Write Your Own Folk Tale.

After reading an article about African folktales, we thought it'd be a fun activity for your little one to write a folktale of their own.

African folktales are cultural stories that have been passsed down from generation to generation filled with experiences, animals, environment, and more. Folktales tend to explain events people couldn't understand, or the reasons why animals act and look the way they do. For example, ask your child what he or she thinks about why the moon rises or how the zebra got his stripes. Be creative and work together!


What you will need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers, crayons, or paints
• Lined paper
• Pencil or pen
• Yarn or pipe cleaners

Step 1: Do a thought jogger with your child to help them come up with creative animals to use.  Be sure to discuss the parts of the story with your child too.


Step 2: Have your child practice by writing down the details of the story one line at a time neatly. Have them draw a picture to match what they describe.

Step 3:Have your creative genius make a final copy and bind it together with pipe cleaners or colorful yarn!

Step 4: Have fun!

We hope you and your family enjoy this activity and we hope you have a great weekend!

Guest Blog: Great Internet Resources

Vince Scalise, 

ESOL Instructor

Students working on their language skills today have wonderful free resources available to them. In our age of technology there are numerous web sites, YouTube videos and blogs for language learners. As an ESL instructor working with multi-level students I have found the Internet invaluable.

Most of my lessons I pull from different sites, but I will always tweak them a little. I go to Google Images to add pictures whenever possible, and I have found that extremely helpful for our ESL students. I also send out some cyber lessons every Monday to my students. These are mostly from YouTube but also from a few web sites I like, which correspond with the class lessons for the week.

I would like to share a few of these sites with you.

http://www.youtube.com/ - type in the lesson you are interested in. I recommend adding some music videos with the lyrics. This is a fun way to practice diction.

http://www.engvid.com/ - One of my favorite sites, this is from a language school, their instructors are great.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JenniferESL - An ESL instructor has posted her lessons on YouTube

http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/venturesadulted/venturesarcade/index.html

http://www.englishclub.com/ - check out their idioms

http://esl.about.com/

http://www.uic.edu/depts/tie/coolsites.htm - this list from University of Illinois in Chicago has numerous sites.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. I encourage everyone to explore the web for helpful lessons. It is a free source of great information. And these sites are not just for ESL students, any topic can be found. I even found some of the old “Schoolhouse Rocks” videos, which I used in my citizenship class. If anyone would like to be added to my distant learner e-mail group please email me at yanks78915@aol.com.

It's all in the eyes.

When you think of reading to your children, your class or a young child, you usually think to point out the pictures, the colors, and all the pretty things on the pages. Now all of that is wonderful, but what about the actual text of the book? Isn't that what we want them to eventually understand so they can be successful readers? Well, a recent study shows that pre-school children who are read to and have help focusing on the text of the books are better readers as they grow up. In part of the study, they watched children's eye movements to see where they were focusing on and usually it was on the teacher or the picture, but not the text! They gave a few tips on to how to get children to begin focusing on the text so they could familiarize themselves with the letters and full words.

Try it yourself! See if your child is focusing on the words by simply watching their eyes when you read to them. Perhaps their only focusing on the pictures or looking at you? Of course its difficult to get a young child to focus but there are some great ways to make it happen! For instance you could use "matching cards" made out of pieces of paper or flash cards with the words and letters on them from the book you are about to read. Then, after you read a few sentences ask the child to match the letter or card in their hand with the word or letter on the page. You could also ask the child to find the first word on the page, or the last word on the page. This matching game will have their reading skills soar and they will be independent readers before your very eyes!

I hope you enjoyed learning something new today and be sure to share it with others. Have a Happy Friday everyone!

National Musuem Day- Free Admission!

This Sunday the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) will be offering free admission as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors national Museum Day!

 Be sure to be that at 2pm for The Storytellers of Central Florida who will be telling folk tales, Cracker tales and other stories about Floridians.

All ages welcome. Free admission to the OMA May 20/noon-4pm.

2416 North Mills Ave Orlando, Florida 407 896 4231

 Bring the family and enjoy a FREE afternoon of art, reading and fun in our great city!

Guest Blog: Persons and People and English Oddities

Morgan Knezovich, 

Adult Literacy League Board Member

Being a part of a literacy organization, I’ve come to accept that oddities within the English language are just my thing. A recent conversation with volunteers and staff at the League led to a discussion on the appropriate use of the term persons and people. One of our literacy tutors had not known quite how to answer her student's question about this usage. So, if this question has ever crossed your mind or you just need a quick grammatical refresher, here’s something I put together just for you:

International Day of Families--May 15!

This upcoming Tuesday on May 15 the United Nations and the rest of the world will be celebrating International Day of Families! This is an annual celebration for families all around the world and this year the focus is on “ensuring work family balance”. The United Nations wants to call attention to all families and how each of them provides economically and emotionally for each member. To celebrate this special day take some time to learn about another culture! Ask your child to name as many countries as they can. From there, ask your child to pick one country that they would like to know more about. After you have your country, do some research! What do their families look like? What do their houses look like? Do both the boys and girls go to school? You can find that information on the internet, in books or by having conversation with people from that culture.

Happy Family Literacy Friday everyone!

The Ultimate Bedtime Story.

Hey everyone, Happy Family Literacy Friday! Today we're going to tell you all about an adventure that will require to use your imagination and a few books. Grab a large sheet, your child's favorite blanket and book and head to your living room because its tent building time! What kid or adult doesn't love buidling a tent, castle or giant mansion right in their own home? You can get your child using their imagination and excited about reading for free right in the comfort of your family room. You may want to choose a story about kids going on a camping trip, a princess in a castle or Native Americans. There are so many ways to get creative and have a few good laughs along the way. You and your family could tell the stories in different voices or even act out the scenes. This adventurous activity will be sure to become a favorite for everyone!

See, big kids like to have adventures too!