Years Lost in Letters with Delia Peruyera | Ship's Log #54 ၏ စာသားမှတ်တမ်းအပြည့်အစုံ

about dyslexia, is that correct? 00:02:40.756 --> 00:02:41.378 Yes. 00:02:42.044 --> 00:02:42.502 Okay. 00:02:42.534 --> 00:02:46.241 So explain to the people that are listening exactly what that's like. 00:02:46.241 --> 00:03:01.959 'Cause to me, I've never had that problem, so I can't imagine, but you would have people trying to teach you, like, uh, the word says S-T-O-P for, like, stop, and you're like, "I see T and P 00:03:01.959 --> 00:03:02.777 and- Upside down. 00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:03.937 Yeah. 00:03:04.947 --> 00:03:09.901 It's like when you take a mirror and you put it against, you get the reverse. 00:03:09.931 --> 00:03:10.878 That's what happens. 00:03:11.592 --> 00:03:15.254 Um, besides dyslexia, because that's not my specialty- 00:03:15.858 --> 00:03:22.179 Mm-hmm… Delia: my specialty is clinical strategies for better comprehension. 00:03:22.752 --> 00:03:29.504 Besides a little bit of dyslexia, I also had a lot of problems with my vision as a child. 00:03:29.991 --> 00:03:32.491 I started wearing glasses at the age of four. 00:03:33.449 --> 00:03:35.704 I had severe astigmatism. 00:03:36.947 --> 00:03:45.759 I had a tremor in my eyes, which I still have, that when I become triggered or nervous, you have a moment of blindness. 00:03:46.302 --> 00:04:04.347 So I think what happened on that visit to the rail road station, the more pressure that I felt because I wanted to read and impress my grandfather, the more blurry and the more crazy that the letters were on that wall at the railroad station. 00:04:04.350 --> 00:04:11.031 And mind you, the word for railroad in Spanish is very challenging. 00:04:12.989 --> 00:04:13.439 Okay. 00:04:13.762 --> 00:04:16.278 Say it… Delia: it's, it is ferrocarril. 00:04:16.831 --> 00:04:17.572 Oh my gosh. 00:04:17.826 --> 00:04:26.127 So imagine double Rs, the F- the, the E, which is a hard letter to, for young kids to see. 00:04:26.437 --> 00:04:33.947 When I taught kindergarten, there's a lot of reversals when they're little because they don't know which way to form the letters. 00:04:34.475 --> 00:04:38.281 So I had already done kindergarten and first grade. 00:04:38.324 --> 00:04:46.391 I was already reading the readers, but when I was asked to read something new, that was the challenge. 00:04:47.598 --> 00:04:48.151 Okay. 00:04:48.603 --> 00:04:53.747 And your grandfather took you to read books, and he really identified it, is that correct? 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:55.728 He made me comfortable. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:00.812 I was already identified- Oh … as a struggling reader at the age of four. 00:05:00.855 --> 00:05:06.298 I went to a neurologist because when I watched TV, I was turning my head to one side. 00:05:06.774 --> 00:05:15.341 So my mother noticed this, and that's when they told her that I have nerve optical damage from the s- forceps. 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:18.072 So they didn't make a big deal out of it. 00:05:18.072 --> 00:05:22.432 They still sent me to school, and they still said

that I was gonna read, and I did read. 00:05:22.812 --> 00:05:33.093 Not only did I read, by faith or by the grace of God, I became a reading teacher at the age of 24 years old. 00:05:34.257 --> 00:05:35.244 Ooh, that's fabulous. 00:05:35.869 --> 00:05:36.326 That's fabulous. 00:05:36.326 --> 00:05:37.978 Cause the reading was not a struggle. 00:05:38.442 --> 00:05:59.355 Reading was a struggle in second grade at that visit to the railroad station, but after my grandfather read to me for an entire summer, I became so comfortable with listening and processing comprehension that by third grade, not a struggle. 00:05:59.389 --> 00:06:08.274 I was number one student in sixth grade, and I always read as a teenager, novels, classics. 00:06:09.732 --> 00:06:11.533 And then I became- Mm … a reading teacher. 00:06:13.228 --> 00:06:14.971 So what a fantastic grandfather. 00:06:15.742 --> 00:06:16.317 Yes. 00:06:16.851 --> 00:06:21.391 I became a reading teacher'cause I could not understand the struggle in Miami-Dade County. 00:06:22.084 --> 00:06:25.891 Here I was with a bachelor's degree in elementary ed. 00:06:26.653 --> 00:06:31.865 I was teaching children that came from other languages. 00:06:32.971 --> 00:06:41.524 I had all the s- the strategies, and yet reading was a struggle in their home language and also in the second language. 00:06:41.918 --> 00:06:48.666 So that's when I discovered that reading has to do with more than just reading the text. 00:06:48.666 --> 00:06:49.745 It's culture. 00:06:50.175 --> 00:06:51.351 It's habit. 00:06:52.225 --> 00:06:58.168 It's b- having access to a person that can make it doable, which is what I had. 00:07:00.197 --> 00:07:01.064 Oh, wonderful. 00:07:02.213 --> 00:07:09.521 But after 37 years inside Miami-Dade classrooms, you made a decision to step out and build something of your own. 00:07:09.694 --> 00:07:13.370 So what finally tipped you from educator to founder? 00:07:15.415 --> 00:07:21.302 Two years ago, in 2024, I decided to help my sisters, who are also teachers. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.387 And at the age of 70, they told me, "Take a couple of kids because we really need your techniques. 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:32.495 You have helped my son, and with three sessions, he's doing very well in high school. 00:07:32.716 --> 00:07:43.680 He's reading his chapter books, he's paying attention to the structures in the textbook, and he's making A's in an English class. 00:07:44.413 --> 00:07:52.411 Please take these two kids in fifth grade and third grade." So I took a kid in each grade level, and the parents send me eight others. 00:07:52.454 --> 00:07:52.600 Oh. 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:54.680 And the sessions, we'll do 15 sessions. 00:07:55.428 --> 00:08:04.759 So one of my coaches and friend from 2005 called me and said, "How are you doing?" And I said, "I'm doing good. 00:08:05.163 --> 00:08:14.947 I'm working at home, uh, with a little business that I have created from nothing." And she goes, "Why don't you take it to educators? 00:08:16.663 --> 00:08:23.076 I see you're so successful." So that's when I joined her in networking, building this home business. 00:08:23.603 --> 00:08:45.015 It's exactly a year ago that I was exposed to her company, and it's a year ago that I started making the model, and the past six months is when I started talking about helping educators build a home business with 10 students a week 00:08:48.267 --> 00:08:49.366 Wow. 00:08:49.366 --> 00:08:52.816 So this just grew from the Miami-Dade system. 00:08:53.142 --> 00:08:54.688 Uh, you now have- 00:08:54.688 --> 00:09:15.119 My experience, my experience and what I used in, uh, middle school, I went to work the s- the last seven years I went to work for a m- middle school in Miami, West Miami, that had foster children for the most part, and the school was an F. 00:09:15.754 --> 00:09:21.716 And the principal hired me because he saw my master's degree and he liked my resume. 00:09:22.195 --> 00:09:35.587 And in a year, with the help of all the teachers that we train and my clinical reading masters, plus Tallahassee came and also intervene, we moved the school from an F to a B 00:09:37.567 --> 00:09:38.312 Ooh 00:09:39.326 --> 00:09:40.378 And, and it was not- 00:09:40.403 --> 00:09:57.980 Fantastic… Delia: and it was, yeah, it We use five strategies that good readers use all the time, which are to browse the material before they read, look at the first paragraph, find the central idea. 00:09:58.928 --> 00:10:00.743 Children don't do this nowadays. 