×
×
homepage logo
STORE

Learning American alphabet is start to grasping language

By Staff | Sep 28, 2016

MEL TOADVINE Roberto Suarez gets help from Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec, a volunteer tutor teaching English to residents.

Sometimes people learning to speak English cannot sound out certain letters in the alphabet.

“Many of them – first-time learners – have problems with ‘a’ and ‘e’ and ‘v’ and ‘x’ – and confuse ‘y’ and ‘j’,” Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec said.

N’Ovec has taught for several years in China, Hong Kong and other places.

She has taught from pre-kindergarten to graduate level in college and has often taught teachers how to teach.

N’Ovec was working with new students last week in the literacy program at Lehigh Community Services.

Roberto Suarez

She currently has two adults in her class learning English.

“We start at the beginning by teaching them their ABCs,” she said.

Miguel Angel Cruz has been in America for three years, originally coming from Puerto Rico. Roberto Suarez, who is from Cuba, has been in the country for two years.

Both said they want to apply for their American citizenship once they learn to speak English.

The class meets twice a week and N’Ovec tutors her students in English as a volunteer.

Miguel Angel Cruz

She enjoys teaching and has been doing so her whole career.

“I love to help educate people,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

“How many letters are in the English alphabet?” she asked Cruz and Suarez during class.

One knew and said 26.

“Now I want to see what you know as I would like you to call out the letters of the alphabet,” she said.

MEL TOADVINE Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec begins class to teach English to her students.

Her students did as they were instructed, sometimes stumbling over a letter or pronunciation.

“No, it is an ‘A’ and sounds like this: ‘ah’ or ‘a’ as in apple,” she said.

N’Ovec repeated the same way with other letters that were hard.

“Often the ones who have advanced more help the others,” she said.

N’Ovec incorporates hands-on teaching in her lessons. On this day, she asked Cruz and Suarez to cut out pictures to match them with the letters of the alphabet.

MEL TOADVINE Miguel Angel Cruz reaches into a bag to name the letter the item begins with.

“Very good, very good,” N’Ovec said as Suarez stuck a goat drawing to the letter “g.”

Next, she asked the men to pull items from a bag she had asked them to fill and to pronounce the first letter of the object.

Finally, she gave them homework for the week.

“They’ll be ready with acceptable English, in about six months or so,” she said. “Enough to be able to deal with people, shop at the market and to be able to greet people.”

At 78, N’Ovec wants to be able to influence the new generation and this is one way of helping.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently listed the population of Lehigh Acres at about 106,000. N’Ovec noted that the number of Spanish-speaking residents is high.

Lehigh Community Services Executive Director Rae Nicely praised N’Ovec for her help.

“We are constantly looking for good tutors. People don’t have to be teachers. We show them a procedure and it works,” she said.

In N’Ovec’s case, it helps that she speaks Spanish and English.

“It’s a good thing and I enjoy tutoring here,” she said. “It takes patience, but in the end it is wonderful to see people learning English.

“They are usually very proud of their accomplishments,” N’Ovec added. “These two men go home and teach their spouses, while their children or grandchildren are learning English in the public school system.”

Lehigh Community Services is at 219 Plaza Drive.

Learning American alphabet is start to grasping language

By Staff | Sep 28, 2016

MEL TOADVINE Roberto Suarez gets help from Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec, a volunteer tutor teaching English to residents.

Sometimes people learning to speak English cannot sound out certain letters in the alphabet.

“Many of them – first-time learners – have problems with ‘a’ and ‘e’ and ‘v’ and ‘x’ – and confuse ‘y’ and ‘j’,” Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec said.

N’Ovec has taught for several years in China, Hong Kong and other places.

She has taught from pre-kindergarten to graduate level in college and has often taught teachers how to teach.

N’Ovec was working with new students last week in the literacy program at Lehigh Community Services.

Roberto Suarez

She currently has two adults in her class learning English.

“We start at the beginning by teaching them their ABCs,” she said.

Miguel Angel Cruz has been in America for three years, originally coming from Puerto Rico. Roberto Suarez, who is from Cuba, has been in the country for two years.

Both said they want to apply for their American citizenship once they learn to speak English.

The class meets twice a week and N’Ovec tutors her students in English as a volunteer.

Miguel Angel Cruz

She enjoys teaching and has been doing so her whole career.

“I love to help educate people,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

“How many letters are in the English alphabet?” she asked Cruz and Suarez during class.

One knew and said 26.

“Now I want to see what you know as I would like you to call out the letters of the alphabet,” she said.

MEL TOADVINE Dr. Marlegrecy N’Ovec begins class to teach English to her students.

Her students did as they were instructed, sometimes stumbling over a letter or pronunciation.

“No, it is an ‘A’ and sounds like this: ‘ah’ or ‘a’ as in apple,” she said.

N’Ovec repeated the same way with other letters that were hard.

“Often the ones who have advanced more help the others,” she said.

N’Ovec incorporates hands-on teaching in her lessons. On this day, she asked Cruz and Suarez to cut out pictures to match them with the letters of the alphabet.

MEL TOADVINE Miguel Angel Cruz reaches into a bag to name the letter the item begins with.

“Very good, very good,” N’Ovec said as Suarez stuck a goat drawing to the letter “g.”

Next, she asked the men to pull items from a bag she had asked them to fill and to pronounce the first letter of the object.

Finally, she gave them homework for the week.

“They’ll be ready with acceptable English, in about six months or so,” she said. “Enough to be able to deal with people, shop at the market and to be able to greet people.”

At 78, N’Ovec wants to be able to influence the new generation and this is one way of helping.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently listed the population of Lehigh Acres at about 106,000. N’Ovec noted that the number of Spanish-speaking residents is high.

Lehigh Community Services Executive Director Rae Nicely praised N’Ovec for her help.

“We are constantly looking for good tutors. People don’t have to be teachers. We show them a procedure and it works,” she said.

In N’Ovec’s case, it helps that she speaks Spanish and English.

“It’s a good thing and I enjoy tutoring here,” she said. “It takes patience, but in the end it is wonderful to see people learning English.

“They are usually very proud of their accomplishments,” N’Ovec added. “These two men go home and teach their spouses, while their children or grandchildren are learning English in the public school system.”

Lehigh Community Services is at 219 Plaza Drive.