McAllen Memorial students create books to teach Costa Rican children

McALLEN — Students in Regina Reyna's communication graphics class hope the tiny gifts they are sending to kindergarteners in Costa Rica will have a big impact.

The McAllen Memorial High School students created tiny picture books to help children in that country learn English. The palm-sized books dedicate a page to each letter of the English alphabet and include a photograph or clip art depicting a word that starts with that letter.

On Monday they wrapped up their finished products and planned to send them to a contact of Reyna's in Washington state who will send the books overseas.

Reyna said she attended a program through the National Park Service in Washington state last summer and met a naturalist from Costa Rica. The naturalist had a sister who taught kindergarten in Costa Rica.

The teacher saw it as an opportunity to connect her students with others from another country while developing their design skills.

After e-mailing back and forth with the naturalist's sister, Reyna came up with the idea of creating the little books.

"I figured it would be something that was kind of neat," said Reyna.

Her students also enjoyed the idea of playing teacher.

"It was fun. I never did anything like this. At the same time, I get to have fun and teach them about it (English)," said Amanda Ortegon, a 17-year-old senior.

Some said they spent much of their time on the project finding the right words and images for each letter to make sure the young ones understood what they were learning.

"I didn't want to make it too hard because they don't know English," said Karla Cruz, a 16-year-old junior.

Karla and other students said they had to keep adjusting the margins to fit their work within the tiny pages.

"I think I printed three times before I got it right," Karla said.

A box filled with unsuccessful attempts lay next to another one with the gift-wrapped books.

Reyna said she's thinking about having students work on a 40-page mini book for the Costa Rican students for a future project.

----

Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.