Copyright © by RaiseYourChild.org. All Rights Reserved.

Challenge your students to read millions of words!

Register today for the Million Word Challenge:
www.millionwordchallenge.org

How Can a School/Agency Participate? Register your school/agency online at www.millionwordchallenge.org today.  The Campaign  launches on February 1, 2012.  There are limited spaces available so schools/agencies will be registered on a first-come, first-serve basis.        Implement the challenge in your school/agency following the guidelines. Schools/Agencies will have access to an online handbook to help with implementation.         Submit the name of your school/agency’s Million Word Challenge Winner by logging back onto www.millionwordchallenge.org in April 2012.         Each student winner receives a $50 gift certificate to purchase books at the Target Book Store at Festival of Books, which will take place at USC April 21 – 22, 2012. Students unable to attend Festival of Books will be able to use their gift card to purchase books at any Target store.  For additional information, please contact Colin Meng at (213) 201-3907 or at ctmeng@familiesinschools.org. Million Word Challenge participant challenges you to read outside of school!

Copyright © by RaiseYourChild.org. All Rights Reserved.

Isabel Allende, Elena Poniatowska, Laura Restrepo, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Carmen Boullosa, Francisco Martin Moreno, José José and Kate Del Castillo, are Among Presenters

One of the most ambitious efforts to celebrate the world of Spanish language books will make its debut when LéaLA, the Spanish book fair in Los Angeles, premieres April 29, 30 and May 1, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. “This book fair is the first of its kind in the U.S.,” says Marisol Schulz, Director of LéaLA. “LéaLA was conceived as a cultural festival where the spinal cord is the literary program, a space where authors from Latin American countries and U.S. Latino writers can find a home that reflects the U.S. Latino reality. A place where Hispanics from all walks of life can rediscover their roots, reading, culture and understand the new society they are building in the U.S.,”

LéaLA will feature an impressive gathering of highly acclaimed authors from the literary, cultural and entertainment worlds. More than 100 publishers and 80 authors will showcase their works from fiction to non-fiction, with topics ranging from history to empowerment, for everyone from book aficionados to children just learning to read, in Spanish and English. The jam-packed literary and cultural program will complement the sale of books and give the public a close-up look at the wonders of the written page in an entertaining way.

Confirmed authors include: Isabel Allende, Laura Restrepo, Francisco Martin Moreno, Xavier Velasco, Sealtiel Alatriste, Carmen Boullosa, Sanjuana Martinez, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and Sandra Lorenzano. Also participating will be the Director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Jose Manuel Blecua; former Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres; legendary singing superstar, Jose Jose; actress Kate del Castillo, and more celebrities who will read to children in the kids’ zone.

The Mexican state of Jalisco is the honored special guest and as a tribute LéaLA will present a homage to three Mexican literary greats: Juan Rulfo, Agustín Yáñez and Juan José Arreola, as well as the theatre performances by one of Mexico’s greatest artists, actor-writer-director, Ofelia Medina, presenting "El Placer de Nuestra Lengua,"  "The Pleasures of Our Tongue,” with the Rubén Albarrán (lead singer of Café Tacvba). The play’s name is a double entendre referring to the Spanish language as well as our physical tongue.  It is a dramatic staging where delicate, romantic lyricism is intertwined with potent eroticism through the Spanish Language.  The Ballet Folclórico of the University of Guadalajara, considered one of the best folk dance troupes in Mexico with international acclaim, will also offer a command performance, with concert caliber mariachi on Sunday, May 1 at the Wiltern Theatre.

Plenary sessions, book signings, talks, panel sessions and talks will fill each day’s program revealing insights into a plethora of topics including: popular trends, current events, immigration, the vitality of Latino culture in the U.S. and Latin America, the history and roots of Latin American countries, mysteries of love and sex, personal finance, mental and physical health for women, gay history, the drug trade, Mexican cinema in L.A., the art of Mexican cuisine, and the education crisis, among others.

