Approaching Literacy? (This entry will fit perfectly into my "White Teacher Saves Poor Children of Color in the Inner City" memoir.)

D. kept following me around today, just being near me, and when I finally got to take him into a quiet room and sit with him, we spent an hour focused on lining up the plastic glow-in-the-dark letters I bought at a dollar store, saying each letter and the sound it made, then putting them in order, doing it again with a second set (gotta love the dollar store!), then thinking of words that began with each letter. He made it up to G on his own, and we did H through Z together. Sometimes he could say the name of the letter but not the shape, sometimes he knew the name of the letter but not the sound it made. Sometimes he knew the name of it in Spanish, or the sound it made in Spanish. When we listed words that started with each letter, he asked, "Okay Spanish?" and of course I said of course.

agua apple ano also aunt bebe baby boyfriend casa cat church car child catorce dinero Dominicana Dominican Republic escuela familia family father fourteen gold gato gatico grandmother grandfather girlfriend house hora home hola hundred iglesia junto job Justino justicio justice Katherine Kathy kitten luck lottery loteria loto money momento minute moment manana nina nino nana novio novia oro old older paper papel papa padre queen quince raza race Republica republic school suerte somos son sun sol tia tio tambien trece today thousand two hundred uncle uno vida vivir viven water x-ray xou years you younger young zero

He does want to learn to read. Of course he does. But who could admit that, at fourteen? You're admitting so much if you admit that.