00:10:01.205 --> 00:10:07.344 They read like mechanics, and then they, they're, they're reading the words, but they're not processing what they're reading. 00:10:07.344 --> 00:10:08.183 Processing them, right. 00:10:08.381 --> 00:10:12.706 So they have to learn how to metacognition while they're reading. 00:10:12.708 --> 00:10:14.057 How can they process that? 00:10:14.885 --> 00:10:34.929 And looking at all the s- uh, text features, maps, illustrations, photographs, charts, dia- uh, designs, anything that's an, an illustration, and trying to make sense out of it before they start reading. 00:10:35.342 --> 00:10:39.724 So I tell them, reading is like turning the GPS in your mom's car. 00:10:41.708 --> 00:10:54.350 Before you put the two points where you're at and where you're going, after you enter where you're going, you see the trajectory. 00:10:54.687 --> 00:10:55.770 Reading is the same way. 00:10:55.770 --> 00:11:00.775 You need to look at the entire selection before you start reading and make sense of it. 00:11:01.229 --> 00:11:08.472 And with that in mind and a prediction, you can get the meaning of the reading, whether you're reading fiction or nonfiction. 00:11:10.409 --> 00:11:11.078 That's great. 00:11:11.288 --> 00:11:28.532 And now going back to when you said you brought it up from an F to a B, now that has so many implications because I live in St. Johns County, Florida, which is known to be the top county in

Florida for schools, and people flock here to want their kids to go to these schools. 00:11:29.317 --> 00:11:47.277 So you just improved not only the kids' reading, which is the big point of this, but you improved the whole county area that, um, had this school in it because, you know, people were probably not wanting to be there due to the fact that it was a poor school. 00:11:49.241 --> 00:11:56.533 Yeah, it was, uh, like in a ghetto projects, and the principal was amazing. 00:11:56.546 --> 00:11:58.376 It was a combination of factors. 00:11:59.116 --> 00:12:11.530 He was a very experienced principal and a former basketball player and police officer, so he knew a lot about education and children and people in general. 00:12:12.225 --> 00:12:15.279 So when he stood up, everybody looked up to him. 00:12:15.908 --> 00:12:15.921 Mm. 00:12:15.921 --> 00:12:24.485 The teachers at that school were from all over the world, Jamaica, Africa, Cuba, United States. 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:28.833 We had like the United Nations in that school. 00:12:28.835 --> 00:12:32.822 And then the children, well, were multiracial. 00:12:33.712 --> 00:12:35.950 They came from all different backgrounds. 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:46.999 I had children from India, children from the islands in the Caribbean, children that were born in Miami, family, you know, generation after generation. 00:12:48.043 --> 00:12:49.111 We had everything. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:13:07.083 So reading needs to be approached within their culture because some cultures, it's not that they're not smart, it's just that reading is not a priority, and the language is expressed orally, and that's how the stories are told. 00:13:07.826 --> 00:13:27.149 For example, Haitians, so you need to know their background and make it tangible to them so they can embark in the reading because it's, for some cultures it's totally, "Oh, no, I don't know how to read. Oh, my parents don't read." So then they think that they can get by without reading. 00:13:27.998 --> 00:13:29.284 But not in the United States. 00:13:29.284 --> 00:13:30.389 We need to read here. 00:13:31.322 --> 00:13:31.765 Yeah. 00:13:31.767 --> 00:13:38.938 That's, um, yeah, that's a true thing, and I think the next question I had, this, it, you led me right to it. 00:13:38.957 --> 00:13:41.926 You say America is, is in a literary crisis. 00:13:42.465 --> 00:13:45.307 You were inside that system for nearly four decades. 00:13:45.375 --> 00:13:50.169 What do you see happening, uh, that the system couldn't fix or wouldn't fix? 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:55.072 Imagine the predictions are pathetic. 00:13:56.797 --> 00:14:01.527 I- in 19, in 1969, the deficit was 40%. 00:14:02.807 --> 00:14:12.370 It went down to 32% in 2011, and then it picked up again to 42%, and now it's 36%. 00:14:12.953 --> 00:14:19.273 So we don't have to have a perfect reading society, but we can improve it. 00:14:19.933 --> 00:14:31.515 So my pro- my program, I say if we can improve 50% of that

36% deficit, we will not be number 14 in the world like we are now. 00:14:31.865 --> 00:14:39.347 We can be number one because Finland has a deficit of 19%, and they are number one in the world. 00:14:40.013 --> 00:14:45.139 So if we improve only 50% of 36, that's 18%. 00:14:45.583 --> 00:14:49.307 And then what I see is, what is the problem? 00:14:51.741 --> 00:14:57.932 We have clinicians, but we have a deficit of 30 million, 10 students per classroom. 00:14:58.336 --> 00:15:02.551 We have clinicians 45,000 in the entire United States. 00:15:02.821 --> 00:15:04.251 They're not in the classrooms. 00:15:05.351 --> 00:15:10.356 They put one per school or two schools per clinician. 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:13.293 They come and they teach the other teachers. 00:15:13.616 --> 00:15:18.190 The teachers grab what they can grab and learn, and then it goes to the students. 00:15:18.418 --> 00:15:27.019 So i- it's my opinion that when they get a version of the clinical reading, it's just diluted. 00:15:27.681 --> 00:15:38.434 They're not getting the specialty from the person that was trained at the university level with a master degree in clinical reading, applying the strategies where they're comfortable. 00:15:38.725 --> 00:15:41.302 If they're comfortable, the children feel comfortable 00:15:43.107 --> 00:15:44.135 Well, for those who aren't- 00:15:44.174 --> 00:15:44.883 So that's the problem. 00:15:44.883 --> 00:15:46.219 That's the ga- that's the gap 00:15:47.634 --> 00:15:48.111 Okay. 00:15:48.328 --> 00:15:57.879 But for those who aren't teachers and are listening, when you say clinician, can you please ex- say… You say it's someone with a master's and has a discipline in clinical- 00:15:57.898 --> 00:16:13.460 The, the clinical reading master's looks at the child and, just like a doctor, finds where the deficit is and teaches the remediation right there with whatever- 00:16:13.461 --> 00:16:13.471 Mm-hmm 00:16:13.471 --> 00:16:17.009 book or material they're using. 00:16:17.455 --> 00:16:22.118 They don't spend an entire year teaching one skill. 00:16:22.731 --> 00:16:24.503 They attack it right at the moment. 00:16:24.528 --> 00:16:44.279 Just like if you go to the doctor and you have symptoms, your doctor's gonna look at the symptoms and say, "Here's what you need to take." So if I see a kid skipping lines, if I see a kid not focusing from left to right, by me saying, "Read, read, read," it's not gonna get done. 00:16:44.548 --> 00:16:47.504 I need to look at the physical behavior. 00:16:47.508 --> 00:16:51.102 I need to look at the intellectual behavior, the metacognition. 00:16:51.416 --> 00:16:57.408 I need to see their background, if there's books in the home, if there's materials- 00:16:57.416 --> 00:16:58.500 Mm-hmm… Delia: where they're exposed to. 00:16:58.910 --> 00:17:06.371 I need to see they, they're accessible to Audible or Amazon, uh, Prime or, what is the other one? 00:17:07.595 --> 00:17:08.217 Kindle. 