LETTERS: NEWSPAPERS IN CLASSROOM

To the editor:

I am new to Cape Girardeau and to the Cape Girardeau school system. I am the speech/language pathologist at L.J. Schultz School this year. I was very pleased to learn that I could get a copy of the newspaper each morning to use as needed in my work with students.

We work at least once per week from a newspaper ad folder that I have compiled. Students enrolled in special-language classes (this can be just one student or small groups) select ads from the folder and talk about such things as why did the ad attract their eyes, what unique words or pictures made the ad stand out in their opinion and what information can they learn about what is going on in the community from the ad.

Then they compare ads and tell why one ad is better or more attractive than another ad. They are learning what shortened forms of words are used in ads (such as "info" for "information"). They also tell why or why not they might be interested in what the ad is trying to sell. They decide if the ad is from a company, a retail store, a restaurant, an office or other types of businesses offering service. We evaluate the ad to see if all the pertinent information is there in case we want to follow up on what the ad is advertising. We will be writing some ads ourselves soon for practice.

Thank you so much for the newspaper. It certainly helps me also to get acquainted with Cape Girardeau. When I have collected enough of the parts of the papers not used, I will take the bundle to the Humane Society to be used in their work with homeless animals.

BETTY F. HALL

Schultz School

Cape Girardeau