SANTA ANA : Project Aim Is Literacy in Spanish

Maria Guadalupe Altala wants to write a letter to her mother as soon as she learns how to read and write in Spanish.

“That would be like a dream to write to my mother and to my brothers and tell them myself that I finally know how to read and write,” said Altala, 24, who now relies on her husband to write for her.

She is illiterate not only in English but also in her native Spanish, a problem that is common in her Santa Ana neighborhood. While there is a nationwide push to improve literacy in English, programs that teach Latino immigrants to read their native language are few.

Altala is a student in the new Alfabetizando Project, which attempts to teach students to read and write in Spanish, and then move them on to English.

Altala, who attended elementary school in Mexico for two months, has two goals: to be literate in Spanish, a wish she has had since childhood, and to learn English so she can become a secretary.

Students illiterate in their own language have a particularly difficult time grasping English, said Irene Martinez, program coordinator for the Neighborhood Service Center on South Standard Avenue. The center sponsors the project.

“These people have no building blocks to start with. Often, they feel totally lost in their English as a Second Language classes,” Martinez said.

Funded by United Way, the Alfabetizando classes meet every Saturday in a room above the regional train station in Santa Ana. There, the adult students with little or no education are drilled in basic Spanish skills. Words are broken down into blocks for them to learn. By the end of the three-month program, students generally are able to read and write Spanish at a third-grade level, Martinez said.

When Alfabetizando students graduate from the course, they move on to English classes offered by the center.

The program, which also is being used in Mexico, began here in January. Eighteen students--14 of whom are women--are enrolled in the class. Each week, about six students at a time attend the three-hour sessions. For the rest of the week, they are given homework assignments.

The most difficult task for Alfabetizando right now is to attract students.

“Many of them have very low self-esteem. They think it is a shame to learn at an older age,” said Virginia G. Rafelson, director of the Basic Adult Spanish Education Foundation in Los Angeles, which also uses the Alfabetizando program to teach English to its students.

Other students have little time to get an education, with full-time jobs and children, Rafelson said.

Nevertheless, said Alfabetizando teacher Ramon Ferreira, who is learning English himself, “the students do not want to be dependent on others anymore. They want to learn and be confident in themselves.”

Lidia Barragan Valdez, 28, unlike some of the other students, has had some schooling. She had reached the third grade in Mexico when her parents, migrant workers, had to move on. But what she learned in school is fuzzy now, and while she can read some Spanish, she has trouble with numbers.

Now the mother of three, Valdez wants to show her children that education is important. She also wants to learn enough to work as a cashier to help her family financially. So she attends Alfabetizando classes faithfully and tries hard to learn basic math skills.

“I want to be able to help my children when they have any trouble in school. They are getting older, and I’m afraid if I don’t learn any more I can never help them,” Valdez said.

“What if they ask me if I can help them and I say I can’t? That would be too hard to stand,” she said.

Altala also wants to be rid of the shame of being illiterate.

“I go out and I don’t know what street I’m on or what bus to take because I can’t read or write,” Altala said. “But once I learn Spanish, then I can learn English. Then many things can be possible.”