marius

Here’s a different kind of writing challenge. Surprised I didn’t think of it before but
sometimes there can be answers right in front of our eyes and we just don’t see them.

So, what is this challenge? To answer that I need tell a story about Sapa’u who hails from the Pacific Islands. Here we go.

Short version is that Sapa’u came to the USA thirty years ago, got married, had three children, had knee replacement surgery and is now on disability. He speaks English but never learned to read, not his native language or English. We met through the adult literacy program for which I volunteer as a tutor. At that time he had had fourteen months of tutoring with another tutor, but had not reached an equivalency of first grade level reading. Now it’s fifteen month’s later and Sapa’u still does not meet first grade equivalency. Why? Partly because his learning disabilities prevent his actual reading ability from being measured by a test. Partly because his dyslexia is the most severe I’ve ever seen! He also has other LD issues but not sure what they are.

So what is this writing challenge for TD writers? Well, Sapa’u LOVES to read but his disabilities and available reading materials do not go together well. Why? The best answer I have is that adult literacy is a very strange world, and stranger for someone with profound dyslexia! None of the adult series we use (and we are using three) offer enough repetition of vocabulary or enough stories. In fact, many tutors have students repeat each book level two times before moving on.

Why not get supplementary books? Oh, we have plenty but the vocabulary varies wildly. That is not a good thing for a student like Sapa’u. If you want to see huge mis-firing in a dyslexic brain, just give that brain too many new vocabulary words!

The good news is that Sapa’u is very motivated. He is also more relaxed now that he knows he has a disability. When he became my student he believed that he had not learned to read because of laziness and stupidity. He had held those beliefs for so long (had never been told that he has dyslexia and learning disabilities) that it took four months for him to begin to recognize his disabilities and to see how they were affected his reading. However, he sees those disabilities now so when his brain goes on the fritz and he cannot figure out a simple word like “and” … he will say, “It’s my dis-les-kia!” (And by the way, the inability to say words and sounds correctly is caused by the unusual way in which those with severe dyslexia interpret what they hear.)

So, what IS this writing challenge? Tee hee, to try your hand at penning a short story with a limited vocabulary list. It isn’t easy (at least not for me) because you have to be very careful to not add new vocabulary and to keep the concepts basic. If want to take this challenge, I’d be ever so grateful and so would Sapa’u. I’d be happy to tell him who wrote which story. And, if given permission, would be happy to share your stories with the literacy agency. They are non-profit and all their tutors are volunteers so there are a great many folks looking for stories that complement the vocabulary in the books we use.

One last thing before I share the vocabulary list. Sapa’u told me he is learning to read in order to help his children. I couldn’t figure that out because his kids are 9 and 13 years old. Well, I just found out that Sapa’u is now reading better than his teenager! She is in Special Ed classes but he is making more progress. The nine year old is also in Special Ed but so far, Sapa’u is not reading better than this child.

What kind of stories does Sapa’u like? Well, he has a good sense of humor. We read a story about a girl who tried to bake a cake and Sapa’u laughed his head off when he read this sentence: “Her cake was a joke.” He has enjoyed stories about famous people such as Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein and Cesar Chavez. He likes stories that tell about people in a series of stories, for example: The Park family at the Zoo, The Park family has company, The Park family gets a new home.

Okay, if you’ve managed to read this far, I thank you very much!!! If you want to try the challenge, I thank you even more. In the next post I’ll paste the vocabulary list and in the post that follows, a few of the stories I‘ve written for Sapa’u. And, hey, if anyone has suggestions I’d be happy to hear them. If there are suggestions for books and stories already written, I’m interested in those too but right now there are thirty books in my library that we can’t quite use because there is too much variety in the vocabulary.

As for prizes? Well, I’d give the world to anyone who can help Sapa’u have more stories to read. The way it is now, he just reads the same stories over and over while we slowly add new vocabulary so that he is able to read the next story in the books. And, hey, if any of you are interested in writing for adult literacy and earning money for it, I’d think there would be a huge market. : )

marius

Vocabulary List for this challenge

NOUNS
all the months of the year, answer, ant, apple, arm, Aunt, baby, back, bank, ball, banana, beans, bed, bell, bike, bill, bird, birthday, block, boat, Bob, bone, box, book, bookstore, box, boy, bread, broom, brother, brush, bug, cab, cake, Candy, cap, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, chin, chip, Christmas, city, closet, clothes, clutter, coat, coffee, Coke, company, cookie, cop, corn, cow, crop, Dan, day, desk, diner, dinner, diploma, dirt, doctor, dog, door, dress, drip, duck, egg, exit, eye, factory, family, farm, farmer, fat, father, Father’s Day, feet, fence, finger, fire, fish, fishing pole, floor, flower, foot, fork, Fran, Frank, French fries, friend, frog, game, garden, gate, GED, giant, girl, glass, glue, goat, grass, green beans, grill, ground, Gus, hair, Hal, ham, hand, hat, he, head, her, hero, heroes, hill, his, hole, home, hood, horse, hose, hospital, house, I, idea, Jack, jacket, jam, Jan, Jane, Jill, job, joke, kids, kitchen, kitty, laugh, leg, letter, lunch, make-up, man, Maria, me, men, Mike, milk, mind, mine, money, morning, mother, Mother’s Day, mouse, Mr. and Mrs. Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Green, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, mud, my, myself, name, Nancy, napkin, neighbor, neighborhood, nest, night, noon, nose, number, nurse, odd jobs, order, our, ours, oven, paper, parents, party, Pat, pen, pencil, pepper, pet, pharmacy, Phil, phone, picture, pig, pin, problem, question, Quinn, rabbit, rain, Ramon, rat, ring, river, road, robin, room, rug, rule, salt, sandwich, Sandy, Santa Claus, sauce, school, seed, she, sheep, shoe, sidewalk, sister, sit, smell, snow, son, song, spaghetti, spoon, squirrel, Stan, stick, stove, street, sun, table, Thanksgiving, their, theirs, them, they, thing, time, Tony, top, toy, tree, truck, us, vacation Valentine’s Day, valley, Van, Vicky, wall, watch, water, Wayne, we, weather, week, who, wind (that blows), window, woman, women, wood, work, year, you, your, yours, Yo-Yo the dog.