00:17:08.309 --> 00:17:08.838 Kindle. 00:17:08.884 --> 00:17:09.606 Uh, yeah, you got it. 00:17:09.606 --> 00:17:20.575 I give them all those resources because the more resources, the more experience that they're exposed, the better that they can read, the more comfortable they feel. 00:17:21.068 --> 00:17:23.727 And then to top it all is vocabulary. 00:17:24.184 --> 00:17:27.275 And nowadays with AI it's so easy. 00:17:28.653 --> 00:17:39.727 Like, I do- I say use AI to support you with vocabulary, not to get the answers because then you're not thinking, but to support you. 00:17:39.757 --> 00:17:48.200 And as I read with them and I continue to teach students, I taught my student in fifth grade yesterday, and he didn't know the word eerie. 00:17:48.903 --> 00:17:58.249 So I said, "Look at all the other answers that are synonyms with the word in the question." So he was able to get all the answers. 00:17:58.634 --> 00:18:12.554 And I said, "If you don't know what the word eerie is, don't circle it." He goes, "No, that's not part of the answer." So after the test I said, "Let's look up eerie." So we asked ChatGPT, and we got a wonderful definition. 00:18:13.253 --> 00:18:19.994 And I said, "Eerie is like weird, strange, not common." He's never gonna forget the meaning of eerie. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:21.635 Right. 00:18:21.696 --> 00:18:22.060 Right. 00:18:23.038 --> 00:18:24.921 Yeah, so that's even more interesting. 00:18:24.922 --> 00:18:29.582 Now you're instituting AI in your system, in your programs or encouraging it. 00:18:29.595 --> 00:18:44.728 That's wonderful because everybody's always fighting about AI not helping, but I saw just yesterday in my, and I shouldn't admit to this, my little game that I like to play on my phone, and when I run out of points, it goes to a commercial. 00:18:45.113 --> 00:19:00.148 And it went to a commercial about an AI-generated language, um, how to learn a new language using this AI, uh, facade, this person that talks to you conversationally as you're learning the language. 00:19:00.368 --> 00:19:08.582 So you're doing kind of the same thing in helping kids that can't read somehow use AI for definitions or for other things. 00:19:08.585 --> 00:19:15.223 Do you think there'd be a AI version to, um, talk to these kids as they struggle with reading? 00:19:15.739 --> 00:19:16.698 I, yes. 00:19:16.734 --> 00:19:18.132 I teach the strategies. 00:19:18.182 --> 00:19:27.756 I use AI on any resource that can help me ease- The strategies so they can feel comfortable. 00:19:27.758 --> 00:19:33.013 Because the most important thing, if you feel comfortable with anything in life, you learn it. 00:19:33.916 --> 00:19:37.212 But if it's foreign to you, you don't wanna try it. 00:19:37.596 --> 00:19:38.982 No one wants to fail. 00:19:39.663 --> 00:19:48.746 And children that don't read have a stigma and a fear about not being able to read, and this goes for generations. 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:50.625 Wow. 00:19:50.628 --> 00:20:09.382 So I

think I can see it right now after seeing this language thing just yesterday, how the, the people converse with this AI and then the AI tells them, you know, "Your pronunciation is wrong." I can see kids now reading to an AI that turns around and say, "Oh, you stumbled on that word, but here's how you say it." Oh, wouldn't that be so cool? 00:20:10.101 --> 00:20:10.888 Yes. 00:20:11.435 --> 00:20:11.883 Yes. 00:20:12.077 --> 00:20:21.013 We, we were, we were in Paris this spring, and my sister, my baby sister, she, she's not a baby, but she's the youngest one. 00:20:21.260 --> 00:20:27.393 She was born in- … the United States, and even though she's bilingual, she didn't know French. 00:20:27.428 --> 00:20:29.299 I know a little bit of French from high school. 00:20:29.715 --> 00:20:32.478 So she went into AI. 00:20:32.548 --> 00:20:38.269 I, she goes, "Give me a lesson." You know, my sister loves to use AI. 00:20:38.518 --> 00:21:00.174 She's been using AI before me, and when I took the course with Cheryl, I told her,"I'm using AI, too." So she got really excited, and she goes, "Why don't you develop a lesson in French that I can learn with my other sister, my, our other sister, so we know how to ask for a taxi, how to order food," blah, blah, blah. 00:21:00.378 --> 00:21:03.201 I said, "Well, everybody in Europe speaks, speaks English. 00:21:03.532 --> 00:21:07.865 Don't worry." She goes, "No, but I wanna do this." So I did develop a lesson. 00:21:09.009 --> 00:21:18.053 I said, "Tell me what you wanna say in French," and I wrote it the best that I could remember, and this is how I used AI. 00:21:19.589 --> 00:21:32.178 What I could remember from high school French, I wrote the dialogue, first in English, then in French, and then I said, "I could be making mistakes here 'cause it's been a long time." I'm 72 now. 00:21:32.182 --> 00:21:36.471 Mm. So I went to AI, I pronounced my dialogue. 00:21:36.851 --> 00:21:41.567 AI perfected the dialogue, and exactly what you told me, Jeanne. 00:21:42.356 --> 00:21:44.224 It gave her pronunciation. 00:21:44.246 --> 00:21:47.469 It gave her, uh, skills to practice. 00:21:48.465 --> 00:21:57.714 She was like in heaven because she felt,"Wow, I'm not gonna feel like out of place over there." And even though she didn't need to use it, it was a fun thing to do. 00:21:58.086 --> 00:22:07.407 So that same, uh, skill, I do for my language learners, l- children that are learning either Spanish or English. 00:22:07.686 --> 00:22:14.637 Even employees that come to this country- And they're working in restaurants and they don't know the vocabulary. 00:22:15.019 --> 00:22:19.064 Or maybe they're estheticians or maybe they're hairdressers. 00:22:19.563 --> 00:22:29.615 I take their vocabulary, I build the lessons, I give them the dialogue in English, and I teach them the language with the vocabulary and dialogues that they need. 00:22:30.412 --> 00:22:31.102 Oh, nice. 00:22:31.153 --> 00:22:32.493 So it's a lot of fun. 00:22:32.890 --> 00:22:34.599 I, I had to look down, sorry. 00:22:34.636 --> 00:22:45.061 I had to look down at my phone because as you're talking, I'm so interested in this AI and language because I just saw it, and the name of the app that I saw yesterday was called Jump Speak. 00:22:45.826 --> 00:22:57.335 And supposedly, I haven't signed up for it or anything, but, um, all these years that I've been trying to learn Swedish, 'cause my husband's Swedish, um, it, it actually gives you an AI person that you, you speak to. 00:22:57.335 --> 00:23:04.663 So, so to talk to your point, you're not embarrassed anymore because you're talking to an AI. 00:23:04.681 --> 00:23:07.960 They may look like a person, but it's not. 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:08.469 Exactly. 00:23:08.701 --> 00:23:14.175 It, that would be very great for kids to be, have a app developed like that for them. 00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:20.838 But you were talking too, and I didn't, I… 'Cause I have another question, but I wanted to go back, 'cause you're saying so many powerful things. 00:23:20.840 --> 00:23:27.048 But you said a lot of things are about it not being in the culture and different cultures do different things. 