A Guide for Teachers, Tutors and Parents

Reading is fundamental to every child’s growth. It expands their creative experiences and allows them to venture into the unknown. It also expands their vocabulary and develops concepts that are going to help children with communication skills and prepare them for academic success. Reading is the critical foundation for learning.

All children should have the opportunity to learn and have the right to excel to the best of their ability, especially in reading. Children come to school with different needs, and because of this, it is a challenge to get through to all of the children. If the expectations are high for everyone, then everyone will have a better chance of reading to their potential. A teacher has to be open to and on the lookout for many ways to teach the same objective because children come to school from different backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. The more the teacher knows of a child’s background and language experiences, the more insight there is into his/her learning process.

In Learning to Read in English and Spanish Made Easy: A Guide for Teachers, Tutors, and Parents, Susie G. Navarijo shares the unique methods she developed over three decades of teaching reading in the first grade. She also shares experiences she has had in trying to help children with special needs and backgrounds. Her insight and experiences are sure to be of help to anyone who wishes to help children of all ages and abilities.

About the Author

Susie G. Navarijo is a retired first grade teacher. She taught thirty years at Cable Elementary in the Northside District in San Antonio, Texas, where she was one of the first bilingual teachers in the district. In 1986 she was selected Bilingual Teacher of the Year for the San Antonio Area Association for Bilingual Education. Because she had to divide her groups into English and Spanish, as well as by ability, she developed methods that allowed her to stress commonalities in both languages.

Mrs. Navarijo received her Bachelor’s of Education degree in 1972 and her Masters of Education degree in 1979 from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonia, Texas. She is certified as an Elementary Bilingual/ESL teacher. After retirement, her love of children and success in teaching brought her to tutor migrant children. This book will allow Mrs. Navarijo to pass along her successful method, as well as her experiences, with other teachers, tutors, and parents in hope that her belief that every child can learn will become a reality in every classroom in America.