Topping each day will be evening concerts at the Nokia Theatre with top recording artists including, Lupillo Rivera and Banda El Limon, Pedro Fernandez, and Molotov and Kinky.

The event is open to the public and expects to draw over 30,000 people. Admission is free to the book fair. Event hours are: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Concourse Hall, 1201 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 90015. Tickets for the concerts and theatre performances are available through Ticketmaster. For more information visit the LéaLA website at www.lea-la.com

LéaLA is an initiative organized by the University of Guadalajara USA Foundation and supported by the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Feria Internacional del Libro, known worldwide as FIL; and the University of Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

For interviews, photos and more information, contact:

• USA: Oralia Michel
• 626-705-1942
• oralia@ommpr.com
• México: Yadira Cota
• 33-31342222 ext.12641
• Yadira.cota@redudg.udg.mx

Copyright © by RaiseYourChild.org. All Rights Reserved.

“If your child suffers with low spelling grades every week, here is an Instant Learning strategy excerpt from my Learning vs Testing book, proven to raise spelling grades pronto!

Answer the following questions:

Does your child use an outdated technique like writing their spelling words 10 times each and using them in sentences?

Do you study the words out loud with your child just before the test?

Is your child disappointed when he or she gets a low spelling grade?

If you answered yes to any of the above, your child is using a spelling method, but not the one that works best for spelling.

Here is the great news! Spelling bee champions use a visual picture strategy that your child can follow, just like a recipe for spelling success.

Spelling achievement means more than just a grade to a student. Students often compare themselves to others in the class and gauge their self-image based on their grades.

Spelling appears to be such a simple thing to many parents and teachers, yet a student who experiences mediocre grades or failure week after week begins to see himself as inadequate or worse. Learning is no longer a delight, and the child suffers terribly inside.

So here is the inside scoop on spelling. Use the Super Speller Strategy that thousands of children have already used to get the grades they want.

The secret is that great spellers see a picture of the word in their mind. They do not sound out words, because most do not look like they sound.

Before a test, great spellers study a word and snap a picture of it, just as if using a mental camera. At test time they look up, above eye level, at their inner blackboard and recall the word they see written there.

Think about it for a moment. If you are already a good speller, do you ever write something down and say it does not look right? You are doing that because you are comparing what you wrote with what you have seen before. You already have picture in your mind of how the word should look.

Some kids simply do not know how to make those pictures, so they give up and think they are not great spellers. Not so.

Here is exactly what to do to help your child become a great speller now.

Tell your child to write each word on a separate colored note card. Use different colors on any letter that does not sound the same way it is spelled.

Next, take the card, hold it up, above eye level, and snap a picture of the word in their mind. Take the card away, look up in the air at their inner blackboard or magic spelling screen and write the word down. If it is not right the first time, just decorate the letters a little differently and repeat the process.

Spelling Success Hints

Talk with the teacher when your child begins to use this new strategy. You want your child to succeed and so does the teacher, so for the first few weeks, cut the list down to just a few words.

Your child can still take the whole test with the rest of the class, but just grade the words that were studied using the Super Speller Strategy. This will build your child’s confidence before learning 20 or 30 new words all at once.

Next, insure success by introducing the spelling strategy using shorter words. When you do add longer words, fold the word card in half and do the process with half the word at a time. Or ask your child where he or she wants to divide the word.

Finally, remember to tell your child that learning is not about being smart. It is about strategy and anyone can learn strategies for success in anything.

Spelling bee champions use a visual picture strategy. Your child can duplicate the same strategy and watch spelling grades soar.”

Author Description

Pat Wyman is America’s Most Trusted Learning Expert, best selling author of Learning vs Testing and founder of http://www.HowToLearn.com. Her Instant Learning strategies improve grades for children with ADD. Pat is a frequent media guest, and e-mails weekly newsletters to 250,000 people worldwide.

Copyright © by RaiseYourChild.org. All Rights Reserved.