00:23:27.490 --> 00:23:55.664 Could it be also, you said they don't have access to reading or whatever, could it also be that their living environments, because you did say where you were teaching was in a ghetto-type area, their living environments don't allow them to just sit like, you know, other people could just sit in a room in a nice chair and read a book, and they might not have that space or capacity, they don't have space or capacity to store books. 00:23:55.741 --> 00:23:58.180 Is, is that part of it as well? 00:23:59.176 --> 00:24:02.988 I haven't investigated their homes, 'cause I never visit their homes. 00:24:02.988 --> 00:24:04.287 I'm not a social worker. 00:24:04.859 --> 00:24:04.877 Mm-hmm. 00:24:04.877 --> 00:24:12.931 I think in the United States, mostly everyone has access to furniture, food, and shelter. 00:24:14.414 --> 00:24:26.573 And you see in other countries like Africa, and children read, I think it's the fact that it's habitual, and the value that they place in education. 00:24:27.163 --> 00:24:39.380 In other countries, they can be living out in the forest or a jungle, and they know that education is the only way to freedom. 00:24:41.055 --> 00:24:51.596 So parents cross rivers, and I know this because I belong to a charity that I learned from another trainer. 00:24:51.651 --> 00:24:53.792 I- the, the name is gonna come in a minute. 00:24:54.449 --> 00:25:08.693 These parents were crossing a river to get the children to school until my trainer bought them a school bus, and together they put a building together so the children now go to learn. 00:25:09.159 --> 00:25:13.256 So it is the value that you can give education. 00:25:13.609 --> 00:25:17.583 In other countries, education is very valuable. 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:18.557 Mm. 00:25:18.894

--> 00:25:47.638 Here, because it's free or, uh, or we say that it's free education, we take it for granted And children go for 12 years, and if the parents are working hard just making life work with an income to feed them and pay shelter, and they're not educated because it has to do with the parents' education. 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:53.561 So you're saying, why do we have this problem? 00:25:54.696 --> 00:25:59.806 We are a country that is made up of many nationalities. 00:26:01.563 --> 00:26:04.756 Reading doesn't dictate that we're smart or not. 00:26:05.336 --> 00:26:07.613 Reading is just a skill like driving a car. 00:26:08.241 --> 00:26:12.806 Just because some people choose not to drive a car, that doesn't make them dumb. 00:26:13.250 --> 00:26:15.606 They just chose not to learn how to drive a car. 00:26:15.875 --> 00:26:17.348 The same thing goes for reading. 00:26:18.063 --> 00:26:33.284 So if the culture that they come from reading is not a requirement- Then when they come here, they wanna do it, but they don't know how. 00:26:34.354 --> 00:26:49.951 And the way that I can make an example Families that cook together, the children learn, learn to cook, and it's like a generation of people that know how to cook. 00:26:51.387 --> 00:26:52.710 Reading is the same way. 00:26:54.469 --> 00:27:09.068 And if it's, if the children are exposed from the womb Up to the age of three, they can read 30 million more words than the ones that do not. 00:27:10.150 --> 00:27:11.711 They have done studies at Harvard. 00:27:12.672 --> 00:27:24.278 So if you are pregnant and you read the newspaper aloud, and you read books to your unborn child, the child is listening. 00:27:24.470 --> 00:27:26.357 It's getting used to the mom's voice. 00:27:27.015 --> 00:27:29.674 Start speaking of the vocabulary from the womb. 00:27:30.365 --> 00:27:35.883 And those are the kids that when they go to kindergarten, they're already reading. 00:27:35.884 --> 00:27:43.511 So the ones that didn't get that exposure, they see books for the first time in kindergarten five years later. 00:27:46.589 --> 00:27:54.647 So it's culture, it's habit, and it's having access to the people that really know what to do. 00:27:55.969 --> 00:28:11.250 I can tell you, "Jeanne, get on a bicycle and ride it." But if I don't hold the, the seat until you get the balance and you get the hang of it, you might learn by yourself, but it's gonna take you longer. 00:28:11.709 --> 00:28:16.594 There's stories of people that learn to read on their own, but that's a minority 00:28:20.503 --> 00:28:20.762 Right. 00:28:20.767 --> 00:28:24.606 Well, you have a line that if a child can ride a bike, they can learn to read. 00:28:24.670 --> 00:28:33.536 So you're just saying it's a, like a process, um, of learning that they can do, um, as long as they have a guide. 00:28:33.673 --> 00:28:35.652 I guess that's what I'm getting out of what you just said. 00:28:37.277 --> 00:28:37.790 Yeah. 00:28:37.903 --> 00:28:53.804 There was a study done, and they say that the same centers in your brain that are used for riding a bicycle, for example, focus, balance, coordination, those same centers are used for reading. 00:28:54.450 --> 00:29:02.462 We use both hemispheres, the right and the left in your brain, for riding a bicycle as well as for reading. 00:29:02.834 --> 00:29:09.726 So if you see most of our population riding bicycles, and yet reading is an obstacle in school. 00:29:10.412 --> 00:29:20.282 We're not doing r- riding a bike as we do reading, so there's a deficit in the way that we give children access. 00:29:20.849 --> 00:29:22.452 They need to have the model. 00:29:23.530 --> 00:29:25.833 They need to have that individual touch. 00:29:27.616 --> 00:29:35.749 They need to have that one-to-one with their mothers, grandmothers, clin- reading clinicians, reading specialists. 00:29:36.481 --> 00:29:41.404 When the kids are grouped in a room, 30, and 10 are failing, that's very hard. 00:29:42.763 --> 00:29:46.559 Very hard to, to teach 10 kids that don't read together. 00:29:48.192 --> 00:29:48.429 Mm. 00:29:48.490 --> 00:29:50.462 At our age, I had them. 00:29:50.795 --> 00:29:53.464 They were 15, 16, 17. 00:29:53.827 --> 00:29:59.157 Imagine having 30 kids in a room that did not read. 00:30:01.503 --> 00:30:07.914 Well, we taught reading four hours a day in that school that I was telling you about. 00:30:08.823 --> 00:30:10.424 And there were two of us in the room. 00:30:12.836 --> 00:30:13.088 Hmm. 00:30:13.538 --> 00:30:24.586 Well, I just saw on a news show yesterday, or, um, I don't know if I saw it or just heard it, because I listen to a lot of news online. 00:30:25.299 --> 00:30:44.019 Th- they were saying that in Pepperdine University that there are students, and you know their ages are 18, 19, 20, that cannot read still, and they're having to do remedial classes and remedial exercises to get them through their degree, and that's scary. 00:30:44.955 --> 00:30:46.865 Yeah, they might not read as fast. 00:30:47.479 --> 00:30:49.605 They have a speed reading in college. 00:30:51.037 --> 00:30:56.439 So it is practice, like riding roller bl- rollerblades. 00:30:56.848 --> 00:31:00.718 The first time you put them on, you're like, you know, can't move well. 00:31:01.238 --> 00:31:01.402 Mm-hmm. 00:31:01.402 --> 00:31:08.913 The more that you read, the faster that you come across the paragraph, the words, and it's like you can process. 00:31:08.948 --> 00:31:35.289 The more you read, it's habitual, it's practice, it's exposure, and it's also strategies that are used to speed the process and comprehension If I give you the books, and I give you the time, and I put you behind a computer and I tell you, "Read," and you have no clue how to attack the reading selection. 00:31:36.457 --> 00:31:48.528 You can do two things, fall asleep or just go eeny, meeny, miny, moe with the answers, which is what the students do when they come into my office here.

