[Dialogue] Literacy work with refugees and others

[chagnon@comcast.net]

>From Lucille Chagnon to Marge Philbrook and interested colleagues

Marge, 
     Since I have received several e-mails about my step by step literacy book, 
I am enclosing, below, the longer e-mail that I sent last week.  I corrected the 
prices which I had done from memory: one should have been 50 cents higher and 
the other 50 cents lower.  
    You can go direct to the website of my print-on-demand publisher, 
AuthorHouse (authorhouse.com) to buy the book for $9.50 or to get an 8 1/2 x 11 
print-out (electronic copy) for $3.95.  It is also available worldwide through 
bookstore computers for $12.  The 2006 edition will not be out for several 
months, and except for the cover, it will be virtually identical to the 2005 
edition with both the new cover picture and a short blurb clarifying that it is 
for anyone interested in teaching adults, youth, or children to read.  
    So good to hear from you, Marge.  My best to you and to Paula when you talk to 
her.
Lucille

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To colleagues interested in literacy acceleration methods:
     My book,  "You, Yes YOU, Can Teach Someone to Read: A Step by Step How-To 
Book,"  has the Four-Level Reflection (Art Form method) built into the fabric of 
the very first sessions so as to begin to build a meaningful dialogue between 
the two Learning Partners (tutor and new reader) by focusing on the life and 
interests of the latter.    
     To teach phonics I use small alphabet strips to build sets of rhyming 
words, which also increases the new reader's vocabulary.  Each set can have its 
own file card or page in a small notebook, lists created during the tutoring 
session.  Alphabet strips, mindmaps, and planning charts are in the back of the 
book with permission to duplicate. 
     Anyone working with scripts like Arabic or Hebrew will appreciate my 
emphasis on starting with upper- rather than lowercase letters.  Once someone 
new to the written language (including our own children!!) knows the 11 
uppercase that are identical to lowercase (COPS UVWXYZ) and the five that are 
similar (Ff  iI jJ kK  tT), they will have only 11 more lowercase letters to 
learn:  ab de gh lmn qr.  They can thus learn to read both upper- and lowercase 
much more quickly.  And since b d g q are among the last to be learned, the 
problem of reversals takes a big hit!  As Marshall McLuhan said, "Environments 
are invisible to those who are in them."  I don't know how teachers have missed 
that one all these years--myself included. 
    Anyone who also speaks the language of the Learning Partner can easily 
translate and adapt all of the simple yet detailed methods in my book.  My 
process has a built-in geometric progression of learning designed to accelerate 
learning by turning willing learners into tutors, as some of my Rutgers students 
did during the eight years that I taught the Urban Literacy Practicum at the 
Camden, NJ inner-city campus.  
    My website (teachtwo.net) has duplicable forms and a link to my publisher.  
You can go direct to the  AuthorHouse website (authorhouse.com) where you can 
buy the book for $9.50 or get an 8 1/2 x 11 print-out (electronic copy) for 
$3.95.  It is $12 if ordered through a bookstore computer and available thus 
worldwide. 
     The 2005 first edition has a wonderful kid lying on his stomach on the 
grass reading.  It will be replaced in a few months by an almost identical 2006 
edition whose cover picture of a young adult will specifically state that the 
methods address youth, adults, and children.  Let me know how I can be of 
further help.