The Mexican Approach to Developing Bilingual Materials and Teaching Literacy to BilingualStudentsAuthor(s): Robert MillerSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 35, No. 7 (Apr., 1982), pp. 800-804Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20198102 .

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The Mexican approach to

developing bilingual materials and

teaching literacy to

bilingual students

Describes the rationale and methods

for developing and using bilingual material for both primary literacy learning and literacy learning in a

second language.

Robert Miller Mexico's approach to the develop ment of bilingual literacy methods and materials can be used effectively in countries with linguistically diverse

populations. The Mexican govern ment is creating materials in the native languages of their linguistic

minorities. Through the Mexican

Ministry of Education and the Insti tuto Nacional Indigenista (INI), work books and teaching techniques based on the works of Paulo Freir? have been developed (Miller, 1980). These

methods and materials have a direct

application for the teaching of literacy in phonetic languages such as Spanish,

Portuguese, and Italian.

Following is a rationale for the

teaching of literacy in the native

language as well as a description of the method of developing and using literacy materials for adults and

primary school-aged children. Final

ly, a modification of this system

designed to improve native language skills while teaching English as a

second language is presented.

Literacy in the native language An increasing amount of evidence

indicates that literacy should be

taught first in the primary language of the speaker. Lambert and Tucker

(1972) in Canada, Modiano (1966) in Mexico, and Zappert and Cruz's

(1977) analysis of studies in the United States have all shown the

importance of teaching in the primary language and then transferring these

early reading skills into second lan

guage learning. After controlling for

socioeconomic status, Lambert and

800 The Reading Teacher April 1982

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his colleagues have reported greater

gains in second language learning when the students' primary language was the vehicle of instruction.

Gaarder (1972), discussing bilin

gualism in the U.S., cites three reasons why teaching in the primary language of the student is effective:

1. Children who enter school with less competence than English-speak ing children may become retarded in their schoolwork to the extent of their deficiency in English if English is the sole medium of instruction. On the other hand, the bilingual child's

conceptual development and acquisi tion of other experience and informa tion could proceed at a normal rate if the native tongue were used as an

alternative medium of instruction. 2. Non-English-speaking children

come from non-English-speaking homes. The use of the child's native

tongue by some of the teachers and as a school language is necessary if there is to be a strong mutually reinforcing relationship between the home and the school.

3. Language is the most important manifestation of the self, of the

personality. If the school rejects the native tongue of an entire group of

children, this will affect seriously and

adversely those children's concept of their parents, their homes, and them selves.

Learning to read in the native

language is beneficial because the learner brings many reading behav iors to the learning of the second

language: vowels, consonants, blends, diphthongs, and the concepts of

words, phrases, sentences, and punc

tuation. As the student masters the

primary language, more and more skills can be transferred to the second

language.

William Gray (1956) stated that the greater the phoneme-grapheme correspondence, the easier it is to learn to read. For example, in

Spanish there are 29 letters and 24

sounds, whereas in English there are

only 24 letters but 43 sounds. Imagine the frustration felt by the illiterate

Spanish speaker who was taught to

read and write in English. This

phoneme-grapheme mismatch may

present problems for native speakers of English and, in fact, many reading authorities have tried to simplify this

relationship with such programs as

the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) and Words in Color (Dechant, 1968).

Developing literacy materials The U.S. Department of Education

recognizes 72 languages under Title VII. Since there are not enough materials available in each of these

languages, materials must be created.

Nancy Modiano, who is employed by the Instituto Nacional Indigenista,

wrote a manual (Modiano, 1976) on how to create this type of material for the Indians of Mexico. This system is

being used to create beginning reading materials in all of the native languages, and is based on the techniques of Paulo Freir? (1973).

The first step is to identify genera tive words. In Freire's system these

words are meaningful to adults and tend to be political in nature. For

younger children, Modiano believes the words should be more basic, that

is, concrete, and include such things as food, holidays, the work of adults, and animals. For adults, the practical aspects of life are recommended. The words must always reflect the real world of the students, and the

practice of using pictures of just lawyers, doctors, and other profes sional people to motivate all types of students should be avoided.

The words are carefully arranged from basic phonetic sounds to more

complicated sounds. If done correctly, 17 words can express all of the sounds of Spanish. Slides and pictures are prepared to illustrate the meaning of the words; this material must

always be within the learner's context.

The Mexican approach to developing bilingual materials 801

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The class begins when the teacher

introduces a word, such as pelota 'ball' and discusses its meaning.

Next, the word is divided into

syllables. In addition, the phonemic

family of the first syllable of the word

is presented. (For example, pe-lo-ta: pa, pe, pi, po, pu.) This is done next

with the other two syllables so that a

discovery card can be made,

pa pe pi po pu la le li lo lu ta te ti to tu

Students then create new words which are discussed at the next

session. In remaining sessions the

group works through the rest of the

words.

After six weeks of this method, a

group can develop enough skill to

read newspapers, read and write

simple letters, and discuss problems of local and national importance (Maring, 1978).

The Mexicans use Freire's system in a formalized manner. Teachers from the Indian group for whom a

primer is being created identify the

generative words. Next, a beginning reading book is created with each lesson containing a picture, the word in syllable, and a short story under the word. Modiano (1976) uses the

following example to illustrate the first three lessons of a beginnng reading book in Spanish.

I MI COMIDA

II COMO CAMOTE

COMO CAMOTE CON SAL COMO CAMOTE CON SALSA

III ME GUSTA EL CAMOTE

ME GUSTA LA SAL ME GUSTA MI COMIDA

In the first three lessons, only three consonants and three vowels are

presented. After discussing the words, the students recombine the syllables

into a possible 40 new words. Each of these words is discussed, and the next lesson is presented.