00:31:48.617 --> 00:31:53.952 In 2024, I had kids that were soccer players, very successful, 13-year-old. 00:31:55.355 --> 00:32:03.522 And he was failing the class 'cause when he took the, the tech reading program, it's called, uh, Reddy in Miami. 00:32:04.186 --> 00:32:04.544 Mm. 00:32:05.894 --> 00:32:05.936 R-E-D-D-Y. 00:32:07.215 --> 00:32:08.471 He had no clue. 00:32:08.513 --> 00:32:13.723 He couldn't focus because he had probably attention deficit and dyslexia. 00:32:14.113 --> 00:32:22.227 So I had to say, "Look each word from left to right. Read it and tell me what does that mean." I had to take him step by step. 00:32:22.800 --> 00:32:29.721 After three sessions of one hour each, he goes, "I already learned how to do this. I don't need to come anymore." 00:32:30.375 --> 00:32:30.534 Mm. 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:37.441 'Cause I told the mom, "Buy five lessons to see if he really needs this. 00:32:39.394 --> 00:32:58.189 And with, with three sessions, I will… Show me how you're doing this." But I had to spend entire hour st- stopping him, guiding him, putting him in the right lane, looking at the answers, what, finding out which one made more sense. 00:32:58.578 --> 00:33:00.096 It's, it's, what do you call it? 00:33:00.097 --> 00:33:05.281 It's- Tech is, uh, technique. 00:33:06.641 --> 00:33:13.857 How you take a test, how you look at the keywords in the, in the question so you can go back to the reading and find the answers. 00:33:14.182 --> 00:33:16.454 So teachers don't have time to do this. 00:33:16.761 --> 00:33:17.830 How do I know this? 00:33:17.864 --> 00:33:19.335 'Cause I talk to my sisters. 00:33:20.211 --> 00:33:31.340 In my school in 2012 when we moved that school from F to B, we had a bookmark with the five strategies, so I still had some. 00:33:31.974 --> 00:33:41.618 And I told my sister, "You know, you don't wanna use this, and you think it's phonics." Phonics is one aspect, but it's not just phonics. 00:33:41.861 --> 00:33:46.196 So you can spend the entire year in phonics, they're still not gonna read and comprehend. 00:33:46.711 --> 00:33:48.053 It's everything. 00:33:48.763 --> 00:33:50.262 Everything in its totality. 00:33:50.272 --> 00:34:01.787 It's phonics, it's definitions, it's pronunciation, it's word processing, it's main idea, it's cause and effect. 00:34:02.183 --> 00:34:03.080 It's everything. 00:34:03.330 --> 00:34:10.543 You gotta look at the entire thing, and every day when you see that child, they need to be exposed to the five components. 00:34:10.987 --> 00:34:25.605 So she goes, "I don't know if I can do this." I go, "You have a master's degree." She goes, "Yes, but I teach…" Um, she teaches creative writing, which is the same thing as reading, but it's expressed on paper, right? 00:34:25.605 --> 00:34:28.000 You write, so it helps with the reading. 00:34:28.648 --> 00:34:54.307 But she told me, "You know, if I have to go through this marker, this bookmark every time I put them in a reading lesson, where do I find the time? This is what we need tutors." She told me, "I don't have time in my curriculum. I'm supposed to be following one grade level for all." This is what they're doing now because everything is inclusion. 00:34:54.978 --> 00:34:58.398 So you don't have re- different reading groups like when I taught. 00:34:59.576 --> 00:35:01.115 Everybody's in one level. 00:35:01.974 --> 00:35:17.360 They get the assignment, they go to their tablets, they complete the work, and then they get a response from the tablet The human touch is limited because the teachers have to do so much. 00:35:17.708 --> 00:35:23.538 And then the children that are having difficulty are in the inclusion in the classroom. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:34.556 But what are the chances for a reading specialist to be there on a daily basis for that hour or two hours of language arts? 00:35:34.923 --> 00:35:35.659 Minimal. 00:35:36.657 --> 00:35:45.947 This is why I think… And you know, Jeanne, I'm even thinking, uh, last night I was meditating about my business. 00:35:47.201 --> 00:36:15.655 I'm charging educators to learn the techniques, but I'm thinking in the future, charge the parents for the lessons and bring the educators as a nonprofit because we need… If every educator in clinical reading or language arts, which is like reading, came in with 10 students, there's 30 million, so that's 3 million reading teachers that we need. 00:36:15.864 --> 00:36:24.121 If they didn't have to pay, will they join me, learn the skills, and go find their 10 students, which is very easy. 00:36:24.123 --> 00:36:24.135 Right. 00:36:25.351 --> 00:36:28.242 They go to the school, they go to the school near them. 00:36:29.521 --> 00:36:33.844 They can volunteer at the library, read, use the clinical reading strategies. 00:36:34.568 --> 00:36:36.079 People see them doing this. 00:36:36.143 --> 00:36:37.275 Everybody likes it. 00:36:37.514 --> 00:36:41.829 I did it with you briefly, and you, you understood what I was doing. 00:36:42.668 --> 00:36:42.974 Right. 00:36:43.376 --> 00:36:53.692 Imagine the power when you have a book and they wanna open the book and start reading without looking at the pictures. 00:36:55.534 --> 00:36:58.954 They want… They, they don't even look at the picture of what's going on with the picture. 00:36:58.954 --> 00:37:01.327 A picture is worth a million words. 00:37:01.905 --> 00:37:14.751 So I stop them right there and says,"What's happening here with this girl?" And then they have to say, "Well, she looks like she's sleeping. We don't know. Let's go find out." And then that's a prediction. 00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:15.731 Let's go find out. 00:37:16.213 --> 00:37:27.630 And then they look at more pictures, and then we read together, and then we say, "Okay, was our prediction correct?" If it wasn't correct, it's okay. 00:37:27.864 --> 00:37:29.644 Now we can correct the prediction. 00:37:30.277 --> 00:37:33.353 And it keeps them involved in the reading. 00:37:34.170

--> 00:37:34.791 You need a whole person- 00:37:34.791 --> 00:37:35.835 Yeah, that's very important. 00:37:35.994 --> 00:37:38.844 But I, I like your model, your strategy on that. 00:37:38.871 --> 00:37:44.516 I've always been a big proponent of train the trainer, 'cause I worked in technology for so long. 00:37:44.914 --> 00:38:00.454 There's no way you can introduce a new, um, a new s- platform, a new software, uh, make significant upgrades to one, and then turn around and train everybody on it, just a single person or just a couple people. 00:38:00.547 --> 00:38:03.884 So you have to train people to then train people. 00:38:04.150 --> 00:38:04.179 You do it. 00:38:04.179 --> 00:38:06.157 So your model sounds really good. 00:38:06.170 --> 00:38:11.244 Train the educators so they can turn around and tr- uh, help the people. 00:38:11.246 --> 00:38:13.204 That's a great, that's a great idea. 00:38:14.753 --> 00:38:15.965 We'll see where it takes me. 00:38:17.193 --> 00:38:18.271 That's my dream. 00:38:19.275 --> 00:38:20.302 All right. 00:38:20.614 --> 00:38:25.552 So you've watched children go from barely decoding words to reading on their own. 00:38:25.909 --> 00:38:31.030 So what does that moment do to a person who's been in the room for it hundreds of times? 00:38:33.516 --> 00:38:34.599 Repeat your question? 