego, Santa Ana and San Jose, California.”
“The average household income per person of the Mexican population is
among the lowest of all the major racial and ethnic groups of New York
City.”
“Of all the major racial and ethnic groups in New
York City, the Mexican population has by far the
lowest educational attainment.”
Source: Rivera-Batiz, 2003, pp. 1-5

4. The Problem Solvers

5. Left to Right: M (teacher), E, F, baby, M (PR), J, R Missing: E2, E3, R
Most learners were native speakers of Mixteco, an indigenous Mexican
language. The class was given in Spanish, their second language. Many
had not attended school in their home countries.

6. The Setting

7. A Poster in the main office captures the
philosophy of the program.

8. • Community-based organization in East
Harlem
• Two-hour Spanish adult literacy classes
four mornings a week
• Trained, experienced teachers
• Volunteer teacher (me) working with a
paid instructor, one day a week

9. A First Attempt at a
“Solution”

10. Session One
One on One Instruction
Teacher-initiated interaction
Intended technique: beginning a discussion
based on a common image, then recording
the discussion, then reading it back

11. The Stimulus
I brought in a line drawing of three cocoanut trees to begin a discussion. This
image had been useful with other groups.

12. En mi pueblo no hay cocos.
In my town there aren’t any
cocoanut trees.
The discussion didn’t go as I had expected. First of all, only one learner
came to class that day. I asked her if she had cocoanut trees in her
hometown. Her answer surprised me:

13. En mi pueblo no hay cocos. En
otro pueblito llama Zopotitlán
Lagunas los domingos venden
todas las frutas. Artículos para
cocinar.
In my town there aren’t any
cocoanut trees. In another
town on Sundays they sell all
kinds of fruits. Sewing
articles.
E and I worked together for two hours. We practiced writing and reading
these three “sentences,” that she had created.

14. E had shown me that my idea (a discussion of cocoanut
trees) was based on my experiences, not hers. I needed to
change my approach in the next class.

15. In the second class, I first
emphasized E’s story from the
previous week. We all read the
story together, with E leading us.
Next, we focused on “Print
awareness,” and learners chose
the font for all of our future
exercises. Again, I was surprised.
Session Two, Part A

16. En mi pueblo no hay cocos.
En otro pueblito llama Zapotitlán
Lagunas los domingos allí venden
todas las frutas. Artículos para cocinar.
En mi pueblo no hay cocos.
En otro pueblito llama Zapotitlán
Lagunas los domingos allí venden
todas las frutas. Artículos para cocinar.
En mi pueblo no hay cocos.
En otro pueblito llama Zapotitlán
Lagunas los domingos allí venden
Todas las frutas. Artículos para cocinar.
En mi pueblo no hay cocos.
En otro pueblito llama Zapotitlán
Lagunas los domingos allí venden
Todas las frutas. Artículos para cocinar.
I asked students to
look at E’s transcribed
text, and tell me which
font was most legible.
The response was
unanimous:
Comic sans ms
(I thought they’d
choose the fourth
selection,
monaco.)

17. Once we’d discussed E’s
experience and agreed upon a
font, I tried basing the reading
experience on the group’s life
experiences, not just mine and
E’s.
Session Two, Part B

18. 1. I elicited the first sentence, asking questions about the
learners’ lives before coming to New York.
2. A learner contributed an idea.
3. Then I read the sentence, pointing to the words.
4. After that, the contributor read the sentence, followed by
each member of the group, one by one.
5. Next, learners copied the sentence.
6. One by one, I visited each student, asking her or him to
read.
7. The group read orally.
8. Learner volunteers read from the transcribed text to the
group.
This was a day’s work.
We used the Language Experience
Approach (LEA) to generate a text.

19. En nuestros pueblos, nuestros padres
trabajan sembrando en la tierra.
In our villages, our parents work on
the land.
The First Group LEA Sentence:
We practiced reading this sentence for forty-five minutes.

20. Session Three
•We reviewed.
•We played games.
•We edited.
•We composed the
second sentence

21. A Game: Unscramble the Sentence
o The teacher and students make word sheets for each of the
words in the story (up to that point).
o He reads the complete story on the newsprint story page first
alone, then with the students, pointing to the words.
o The teacher takes the stack of words and holds them up
sequentially.
o Students read each word together.
o The teacher puts the words of one sentence on the chalk rail, in
order.
o The teacher scrambles the words.
o Volunteers unscramble the words, asking for help from
classmates, if necessary.

22. Editing the Original Sentence
• The presence of a new group member
forced us to make an editorial change.
• The sentence became inclusive,
representing the group as it had changed.
• Grammatical correctness was secondary
to inclusiveness.

23. En nuestros pueblos,
nuestros padres
trabajan sembrando
en la tierra.
En nuestros países,
nuestros padres
trabajan sembrando
en la tierra y en la
ciudad.
In our villages, our
parents work on the
land.
In our countries,
our parents work
on the land and in
the city.
Original Revised

24. The Second Group LEA sentence:
Cultivando la siembra para alimentar a
la familia.
Cultivating the crop to feed the family.

25. Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Sessions:
•Review
•Games
•Adding sentences

26. A Game: A Linguistic Cloze
En nuestros _ _ _ _ _ _, nuestros padres
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ sembrando en la _ _ _ _ _ _
y en la ciudad.
Working as a group, learners guessed the
missing words. We used blanks as cues to the
number of letters in each word. We didn’t do
this until we had practiced reading each
sentence several times.

27. Session Six:
•Students completed the text.
•Taking turns, they read the complete text.
•Students copied the completed text into their
notebooks.
•The teacher took photographs of each student,
as preparation for individualized writing.

28. En nuestros países nuestros padres trabajan sembrando en
la tierra o en la ciudad. Cultivando la siembra para alimentar a
la familia.
La llegada a Nueva York fue dura. Encontramos un clima
nuevo. Encontramos problemas con el inglés y el trabajo.
Estamos superando para seguir adelante.Todos luchamos por
la familia escribiendo y aprendiendo en la clase.
In our countries our parents work on the land or in the city.
They cultivate the crops in order to feed the family.
Arrival in New York was hard. We encountered a new climate.
We encountered problems with English and work.
We’re overcoming to get ahead. We’re all struggling for our
families writing and learning in class.
The Completed Text

29. Sessions Seven-Ten:
Individualized Writing

30. Nombre: _______________________________ Fecha: ____________________
Mi Historia
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
_________________________________ __________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Yo vine a est e país par a t r ab aja r .
par a la fa milia. Vine a Nueva Yor k
en e l 9 0 con mi espos o. Yo tomé el
avión d e Los Angeles a Nueva York .
Vinieron mis hijos en el 94.
--J
I came to this country to work.
for my family. I came to New York
in ’90 with my husband. I took
the plane from Los Angeles to New York.
My children came in ’94.
One learner’s
autobiographical
text

31. Cross-cultural Collaboration: A woman from Puerto Rico
works with a companion from the mountains of Southern Mexico.

32. I began with a picture, and returned
to pictures, but in a transformed way.

33. I made this drawing as a response to
learners’ discussion about working the land.
Based on learner
narratives, I
changed the
images in my
teaching materials.

34. I made this picture in response to learners’
comments about “running” as their first
experience of the United States.
Based on learner
narratives, I
changed the
images in my
teaching materials.

35. Happy graduates of an adult literacy program.
•“Go to the people. Learn from them…”
•How can we best do this?