We are proud to be featuring Estelle Leisy on our radio show who is making an amazing impact within the Spanish speaking community one child at a time! Estelle is a retired LAUSD teacher and publisher who continues to deliver user-friendly ABCs to Latino Pre-Ks and kindergartners.
The problem with the way students are taught their ABCs, is that Latino Pre-Ks from Spanish speaking homes have to try and unravel the Spanish/English puzzle. To teach children their beginning letter sounds they are told that 'A' is for APPLE but in Spanish the word for apple is 'manzana'. This creates confusion due to the conflicting beginning sounds. Estelle's program instead uses user-friendly images (or cognates) that have the same beginning sound in English and Spanish. An example is 'B' is for BEAR/bicicleta.
Phonics for Latinos - ABCs in Common provides a phonics kit consisting of 8 components that teach 19 common Spanish/English letter sounds in a variety of ways; utilizing posters, flashcards, and games, to help Latino Pre-Ks learn their ABCs and expand their vocabulary. A Treasure chest product was recently added that has over 100 coloring pictures which helps vocabulary enrichment.
Learning the ABCs is the first step to reading. It used to be that just about all kindergartners spoke English but no more. Here in Los Angeles, California there are many kindergartners from Spanish speaking homes. Phonics for Latinos ABCs in common is a program just for them, so they don't fall behind their classmates.
This program came about because of a kindergarten child in Estelle's classroom who was learning English. As he left to go back to his class he confided in her that he was confused because his teacher thought that manzana (the word apple in Spanish) starts with an ‘A'.
Estelle was amazed because she had always thought that our English only signs were working just fine in teaching the ABCs. She didn't realize that the children were not looking at the signs in English. They are presented with the image of an apple and told that ‘A' is for APPLE, but in Spanish the word for apple is manzana so Latino Pre-Ks are presented with two different letter sounds, ‘A' vs ‘M'.
Since Estelle spoke Spanich she knew that she could create different pictures that would align better with the letter shown. These were cognates, letter sounds that have the same beginning sound in English and Spanish. For example, instead of having a picture of a BEAR the ABC sign which conflicts with the Spanish word OSO you could instead have the image of a bicycle and make the ABC sign ‘B' is for Bicycle/Bicicleta.
Phonics for Latinos - ABCs in Common helps children learn the ABCs because they can compare pictures that have the same beginning sounds. The important thing to remember about Phonics for Latinos ABCs in Common is the ABCs in common. Spanish and English are similar languages and share 19 letter sounds, so children from Spanish speaking homes can learn at home as well. Parents can use family names like David that have the same beginning sound in English to help them learn their ABCs. You can ask if Manual and Miguel have the same beginning sound to identify the letter ‘M'. Their success in phonics depends on comparing image names with names on a chart.
This life changing phonics kit consists of line components such as bingo, flashcards, charts, and games that all utilize user-friendly images with cognates in different ways to help catch the child's attention. This makes learning the ABCs easy and fun.
Click Here to visit Phonics for Latinos - ABCs in Common's website