00:38:35.706 --> 00:38:43.516 So I'm talking about your, your, um, gone… You've watched children go from barely decoding words to reading on their own. 00:38:44.257 --> 00:38:52.389 So what does that moment do to a person who's been in the room for it hundreds of times and couldn't understand what was going on? 00:38:53.268 --> 00:38:54.269 Transformation. 00:38:55.282 --> 00:38:59.722 It's like I feel happy because I know that I can do it, and I've done it. 00:39:01.126 --> 00:39:05.038 I know that practice makes perfect, like they say. 00:39:06.132 --> 00:39:09.847 But they, they, when they come in here, they're very insecure. 00:39:11.414 --> 00:39:13.510 And I can tell you a story about Brydon. 00:39:14.028 --> 00:39:18.536 Brydon was a first grader who played soccer also. 00:39:20.724 --> 00:39:21.788 Parents from Cuba. 00:39:23.650 --> 00:39:25.532 He's a first generation born here. 00:39:27.780 --> 00:39:32.610 And I said, "Brandon, why are you here?" 'Cause I always do an interview. 00:39:32.614 --> 00:39:34.253 I wanna see if they know why they're here. 00:39:34.856 --> 00:39:34.884 Mm-hmm. 00:39:34.884 --> 00:39:43.894 He goes, "Uh, I can't read." I said, "Okay, but you know that you're gonna learn to read, right?" He goes, "I don't know." And he went like that with his shoulders. 00:39:44.903 --> 00:39:47.981 And I said, "What, what would you like to be right now? 00:39:48.224 --> 00:40:00.371 'Cause you don't wanna be here, do you?" He goes, "No, I don't wanna be here." And I said, "What do you wanna be?" He goes, "I wanna be playing soccer." So I used my intuition and I said, "This kid is totally kinesthetic. 00:40:01.202 -->

00:40:28.800 If I put him on a chair and force him to look at the alphabet and call out the sounds, that's gonna be torture." So I went into my yoga room, I picked up the 12-inch ball, and I said, "I don't have a soccer ball. My grandchildren have soccer balls, but they live seven miles away." And I made that connection that I had grandchildren so he didn't see me like a foreigner. 00:40:29.672 --> 00:40:30.016 Right. 00:40:30.211 --> 00:40:38.550 I said, "I could be your grandmother. Do you wanna play ball?" He goes, "Yes." And I said,"Okay, so now there's a requisite. 00:40:38.884 --> 00:40:42.880 As I toss the ball to you, you call the next letter in the alphabet. 00:40:43.527 --> 00:40:54.072 And if you know the sound, you're gonna give me the sound, too." So of course, the first day when we did that, he enjoyed the tossing back and forth. 00:40:55.130 --> 00:40:58.378 I had to recite the alphabet and give him the sounds. 00:41:00.177 --> 00:41:12.643 By the third session, he goes, "I know my letters." And I said, "If you know your letters, you knew them all along." Because how could he learn in three hours, right, of teaching? 00:41:12.967 --> 00:41:24.097 I said, "You knew it all along, but you didn't trust yourself. Thank you for participating." So he would always grab that aqua 12-inch yoga ball. 00:41:24.097 --> 00:41:25.367 I have it here and I'm looking at it. 00:41:26.135 --> 00:41:26.423 And- 00:41:26.434 --> 00:41:34.969 Mm-hmm… Delia: he would say, "Let's do the the vocabulary, again, we play games. 00:41:35.923 --> 00:41:42.505 We did kinesthetic activities to fit into the pattern that he learns. 00:41:42.505 --> 00:41:46.954 Not everybody learns by sitting down, writing and reading. 00:41:47.626 --> 00:41:48.675 That comes later. 00:41:49.847 --> 00:41:52.994 So I moved him along. 00:41:53.541 --> 00:41:57.914 I used the I See Sam books because those books are very easy. 00:41:57.914 --> 00:41:59.936 They start with, like, patterns. 00:42:01.646 --> 00:42:10.380 And I moved, like, 20 books and he goes, "I think I can read a paragraph." And I said, "Really? 00:42:10.436 --> 00:42:21.599 Let's see." Because he was getting already As in the spelling, 'cause I was also helping him with the spelling words, playing a game on the floor with cards, where he had to go and step on the word. 00:42:21.643 --> 00:42:24.070 I used kinesthetic movement. 00:42:25.222 --> 00:42:31.335 So I go, "Do you think you can read a paragraph?" He goes, "Yes." So I jump a whole bunch of levels. 00:42:31.896 --> 00:42:36.306 I didn't say, "You have to go through all the levels before you can read a paragraph." No. 00:42:36.315 --> 00:42:39.961 My common sense told me, if he says that he can read a paragraph, let's see. 00:42:40.360 --> 00:42:46.103 I pick the last book, I open it, and I said, "Can you read here?" And he read. 00:42:46.731 --> 00:42:51.469 And he goes, "Oh my gosh, I can read." So what does that tell me? 00:42:52.115 --> 00:42:56.422 That they're learning but they're afraid because they're not confident. 00:42:56.963 --> 00:43:10.769 They don't know how to put it all together, so that's where the coach comes in and gives the student the reassurance, the technique, the strategy, the practice, that the parents have no time. 00:43:12.324 --> 00:43:14.382 Oh, that's wonderful story. 00:43:15.711 --> 00:43:17.331 And so how long ago was that? 00:43:17.826 --> 00:43:25.297 That was, um, January 2025 to June 2025. 00:43:26.407 --> 00:43:32.795 The one that I taught this year, because I'm working the business five day, four days a week, and one day I tutor. 00:43:33.436 --> 00:43:42.451 The one that I tutor this year, I tutor him in math and in reading, but mostly reading, and he score above grade level. 00:43:43.532 --> 00:43:52.420 I had David since January 2024, so seven months? 00:43:52.420 --> 00:43:52.833 No. 00:43:53.967 --> 00:44:00.641 I had him for five months, then seven months and seven month, 14, 19 months. 00:44:00.893 --> 00:44:02.108 Total of 19 month. 00:44:02.306 --> 00:44:05.139 He's already reading above grade level. 00:44:06.280 --> 00:44:17.704 And the parents are so happy that they called me yesterday and they said, "We're gonna put him… He's going to middle school now, but we're gonna have him e- reading with you," because I also do high school kids. 00:44:18.224 --> 00:44:25.295 And I also had a high school child in 10th grade that was to- gifted, couldn't read. 00:44:25.806 --> 00:44:28.740 Getting Fs from the gifted program. 00:44:31.150 --> 00:44:40.867 And I said… He goes, "I need to be here with my sister." I said,"Well, tell me what your problem is." He goes, "I don't wanna read the chapter books that they give me. 00:44:41.228 --> 00:44:43.976 The language is like another language. 00:44:43.987 --> 00:44:54.559 It doesn't sound like English." And I said, "Everything is possible." So i- yeah, the book was written in 1954, Fahrenheit 00:44:56.391 --> 00:44:57.516 Oh, I know that book. 00:44:58.092 --> 00:44:58.650 And the lang- 00:44:58.650 --> 00:45:02.259 Is it written so it doesn't- The language- … sound like, um, a normal language? 00:45:02.291 --> 00:45:04.295 That's, I don't remember it being that hard 00:45:04.306 --> 00:45:07.052 Yeah, the language was, uh, inven- uh, made up for the future. 00:45:07.637 --> 00:45:07.882 Yeah. 00:45:07.887 --> 00:45:21.632 So the words that they use, you really have to pay attention when you're reading because there's a lot of imaginary, and probably he didn't know how to read and reflect what he was reading form of a picture. 00:45:21.940 --> 00:45:26.206 When I show him the strategy, he aced the class. 00:45:26.846 --> 00:45:27.204 Oh. 00:45:28.150 --> 00:45:29.278 It's, it's technique. 00:45:30.132 --> 00:45:31.112 That's fantastic. 00:45:32.219 --> 00:45:41.202 Well, I know, I know that you, um, have this great business to help students and, you know, I really feel like you're doing such a wonderful job.

