Undoubtedly your father was proud and did not like being treated like a child.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 6:35 AM, Elida Perez-Knapp <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:e_perezknapp@yahoo.com">e_perezknapp@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>From a strictly personal point of view, I certainly agree that reading material must be relevant and is a major tool for those learning to read. My father was one of the those that lost interest in attending Adult Education classes because of the lack of relevance. As an adult in the 60's, raising a large family, he attended classes to learn how to read. He knew this was the key to getting and keeping a job. My mother tried to teach him and he did learn how to sign his name but he never learned to read. I remember him coming home from the classes and sharing with mother how the class would practice out-loud the sounds of the letters, "b -- bird, bird". He would laugh and say how silly that was. </div>
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<div>One of the jobs he held was in construction and there was his interest. I believe that if the topic of the adult education class had been anything in relation to construction he would have had a totally different experience. My father was an intelligent, hardworking man who accomplished many things in life yet did not overcome the challenge of learning to read. I realize that the teaching methods in <span>AE</span> have advanced tremendously since the 60's yet I often wonder how much more my day would have accomplished if only he had learned to read. </div>
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<div>Elida Perez Knapp</div>
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<div><br><br>*************************<br>Courage does not always roar. <br>Sometimes it is the quiet voice <br>at the end of the day that says, <br>"I will try again tomorrow." <br>anonymous<div class="Ih2E3d">
<br><br>--- On <b>Sun, 1/11/09, Steve <span>Kaufmann</span> <i><<a href="mailto:steve@thelinguist.com" target="_blank">steve@thelinguist.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br></div></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;"><div class="Ih2E3d">From: Steve Kaufmann <<a href="mailto:steve@thelinguist.com" target="_blank">steve@thelinguist.com</a>><br>
</div>Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3314] Re: quantifying student interest in material<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>To: "The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List" <<a href="mailto:englishlanguage@nifl.gov" target="_blank">englishlanguage@nifl.gov</a>><br>
</div>Date: Sunday, January 11, 2009, 11:06 AM<br><br>
<div>First of all, brain research has shown that we learn best from content that is relevant. Read Manfred Spitzer, the Human Brain and the School of Life. <br><br>Second of all, the need for interesting material is greatest for people who do not read well in a given language. To give these learners content that is of no interest or relevance is an idea that strikes be as highly counterproductive. <br>
<br>Third, someone in an academic or professional setting should already be a competent reader, and having made a choice of subject to study, or professional career, should be interested in what he or she is reading.<div class="Ih2E3d">
<br><br>Steve Kaufmann<br><a href="http://www.lingq.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.lingq.com</a><br><br>
</div><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 12:32 PM, stephen churchville <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:schurchville@hotmail.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">schurchville@hotmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>Hi,<br> <br>The idea that interesting reading material makes for more effective literacy instruction always sounded right to me, but now I am thinking about cases where that might not be true, and wonder if trying to keep it interesting is a disservice to students with academic or workplace aspirations, where we are all required to read and understand lots of uninteresting material.<br>
<br>Does anyone know of any reports or studies that measure how student interest in reading material influences outcomes? <br> <br>And how that then plays out in standardized tests? <br> <br>Thanks<br>Stephen Churchville<br>
<a href="http://www.lessonwriter.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.LessonWriter.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br><br>
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