Adelante’s Leamos Juntos serves a need for preschoolers

Shown above are children celebrating Halloween at an open house at Adelante, Inc. last Friday. These children are participants of Adelante’s Leamos Juntos, a pre-school reading program.
 

In 2005, Leamos Juntos [Let’s Read Together] was created and designed to break a cycle of poverty and illiteracy in low-income Latino families through increased educational opportunities, beginning at infancy.  This interactive parent/child literacy program helps families with children up to 5 years old, by preparing them to enter kindergarten “ready to read,” according to Sonia Troche, director of Adelante.  

The program provides dual language instruction, Spanish/English, making it the only dual language early literacy program in Toledo addressing this specific need.
 

National research has shown that children—in particular, children of Spanish speaking and/ or bilingual parents—are less likely to have the reading skills they need to enter kindergarten successfully. Despite being the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, there is a lack of culturally competent and sensitive educational services that focus on the specific needs of Latino niños.

Over 40 Latino children participate in Leamos Juntos, a United Way funded program. 

Here’s what two participating families had to say about the program:

“Nalix Otero from Adelante came to my house to help teach my daughter. She is learning her colors and letters. I want her to learn English and be ready for school. There was nothing like this where I lived before.” – María Zarate

“Leamos Juntos has helped my older son learn to read, and now sometimes my older kids read with the youngest one.” – Rita Rivera

If you have a child under the age of 5, call Adelante at 419-244-8440 for more information.  The program is free and fun.

Sherita Evans, Sonia Troche, and EA Lewis