Buenos días, ESL Educators

By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2004

Caesar Martinez, a library media specialist at Wahluke (WA) High School, has found just the product for native Spanish-speaking students who are struggling to read English. It's Academy of Reading's SpanishTutor, a new instructional software program that helps teachers improve the reading skills of children from Spanish-speaking homes. The new program is an added-on component of the Academy of Reading, the popular reading intervention software created by New Orleans-based AutoSkill International Inc. (www.autoskill.com). "Students feel comfortable with it and enjoy using it," says Martinez, who notes that his school's student body is 84 percent Latino. The product's most important feature is that it allows students who speak Spanish as a first language to learn to read English easier by providing directions and feedback in Spanish.

Students using the interactive software program are taught basic reading skills, such as phonics. The program offers mini-lessons, in two- to three-minute sessions, and students who earn good marks are rewarded with certificates. Plus, educators can use the software to check student progress. SpanishTutor works on both Windows computers and Macs. Prices, which start at $3,900 for a multi-user package, are based on the number of users.