00:45:41.202 --> 00:45:48.097 So, um, do you wanna tell us anything else about, um, any of your other students? 00:45:48.146 --> 00:45:52.463 Uh, because we're getting ready to transition over to two truths and a lie, so I wanna give you the floor for a second. 00:45:52.463 --> 00:45:54.068 No, I think that's en- that's enough. 00:45:54.068 --> 00:45:56.014 I think I've told you enough about reading. 00:45:56.509 --> 00:45:57.275 Okay. 00:45:57.277 --> 00:45:58.163 Well, I like it. 00:45:58.163 --> 00:45:59.606 I, I think- Good … it's interesting. 00:45:59.976 --> 00:46:05.851 I, uh, when you said he couldn't read it'cause it's in a different language, I was thinking in my brain, Shakespeare? 00:46:07.166 --> 00:46:10.009 I could not understand that for the longest time. 00:46:10.996 --> 00:46:11.867 Same here. 00:46:12.168 --> 00:46:13.101 Oh my gosh. 00:46:13.137 --> 00:46:17.030 But you did, you said you liked a lot of the classics, so what do you, what, just tell us what your- 00:46:17.047 --> 00:46:21.864 But i-… Jeanne: favorite book is… Delia: but I did read the 00:46:21.873 --> 00:46:22.789 Oh… Delia: lived in Spain. 00:46:23.311 --> 00:46:31.117 And then when I came over here, then of course they were doing Shakespeare in 10th grade and 11th grade, and I had to learn. 00:46:31.257 --> 00:46:36.913 It was very difficult for me to identify those metaphors, but I already knew how to learn. 00:46:37.606 --> 00:46:47.244 Learning how to learn is the key- Mm-hmm… Delia: because no matter what bring it from your home language. 00:46:47.650 --> 00:47:02.155 And because I knew that I didn't have the vocabulary or to understand the metaphors, but I knew that were metaphors, I knew that if I use my dictionary and I discuss it with other students, I would get my lesson done. 00:47:02.793 --> 00:47:02.900 Oh. 00:47:02.900 --> 00:47:03.994 And that's how I learned. 00:47:04.739 --> 00:47:05.108 The, the key- 00:47:05.108 --> 00:47:07.032 What is your favorite classical book? 00:47:08.753 --> 00:47:10.451 My favorite classical book? 00:47:11.699 --> 00:47:13.123 I guess Romeo and Juliet. 00:47:14.217 --> 00:47:15.802 And then we go to Shakespeare again. 00:47:16.090 --> 00:47:17.346 I'm a romantic. 00:47:20.204 --> 00:47:20.675 All right. 00:47:20.675 --> 00:47:24.027 Well, so now's the time we transition to two truths and a lie. 00:47:24.579 --> 00:47:28.211 Uh, and so for those listening, uh, I'll tell you how we play this. 00:47:28.773 --> 00:47:42.460 Delia has provided me with three headlines about herself, um, that show a little bit more of the personal side, and we're going to… I'm gonna read off her headlines, and then I'm gonna guess which one I think is the lie. 00:47:42.490 --> 00:47:44.007 Two are true, one's a lie. 00:47:44.070 --> 00:47:44.090 Oh, boy. 00:47:44.594 --> 00:47:52.413 And then she will go through them one at a time, but not tell us which one's the lie until the very end. 00:47:52.414 --> 00:47:55.681 She'll revea- reveal the

truth, so you guys can play along with us. 00:47:56.983 --> 00:47:58.751 So here we go. 00:48:00.996 --> 00:48:05.956 This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts. 00:48:06.451 --> 00:48:29.878 Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, "Life can be different." Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180-degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder you don't need permission to change your story. 00:48:31.208 --> 00:48:35.440 And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech. 00:48:36.224 --> 00:48:43.697 Simple SocketPrint, the lightweight, blazing-fast label print solution designed for those who need reliability without the bloat. 00:48:44.418 --> 00:48:54.570 With version 1.5, you get instant printing in milliseconds, fully maintained print sequence, and automatic Base64 decoding, all without needing print driver installs. 00:48:55.101 --> 00:49:02.135 If you're running SQL Server 2016 or newer, Simple SocketPrint 1.5 drops right in and gets to work. 00:49:02.608 --> 00:49:07.090 Keep your workflow simple, keep your label printing fast with Simple SocketPrint. 00:49:07.795 --> 00:49:09.474 Thank you to our sponsors. 00:49:11.231 --> 00:49:14.302 All right, I'm gonna share my screen and read the headlines. 00:49:15.304 --> 00:49:28.190 So number one story is, at 14, Delia found herself lost in a new country, unable to speak the language and unsure how she would ever get home. 00:49:29.902 --> 00:49:32.382 Uh, that sounds scary, at 14. 00:49:33.041 --> 00:49:39.679 Uh, number two, a chance encounter in Vienna left Delia convinced she had recognized Lauren Bacall. 00:49:39.806 --> 00:49:43.764 But before she could confirm it, the act- actress vanished into the city. 00:49:45.063 --> 00:49:47.460 And she's a beautiful woman, Lauren Bacall. 00:49:47.496 --> 00:49:48.954 I, I always loved to watch her. 00:49:49.815 --> 00:50:04.103 Um, Delia was invited… Number three, Delia was invited to teach reading strategies to astronauts aboard the International Space Station through a literacy initiative aimed at studying reading comprehension in zero gravity. 00:50:04.570 --> 00:50:05.623 Well, that one's cool. 00:50:06.132 --> 00:50:06.724 I love it. 00:50:07.452 --> 00:50:11.782 So I'm gonna say, um, number two is a lie. 00:50:11.813 --> 00:50:14.833 I really want number three to be true, but I, I don't know if it will be 00:50:17.983 --> 00:50:18.012 Okay. 00:50:19.222 --> 00:50:20.500 Do you need another break? 00:50:20.500 --> 00:50:20.550 So what, what is my- 00:50:21.197 --> 00:50:21.284 Do you need another- 00:50:21.284 --> 00:50:23.240 What is my job now, to tell the stories? 00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:24.371 Uh, yeah. 00:50:24.398 --> 00:50:24.981 Well, hold on. 00:50:25.012 --> 00:50:27.092 Uh, did you need another break'cause you were coughing? 00:50:28.251 --> 00:50:29.563 I, I drank a little bit. 00:50:29.563 --> 00:50:30.371 I took a sip. 00:50:31.054 --> 00:50:31.443 Okay. 00:50:32.012 --> 00:50:34.887 Yeah, so what Delia's gonna do now is take us through the story. 00:50:34.889 --> 00:50:36.507 So start with number one, Delia. 00:50:37.407 --> 00:50:38.748 And number one is? 00:50:40.344 --> 00:50:43.269 Um, that you found yourself lost in a new country, unable to speak the- 00:50:43.269 --> 00:50:44.184 Oh, wow. 00:50:44.282 --> 00:50:45.085 Yes. 00:50:45.132 --> 00:50:49.603 00. Now I'm gonna go to the middle of the story. 00:50:50.577 --> 00:50:54.612 00, I pull into Royal Castle. 00:50:55.759 --> 00:51:00.476 I sit on a stool, and I see the chef cooking sliders. 00:51:02.717 --> 00:51:15.909 And I decided after being lost for two hours, I'm gonna pull my change from my little wallet and buy myself a root beer and a slider. 00:51:17.628 --> 00:51:21.782 And I had my notebook opened with my address. 00:51:22.715 --> 00:51:37.905 You see, that day I had to walk home from my, uh, middle school, and when I was told that I would walk rather than being picked up by car, they told me, "Are you sure that you know your way home?" And I said, "Sure. 00:51:38.309 --> 00:51:50.219 I know my way home." I didn't even rehearse how to get home because I had memorized the route. 00:51:51.282 --> 00:52:01.797 But what happened was I did the route that the car would do, which was go to my school and then go to the elementary school where my cousins went. 00:52:03.487 --> 00:52:08.248 So I totally got lost after the second bridge in Miami Beach. 00:52:08.257 --> 00:52:14.771 You know, there's a lot of canals, and I did the wrong turn probably a dozen times. 00:52:16.144 --> 00:52:32.081 45, and by 6:00 I came to my senses, went into Royal Castle, order a cheeseburger, saw a couple of police officers, and asked, "Home, please." 00:52:35.255 --> 00:52:36.273 And they did it. 00:52:36.706 --> 00:52:39.465 And i… I smile, and they drove me home. 00:52:39.936 --> 00:52:41.313 Oh, that's wonderful. 00:52:42.297 --> 00:52:42.849 Okay. 00:52:42.875 --> 00:52:53.286 Well, uh, I've been to Miami, and I can't imagine where you would go without having to go onto a highway these days, so that's a scary thought for you. 00:52:54.097 --> 00:52:57.713 Um, so number two about going to Vienna. 00:52:59.079 --> 00:52:59.373 Oh. 00:53:00.862 --> 00:53:05.735 00 in the afternoon, and it's a very narrow sidewalk. 00:53:06.958 --> 00:53:11.980 Only one person fits, so my husband is walking behind me. 00:53:13.465 --> 00:53:34.663 And I'm looking forward, and he goes,"Look, that's the ca- the coffee house. We're almost there." And as I glance up, I see this beautiful woman in a tobacco silk pantsuit, three inches high heels, and a clutch. 00:53:36.099 --> 00:53:40.492 And I said, "I know this woman." And I get all excited. 00:53:42.501 --> 00:53:50.110

