I started reading our local newspaper which is written in both Spanish and English. I was able to make sense of very little. I had to rely on cognates such as implementan and sanitarios. I also know a little bit of Spanish from a high school class I had a habit of skipping, and from spending time in our community, especially in the Spanish kindergarten class. Because of this background I was able to pick up the days of the week and get a vague idea that I would not be able to water my grass and garden whenever I wanted. It was tough though.
I had to scale way down. I looked through a children's chapter book in Spanish. No luck. It was clear to me that I would need picture support. I kept looking. Finally, I found a first grade book on communities. I was able to interpret many of the pages and get a general idea of the book. Again, there were cognates I could rely on. (communidad, personas) I know a little about teaching communities to first graders, and I had picture clues. Without these three supports I would have been lost. It's a good reminder to really help our ELL students build background knowledge and talk through the topics before reading.
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