Educational research is showing more and more that reading is one of the best ways to acquire a first language and especially important in acquiring a second one.
Children learn to read and to write by being read to and by free volunteering reading.
The elementary ESL teachers would like to reinforce their reading program by making reading material that is of high interest to elementary age children more available to ESL students. They are asking for donations of used, but in good condition, children s magazines such as Ranger Rick, Ladybug, Cricket, Baby Bug, Click, National Geographic World, Kids Discover, Sports Illustrated for Kids, plus comic books. These materials will be used in the ESL classrooms to provide increased opportunities for the children to read, and also on a loan basis so that these children, who come from several different countries and cultures, from Mexico to Nepal, will be able to take these books home, providing them with further time to read for the sheer enjoyment of reading.