Closing a Learning Gap and Having Fun

Like many children in East Los Angeles, Juan Mora speaks Spanish with his family at home and struggles to learn English at school.

The third-grader at Ford Avenue Elementary School could barely read at the first-grade level only a few months ago, but he’s getting up to speed, thanks to a free bilingual tutoring program established by the Latino Children’s Fund, a nonprofit community agency.

In response to Proposition 227--the state measure that abolished bilingual instruction in public schools last year--the Latino Children’s Fund launched its one-on-one reading program to help Spanish-speaking schoolchildren become more proficient in English.

The bilingual program--currently 45 children are enrolled--is among the efforts private agencies launched as a way to provide bilingual instruction despite the state’s mandate of “English only” in California’s classrooms. Such programs are especially helpful in neighborhoods where many families are poor and primarily speak Spanish, said Jesus Jimenez, executive director of the fund, which focuses on Latino health and education issues.

“Sometimes poor Latino children are left behind in education,” said Jimenez, the son of Mexican immigrants who worked in the farm fields of Delano. “I know how these kids feel. I don’t want them to slip through the cracks.”

Reaching out to California’s children who are unable to read at grade level could prove to be a daunting task. In 1998, California ranked second to last among 39 states in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal assessment of fourth-grade reading skills. According to test scores, only 20% of the state’s fourth-graders were considered proficient readers.

The number for Latino fourth-graders was even more grim: only 8% could read at grade level, according to test statistics.

That, coupled with the fact that 25% of all the state’s students have a limited English proficiency background, poses a challenge in teaching literacy, according to Doug Stone, spokesman for the state Department of Education.

To help cope with the reading disparity among Latino youths, the fund distributes a bilingual brochure that lists reading tips for parents. The brochure encourages parents to become active participants in their children’s reading development, whether they read to them in English or Spanish.

“It really doesn’t matter what language parents read to their children in, as long as they read to them,” Jimenez said. “Just knowing that a parent makes an effort to read to them has a lasting impression on the children.”

The brochures, printed at a cost of $5,500 for 25,000 copies, were paid for by a grant from Washington Mutual Bank. The brochures have been distributed in Latino communities in areas such as East Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Glendale and Oxnard.

Jimenez wanted to do more than just tell parents how to read to their children. So he launched the tutoring program as a way to show parents how to do just that.

The program was funded through a donation from Cathy Checchi, a member of the agency’s board of directors and wife of businessman and former gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi. Organizers declined to disclose the amount but said the money is being used to buy books and pay for the agency’s four interns. Six unpaid volunteers assist in reading to the 45 children each week.

“I notice that the children start to associate reading as a fun activity rather than as a school chore,” said Josephine Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the fund who also reads to the children.

By summer, Jimenez expects to see as many as 250 children in his program, and hopes to convert part of the agency’s small office into a learning center.

Many of the children Jimenez tutors have trouble in English and Spanish. Most speak Spanish fluently at home but can’t read the language, making them feel frustrated as they learn English. Such problems are common throughout the state, said Norman Gold, manager of the State Department of Education’s language proficiency and academic accountability unit.

“It’s hard to transfer Spanish skills to English, but we’re showing it’s possible,” Jimenez said. “We see the frustration in Juan and the problems he has commanding English, but we found that if he hears more through bilingual books, his frustration lessens and he learns more.”

Every Tuesday afternoon, Jimenez tutors Juan by reading books written in Spanish and English. Many of the readers use books with Latino characters for the children to identify with. Jimenez said he has seen Juan’s reading skills improve because someone is reading to him in both languages.

“He’s learning much more here than at his lectures from school and he’s reading in English so much better now,” said Juan’s mother, Amalia Mora, 49, of East Los Angeles. “I’m happy when I see him reading out loud in English because I know it will make him successful.”

* SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LIVING

Those who read Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” can follow up on the book’s environmental lessons by contributing money to plant trees in the Lorax Forest in South Carolina. E5