RIM Aspire Spanish Program
The RIM Aspire Spanish program is an adaptation of our English version, to better serve the large Spanish-speaking population within many public elementary schools. It is an adaptation, not a translation, of our English reading program, accounting for the particulars of the Spanish language and its orthography, guided by Spanish pedagogy. It is designed to be used in bilingual K-1st grade classrooms in which reading is taught primarily in Spanish. It uses the same schedule, format, and instructional strategies as the original Reading In Motion program, but is specifically structured and designed for K-1st grade classrooms where Spanish is the daily language of instruction.
According to the research conducted by the National Literacy Panel, essential to engaging English Language Learners in literacy programs is utilizing first-language literacy, allowing students to leverage:
- Higher order vocabulary skills (e.g., formal definitions, metaphors);
- Cognate relationships (e.g., “continue” in English and “continuar” in Spanish);
- Developmental patterns in speech discrimination, speech production, intra-word segmentation, and vocabulary.
