EDRG 604 Blog Entry 4

I started with an adult publication titled "La Casa En Mango Street," by Sandra Cisneros. I was able to comprehend very little from this book. I was able to pick up words here and there and make some sense of the story. I was able to pick up a few words, not because I already knew them, but because they were very similar to english words. I think I was able to get the whole idea of the book, but I definitely could not understand the details.

I then tried to read a book purblished for young adults. Unfortunately, the library I went to did not have any young adult books in spanish.

I then moved on to the children's books. I read the story "Gracias, Sr. Falker," by Patricia Polacco. Because of the very many, detailed pictures, I was able to make sense of this book. I could understand that the children were making fun of her and that she was very sad. I established that without the pictures though, I still would not have been able to comprehend this book. There were words that I was able to pick up on, but the text as a whole was still very difficult for me to comprehend.

As a teacher, this greatly opened my eyes to how hard it must be for a non english speaker to sit in a english speaking only classroom. I realized that pictures and phyiscal examples are some of the best ways for ESL students to learn. It would have been helpful to have someone who speaks Spanish sit down with me and walk me through the book. I think with their help, I would have comprehended the book better.