Every year the fourth grade classes are forced to read "The Family Under The Bridge," an antiquated tale of a hobo living in Paris who has a chance meeting with three homeless children. Much to the original dismay of their mother, he ends up becoming an integral part of the family structure and everyone lives happily ever after. The End.
I understand the importance of the message; don't judge a book by its cover. The problem as I see it is in the "odd" content within the text. Their are a series of French words throughout the novel that the students in ESL find especially difficult to pronounce, not unlike there non-ESL peers, and in addition - the novel contains many outdated phrases and long syllabic words. My students are finding it particularly disheartening to read this book, and it makes me generally sad. Sometimes the looks on there faces after I've corrected there reading a dozen or so times breaks my heart.
The questions that go along with the story are not too difficult, but the students still need some prodding at times to find the answer in long drawn out monologues/explanations made by the characters.
I believe that a main reason for their lack of fluency in reading this story stems from the lack of comparable texts read in class. This story is like an apple to the banana of other selections.
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