Job Discussion Forums

[dixie]

Apparently, (according to a seminar a colleague attended) the average M�xican reads less than one novel per year. So another colleague, and I are looking to transform the current Community Service Project component that we have established in one of our classes, to something that is based on literacy.

We have some ideas (including using the Flat Stanley children�s books - if you know a third grader in the States, or CND you might be very familiar with it), but I was wondering if anyone in the DF area was familiar with any organizations that were literacy based.

My kids are high school kids, and although we would prefer that they worked in English, the reality is that just helping kids read - English, Spanish, Klingon - is all that matters.

So if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear.

Thanks!

[hlamb]

Not a suggestion exactly, but I've discussed this with students (high school, uni and working adults) and they don't read. One told me reads a lot and then proceeded to list the five books she's read in the past year. I know I read more than the average Canadian, but the lack of literacy here concerns me. How can they possibly hope to learn another langauage when they are barely literate in their own? Let us know what you find out and how your project works!

[FreddyM]

I don't know who does these literacy studies but they have a definite bias in that often only novels are counted towards the reading total. I don't read much fiction, if I read one novel a year it's a lot. But I read a lot of non-fiction material and periodicals. According to those surveys, I would not be considered a "reader", yet I probably spend several hours a day reading in one fashion or another.

[MO39]

Maybe I'm just nit-picking, but doesn't "literacy" mean the ability to read and write, not the extent to which it is done?

[danielita]

Where i lived in the south last year, there were a few big reasons why poeple didn't read novels.

Most of the students were too busy reading their text books and doing home work. They barely had time to sleep, let alone read.
If they did have free time, they spent it helping their parents earn money, looking after their younger siblings or cooking meals.

Sadly, reading was considered to be a waste of time...

[MO39]

[Prof.Gringo]

Actually Pres. Calderon has been addressing this issue. Mexico is going to create a new department in the govt. that answers to the sec. of education to promote reading and a culture of books and reading in Mexico. Also, Mexico is going to place price controls on books so that smaller stores can compete.

I am always shocked at how little, if any Mexicans read. I notice the contrast when I am back in the US. On buses, planes, commuter trains, subways, etc you'll often see people reading books. In Mexico? Almost never.

From what I read (really) Mexico is in 2nd to last place in the America's for reading, only Haiti ranks lower. It's so much easier and cheaper to turn on the TV and watch a mindless telenovela on either Azteca or Televisa. Why think or use your imagination when others can do it for you?

It's interesting to note that former Pres. Fox chose to write and publish his book in English first, and later in Spanish.

[MO39]

[Prof.Gringo]

Those statistics Prof. Gringo mentions are really disappointing, especially considering that Mexico has an important publishing industry, maybe on the same level as Argentina's. I wonder which Latin American countries rank high on the reading list.[/quote]

I am not sure, but I'd like to know too.

[notamiss]

Look what just landed in my inbox. You might be able to make use of it for your project:

[MO39]

Thanks for this notice, notamiss. I never could resist a book sale!

I wonder why a publishing company would have to pay taxes on books they would donate or give away Sounds counter-intuitive to me, especially if the government is trying to encourage people to read through the Programa de Fomento a la Lectura.

[cummings93]

Any moment at work, when I am allowed the time, my face is usually buried in a book. I live and work in San Miguel de Allende and we are fortunate to have a really nice, big library. Anyways, my students are always asking me why I read so much. I explain to them that a "good book is like a really good movie, but it lasts longer and is far better." They seem puzzled when I tell them this.

[MO39]

[geaaronson]

If anyone has ever spent any time in any of Mexico`s libraries, there would be sufficient evidence to clue you in why there is so little social encouragement for reading. The tomes in so many of the regional libraries are so boring, not even the most avid reader would be in the slightest interested in reading.
Check out the little library at the corner of Antonio Caso in Colonia Rafael in DF to see what I am referring to. I have been in at least 3 other libraries and experienced the same ho hum response. There are public libraries plenty but few that have anything that merits attention. There are exceptions of course and I am speaking of the Merida Public Library that is well used and for good reason. It has excellent material.

Slightly off the subject but for any latent racists out there, the Altanta Public Library in Georgia USA is extremely well stocked and is visited by thousands, a clear majority of about 90%, Afro Americans, every day of the week.

I don`t understand why with all of the money from Bill Gates Education Foundation and Bill Clinton`s education proposals for the rest of the world that someone doesn`t come up with a non profit publishing company that recycles older literature in English. There are many copyrights that have expired on books from the past century that could be republished with no extra expense paid in royalties to the inheritors of the writers estates. Simply take a childrens picture book written in 1934, if need be rewrite the English to contemporary standards, use the same art work and print up 100s of thousand for distribution to school libraries all over the world. You could put out 30 titles a year and earmark them for distribution to remote villages in third world countries.

[ls650]