From a technical standpoint, Mo diano states that there should be three pages for each symbol of the

language; therefore, if there are 20

sounds, there should be 60 pages of text. The format is extremely impor tant. Only capital letters and pictures that are easily identifiable are used at

first.

A system for teaching English and

Spanish Freire's system works best with

teenagers and adult illiterates. Modi ano's system is excellent for elemen

tary school children. Immigrant stu dents who have completed one or two years of education in their native

country and a year of second language training are still deficient in basic

skills, but are too advanced for either Freire's or Modiano's system.

For these students, it becomes

important to improve native language skills while teaching the second

language. The methodology for this is suggested in Freire's Pedagogy in

Process (1978). Freir? discusses a notebook of popular education which has been used in Guinea-Bissau, Africa. The notebook, in the second

stage, provides places in which to write about the "generative theme" or topic to which the reading vocabu

lary pertains. Through discussion and writing, meaning is intensified.

Based on this concept, a system is

presented here for teaching English as a second language while reinforcing the primary language, Spanish. The

system is based upon the following premises: (1) Discussion must pre cede written assignments. (2) The lessons must be designed to motivate the students. (3) The program must be supplemented with basic English vocabulary, oral reading in both

English and Spanish, language drills, dictation, and oral questioning?the

802 The Reading Teacher April 1982

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materials and techniques found in

any good language arts program. To use the system, first identify

problem areas. This is done by asking the students to write a paragraph in

the primary language. The paragraph

topic should be of interest to the students and might include such

things as the customs of the home

land, food, or comments on various

holidays. The papers are corrected and a master list of errors is compiled.

In the early stages of the program, the list contains only substitutions or

omission errors, such as // and y, or

omission of the initial h. Errors of

gender and accent should be handled later and the list should be revised

periodically. From the list, generative themes

are developed. The word or group of

words must focus on the error and be of interest to the students. Some

examples of generative themes fol low:

Error Themes s and c justicia Il and y Yo llamaba

cuando z and c zodiaco h (omission) heroes b and v Mi barrio es mi

vida The students then discuss the

generative theme in the native lan

guage. It is important that each student comment on his/her view of the theme. In a discussion about

justicia, students might include such ideas as inflation and how it affects the poor, problems with officials,

problems with fighting on campus, or migrants from Mexico.

Second, the students help to con struct a list of common words that reflect the concept being taught. Twenty words are sufficient. For the b and v problem, where two letters

represent the same sound, the phrase Mi barrio es mi vida can be used and

the following spelling words can be

taught.

b v cabeza velocidad

bienvenida verano

botica vocabulario

barrio vacaci?n

basura vacuna

ballena veterinario bandolero voy bandera verdad borracho verg?enza cobija ventana

The word list should be supplemented with a word list in English such as the Dolch list. Weekly tests are given with words in both English and

Spanish. Third, each student is expected to

write a paragraph in Spanish based on the discussion. Short papers are

encouraged in the beginning, and

longer papers are accepted as students increase their skills in writing Span ish.

Fourth, the students discuss the

topic in English. Since the students understand the topic in Spanish, full attention can be focused on creating English sentences. All students must comment on the topic in English. The

papers written in Spanish are avail able in case the students have forgot ten details about the topic.

Lastly, the students write a para graph in English on the topic. A translation of the Spanish paper is

acceptable or the paper may include other thoughts. Both papers are corrected and the students rewrite them. If pressures become too great, teachers can alternate the rewriting assignments, one week Spanish and one week English.

The process should take a total of three days. These three days need not be sequential because the students are always working from prepared notes. As a variation, the students can exchange papers and read them to each other. It is essential that

groups be formed to discuss the

concepts.

The Mexican approach to developing bilingual materials 803

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Summary The Mexican approach to literacy for bilinguals and the modified ap proach to teaching English as a second language while reinforcing primary language skills are both based on the premise that thinking and discussions should precede the

processes of reading and writing. Both techniques demand the creation of generative words, themes, and

materials that are interesting and an

integral part of the lives of students.

Using these two approaches, the teacher becomes a facilitator, helping students with the complicated tasks of primary literacy learning and liter

acy learning in a second language. c

Miller is a reading teacher at Yerba Buena High School in San Jose,

California.

References Dechant, Emerald. Diagnosis and Remediation of Read

ing Disability. West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Publishing Co., 1968.

Freir?, Paulo. Education for Critical Consciousness. New York, N.Y.: The Seabury Press, 1973.

Freir?, Paulo. Pedagogy in Process. New York, N.Y.: The Seabury Press, 1978.

Gaarder, Bruce. "Bilingualism in Education." In The Language Education of Minority Children, edited by Bernard Spolsky. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, 1972.

Gray, William. The Teaching of Reading and Writing. Paris, France: Unesco, 1956.

Lambert, Wallace, and Richard Tucker. Bilingual Educa tion of Children. The St. Lambert Experiment. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, 1972.

Maring, Gerald. "Freir?, Gray and Robinson on Read ing." Journal of Reading, vol. 21 (February 1978), pp.

421-25. Miller. Robert. "Public Primary School Education in

Mexico: A Focus on Reading Instruction in Mexico City." Doctoral dissertation, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.: 1980.

Modiano, Nancy. Como Hacer una Cartilla. Mexico: In stituto Nacional Indigenista, 1976.

Modiano, Nancy. "Reading Comprehension in National Language: A Comparative Study of Bilingual and All Spanish Approaches to Reading Instruction in Selected Indian Schools in the Highlands of Chia pas, Mexico." Doctoral dissertation, New York University, New York, N.Y., 1966.

Zappert, Loraine, and Roberto Cruz. Bilingual Educa tion?An Appraisal of Empirical Research. Berkeley,

Calif.: Bay Area Bilingual Education League, 1977.

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804 The Reading Teacher April 1982

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