BACK TO BASICS

I have a PRECIOUS student, Jessica, that I tutor 3 times a week at the school our church adopted. She is PURE joy! Jessica is having problems in school and I am working with her on her reading and English. Jessica was born in Mexico, but has been in the states long enough that she speaks English with no problem. There is a problem with reading. The fact that her parents speak Spanish leaves her with no resource---thus enters Christ Community Church.

The "learning journey" has been for both of us. It has been a LONG time since I helped my own children. We did faithfully work every night on their school assignments and ALWAYS read. The snag then and now with Jessica is that I did not learn to read phonetically. Back in the "OLD DAYS", we were taught to read mainly by memorization. So I have to go back and relearn the rules to teach her the correct way to sound out words. The consonants are no problem-even the blends. The problem comes with teaching ALL the vowel sounds as well as vowel blends sounds. I have resorted to borrowing a book from a first grade teacher to go back to the basics. IT IS NOT EASY FOR AN OLD DOG TO LEARN OR RELEARN A NEW TRICK! I am DETERMINED and for those that know me---they all feel sorry for Jessica. I will NOT give up until she is reading fluently and on grade level! Perhaps then she can teach me Spanish!