And I guess our eyes crossed one another because she became scared. 00:53:50.668 --> 00:54:00.800 Even though I didn't speak, it's like I said, "I know this woman." And I looked into her after I looked at her clothes, and she was walking with a companion. 00:54:01.230 --> 00:54:06.842 The girl was, like, six feet tall, beautiful blonde braided hair. 00:54:08.382 --> 00:54:15.961 And she proceeded she was walking behind Lauren, and she proceeded to walk in front of her. 00:54:16.277 --> 00:54:25.958 She made it to the courtyard to this huge door about eight inches in thickness, wood. 00:54:27.322 --> 00:54:33.027 And I see her go in the courtyard, wait for Lauren, and then Lauren got in front of me. 00:54:33.291 --> 00:54:36.657 And before I knew it, she disappear in that courtyard, and they closed the door. 00:54:37.005 --> 00:54:37.244 Oh. 00:54:39.778 --> 00:54:40.724 And no autograph. 00:54:40.762 --> 00:54:44.034 But you- It was a moment in, it was a moment in time. 00:54:44.371 --> 00:54:45.268 Oh, right. 00:54:45.268 --> 00:54:52.295 And you were very specific because you talked about a tobacco colored silk, uh, blouse or pantsuit. 00:54:52.295 --> 00:54:52.324 Could you imagine? 00:54:52.324 --> 00:54:55.492 And that, this was, this was 2002. 00:54:56.512 --> 00:55:07.717 And my husband, who always thought that I was a little bit, not awkward, but you know, I'm a, I'm like a I think a lot. 00:55:09.164 --> 00:55:11.159 He goes, "Oh my God. 00:55:11.159 --> 00:55:13.221 You and your stories and your ideas. 00:55:13.806 --> 00:55:27.853 Every women in Austria looks like Lauren Bacall." So before I told you the story, I said,"Could it be that I made that up?" 00:55:27.855 --> 00:55:28.925 Mm. 00:55:28.925 --> 00:55:44.702 And I went to AI and I asked,"Did Lauren Bacall visit Austria in 2002?" And AI says possibly because she had a boy- Even though she lived in, even though she lived in, um, New York. 00:55:46.527 --> 00:55:55.538 She had a boyfriend back then- Right… and she also participated in international movies, and she was going back and forth. 00:55:56.498 --> 00:55:56.907 Right. 00:55:57.128 --> 00:55:57.581 Okay. 00:55:57.581 --> 00:56:00.349 They couldn't say yes, but isn't that amazing? 00:56:00.753 --> 00:56:01.382 I know. 00:56:01.382 --> 00:56:01.862 It is. 00:56:02.351 --> 00:56:07.518 So how about number three about teaching the astronauts on the International Space Station? 00:56:07.518 --> 00:56:08.460 That sounds pretty cool. 00:56:09.240 --> 00:56:10.132 Wow. 00:56:11.228 --> 00:56:16.989 I don't know how I got that job, because I get sick when I fly- 00:56:17.610 --> 00:56:20.097 Mm… Delia: and when I ride carnival rides. 00:56:21.112 --> 00:56:24.050 So that was really challenging. 00:56:25.318 --> 00:56:27.483 You actually went up into the space station? 00:56:30.545 --> 00:56:37.900 I did the, what do you call it when you, it, it's not re- Yeah, you're going to the space station, but it's all simulated. 00:56:37.902 --> 00:56:39.030 Oh. 00:56:39.030 --> 00:56:41.460 But you experience the same symptoms, right? 00:56:42.411 --> 00:56:43.733 Oh, yeah. 00:56:44.099 --> 00:56:44.260 Okay. 00:56:44.300 --> 00:56:54.443 So imagine teaching English as a second language by teaching reading to astronauts that were not Americans. 00:56:55.309 --> 00:56:56.306 That was a trip. 00:56:56.326 --> 00:56:56.338 Mm. 00:56:56.342 --> 00:57:03.900 Everybody floating in the air, trying to hold on to their books back in the day. 00:57:06.653 --> 00:57:08.585 That is kind of crazy. 00:57:09.231 --> 00:57:19.373 Back in the day before we had iPhones, before we had any of this new technology where you open the phone and you can read a book out of your phone. 00:57:19.822 --> 00:57:22.463 I mean, children don't realize what we have 00:57:24.387 --> 00:57:26.389 I was actually doing that this morning. 00:57:26.402 --> 00:57:27.554 You're talking about me. 00:57:27.954 --> 00:57:31.376 So you've actually taught people in a space station. 00:57:31.416 --> 00:57:31.800 Okay. 00:57:31.800 --> 00:57:35.032 So I just think that's insane, but it sounds cool. 00:57:35.512 --> 00:57:37.313 So tell us which one is the lie. 00:57:38.059 --> 00:57:38.853 The last one. 00:57:39.463 --> 00:57:40.556 Ah. 00:57:41.172 --> 00:57:44.722 That would've been cool if it was, it was true. 00:57:45.333 --> 00:57:54.452 Um, but, uh, I can see that, you know, there could be some challenges with you actually fly- or going in a rocket up to the space station. 00:57:54.454 --> 00:58:00.217 So when you said simulator, I said,"Well, that makes it even more plausible." Oh, well, well, this was fun. 00:58:00.222 --> 00:58:12.780 So I know people are gonna listen to this episode and hear all about what you're doing with reading and helping students read, 'cause this is a very big crisis in the United States, and I'm, I'm so glad you're out there trying to fill that gap. 00:58:13.315 --> 00:58:18.489 Um, but if you wanna get in touch with Delia, I've got her information down here on the slide. 00:58:19.092 --> 00:58:32.125 Um, she gave us a great quote called, uh, that says, "Every independent reader is a result of a visionary educator who refused to give up on a child." And I think that says a lot about you, Delia. 00:58:33.125 --> 00:58:33.570 Um- 00:58:33.885 --> 00:58:41.494 Thank you… Jeanne: you can contact her, and here's link, her Instagram, her LinkedIn. 00:58:41.650 --> 00:58:53.775 And the call to action that you gave, you told everybody to book a Read with Ease Strategy Session and discover how you can transform struggling readers while building a profitable reading business, and all the details- Yes … there. 00:58:54.152 --> 00:59:00.434 All this will be, oh, yeah, and she offers a gift code, Delia Perujera- 00:59:00.532 --> 00:59:01.585 Pereyera 00:59:01.806 --> 00:59:03.673 Pereyera gift Gift Yeah. 00:59:04.081 --> 00:59:13.596 So please, um, please check those out, and, um, then book that stra- strategy session if you've got anybody that's struggling with reading. 00:59:13.920 --> 00:59:15.686 Maybe I need to do it sometime too. 00:59:15.686 --> 00:59:16.989 I'd just like to see what you do. 00:59:19.239 --> 00:59:24.148 Uh, anyway, uh, this has been a fantastic, uh, episode with you, Delia. 00:59:24.148 --> 00:59:26.699 I'm so thankful that you, um, came on. 00:59:26.762 --> 00:59:35.257 And I, uh, want to say to everybody watching, please join us next week when we have another great guest on Project Candor. 00:59:35.548 --> 00:59:43.293 And until then, I'm your host, Jeanne Andersen, uh, the Admiral of the Unexpected, and I wish you all smooth sailing. 00:59:44.577 --> 00:59:45.130 Bye. 00:59:46.920 --> 00:59:47.556 Bye-bye. 00:59:49.380 --> 00:59:55.918 Thanks for joining me on Project Candor, where the doors are open, the stories are unexpected, and the treasure is always real. 00:59:56.572 --> 01:00:01.295 If today's episode made you laugh or think, follow the show and share it with your crew. 01:00:01.867 --> 01:00:04.916 Otherwise, I might just make you swab the deck. 01:00:05.903 --> 01:00:09.054 I'm Jeanne Andersen, your Admiral of the Unexpected. 01:00:09.713 --> 01:00:11.858 See you on the next voyage.