VERBS
am, are, ask, ate, be, been, bless, break, bring, brush, buy, call, came, can, care, carry, clean, close,
closed, come, comes, cook, could, cry, cut, did, dig, do, does, don’t, done, drag, draw, drink, drip, drive, drop, dry, eat, exercise, fall, fed, feel, fill, find, fish, flip, fly, food, found, gave, get, give, giving, goes, got, grill, grow, has, hate, have, hear, help, hold, hug, hurt, is, it’s, jog, jump, keep, kick, know, laugh, learn, led, let, lick, like, likes, listen, live, look, love, made, make, may, mop, nap, open, order, own, park, pay, pick, plan, play, pull, push, put, quiz, ran, read, refuse, ride, rock, run, said, save, saw, say, see, seem, seen, sell, shall, shop, shot, should, show, sing, sit, skid, slap, sleep, smile, smoke, snip, sold, spill, stand, start, stir stop, study, sweep, take, talk, tell, thank, think, trap, tries, try, turn, use, walk, want, warm, was, wash, went, were, will, wish, work, would, write, yawn, yell, zip. (Irregular verb tenses are difficult so we use the verb “drive” but not “drove,” “hold but not “held.” Other forms of verbs are fine, such as help, helps, helped, helping.)

ADJECTIVES
bad, big, black, blue, brown, cold, dark, difficult, dry, easy, fast, fat, flat, fresh, full, funny, furry,
fuzzy, gigantic, good, grand, green, hard, high, hot, huge, ill, kind, large, light, little, long, loud, low, mean,
new, old, pink, pretty, purple, red, round, sad, short, sick, slick, slow, small, smelly, soft, stinky,
sweet, thick, thin, tiny, well, wet, white, yellow

OTHER WORDS
a, about, after, afraid, again, all, aloud, also, always, an, and, any, around, as, at, away, bad, because, before, best, better, both, but, by, eight, every, far, fast, first, five, for, four, from, fun, good, here, him, his, how, if, in, into, it, its, just, many, much, most, my, near, never, no, not, now, of, off, on, once, one, only, or, out, out loud, over, please, right, seven, shall, six, so, some, soon, ten, that, the, then, there, these, this, those, three, time, to, today, together, too, two, under, up, upon, very, way, well, what, when, where, which, why, win, with, won, would, yes

marius

Two stories I’ve written that were well received. : )

A Day At The River

It was a pretty day outside and Mr. and Mrs. Green wanted to go to the river. Mrs. Green wanted to sit outside on the grass and eat lunch. Mr. Green wanted to fish. He packed his fishing pole. Mrs. Green packed lunch. Their little boy, Tom, wanted to bring his bat and ball. Their little girl, Jan, wanted to bring a friend.

Everyone got into the car but Mr. Green. He would come later. Mrs. Green started to drive to the river but Jan called out, “We have to pick up my friend, Nancy!”

After she picked up Nancy, Mrs. Green went to the river. Jan got a blanket and put it on the grass. Mrs. Green put their lunch on the blanket. She and the girls sat on the blanket but Tom would not sit with them. He ran to the river. Mrs. Green said, “Tom, be safe! You do not want to fall into the river. It is warm today but the river is cold.”

Just then, Mrs. Green’s phone rang. When she got off the phone Mrs. Green said, “Girls, Mr. Green got a ticket. He drove his truck too fast. He will have to pay a lot of money for that ticket.”

The phone rang again. It was Mr. Green again. He had a flat tire. He could not change the tire because he did not have a jack. He was at the 7th Street bridge and he did not know what to do. Just then Mr. and Mrs. Green’s neighbors came to the park.

Dan said, “I will take a jack to Mr. Green. I will take it in my boat.” So Dan got into his boat and went to the 7th street bridge. When he got there, Mr. Green was gone and so was his car. Dan went back to the park and saw Mr. Green.

Mr. Green said, “A man helped me. I did not know you were coming with a jack. Thank you for trying to help.”

Mrs. Green laughed. She said, “Mr. Green, from now on you are coming to the park with us.”

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Yo-yo Finds a Girl for Wayne

Wayne took Yo-yo for a walk. They walked to the park. They walked around the lake at the park. Yo-yo wanted to get in the lake and swim. Wayne did not want Yo-yo to swim because a wet dog is a mess.

Yo-yo pulled on the rope. It fell out of Wayne’s hand. Yo-yo ran to the lake but a girl saw this. She took the rope and told Yo-yo, “You cannot go into the lake. That man is calling you. He does not want you to go into the lake.”

Wayne thanked the girl. He told her his name. She said, “My name is Fran. I walk at this park every day. Do you come here very much?”

Wayne said, “I will come here more if you are going to be here.” Now it was Fran’s turn to smile. After this, Wayne and Fran met at the park a lot. Fran had a little dog named, Tiny. Her dog liked to play with Yo-yo and Yo-yo did not want to get in the lake when Tiny was there.