Testimonials from

Teachers & Students

Testimonials from Teachers

A. Testimonials from a COABE Convention: After giving a workshop on the rules that govern phonics and English spelling for the Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE) at their 1999 National Convention, literacy teachers wrote these comments:

■ "Thank you, Camilia for teaching me how to better teach my students."

■ "Bring her back next year!!!"

■ "Exciting approach, informative."

■ "Thank you. Keep on telling people that English spelling makes sense."

■ "She needs a bigger room." "Excellent."

■ "I can't wait to order the book! Thank you so much."

■ "Great information."

■ "I wish to open Camilia's head to see inside and learn how it works."

■ "This presentation was wonderful and has certainly great information that will be helpful for my students and for myself."

■ "I am on the Language Arts Curriculum Work Team for the Kansas City, Missouri School District. I don't know yet if you truly realize the scope of what you have done. Your program is sensible, yet comprehensive. Bravo!!!!"

 

B. From inmates and other attendees: After teaching a three-hour spelling class to inmates who had dyslexia in Missouri, attendees had this to say:

■ Ms. Leslie, State Attorney for the prison system and for Charter Schools wrote, "Camilia: I am pleased that you have found a life's work that promises to help so many people. I am glad you came to America."

■ Ms. Nancy, Prison Superintendent said, "My wish is for Camilia to come back to Missouri, to teach, train our teachers, and put me out of business."

■ Inmates: Student prisoners had this to say:

"Can we keep this book?  Can we buy this book in a bookstore?  Will you promise to come back?  If you aren't coming back, will you remember to tell us where we can get this book?  Here are our names and addresses to let us know where we can get this book.  Please promise not to forget us.  Remember me! Remember me! I love this; I can use these big words when I write letters."

They expressed the feeling that big words had only been accessible to a certain class of people, but not to them.  Now, the opportunity was open to them!

 

C. Lee had Dyslexia and ADD

■ Lee was in sixth grade, and according to his school records, he read at a first-grade level (level 1.6)

The following is a sample of Lee's previous writing, which he struggled five hours to complete:

"Hi my name is Lee Ray I am 12 I lik to do a lot of thangs. I kane ansr the kwashtanse .I have a bruthr thas a brat. He is 5 and has name is Jrme. hnave a sastr she is 14 and hre name is uteu. She liks to bos me a round . But I stul luf tham. My mom is 30 .My stap dad is 34 and he is a mukanak. I luv  tham all.  The resan I wont to lrn to rede is reding is upotan to me. Reding is upotan bekus if you don't know hao to rede you wal nafr gat a raund. I dount tak ubaot my rede a lot bekus I gat upsat wan pepol tes me. So I ban wrking hord at it.  I thank you for haping me and wonting to halp me lrn to rede. Ilik the  saund of your voes. Thak you a lot. I kant wat to see you. I lik you for halping me. I haf nafr mat a prsa lik you.I hop nafr tote to a famas prsan I haf a lot of faling that you wal halp me Ihaf mane thgs to sae to you. I lik you .  got luk on the the show.  Ples tal your frand thank you thas mans a lot to me."  

From August 5 to 11, 1999, Sadik taught Lee in six days what his schools were unable to teach him in six years. Lee was reading and his progress was documented by videotaping before and after instructions. Eight months later Lee sent Sadik this letter:  

"Hi Camilia I want to thank you. I miss you and I hope to see you soon. I have been writing better. I like reading. It is easyer to read. I want to tell you about my family. I have a brother that is six and I have a sister that is fourteen. I have a mom and a dad. I love them a lot. I am thirteen. It is still hard to write but I am not going to quit. I will practice and practice, I am getting better. I have been telling people about the system. I love you. Ps I am sorry for not writing you. I am writing how the words sounded. Lee"

Please click on the following video to see this 8-minute DVD of Lee's reading before and after:

Testimonials from Students

■ Al, College student age 44, both of his parents used to be professors. He was Sadik's student at Cuyamaca College in 1999.  Al wrote, "I took the CBEST and past it the first time, all three sections.  I know you know this but you probably still enjoy hearing it, that your class I think got me and is getting me through my spelling difficulties.  I will always be thankful! I really feel your program is helping make the difference in my success."

Al was told that he had dyslexia, learning disability, and possible brain problems due to a motorcycle accident.  He said, "My parents had tried hundreds of tutors and teachers and everyone gave up on me."  Al is currently a first-grade teacher teaching phonics and spelling in the same way that he learned.

 

■ Eleazar, age 11, grade 6 from Cajon Valley School District, El Cajon, CA where Sadik taught a two-week pilot program.  Eleazar's pre-spelling test was 19/100 and after 12 hours of classroom instructions, he scored 90/100.  Eleazar said, "I was used to reading without looking at the way words are spelled because my other teachers always told me to read fast.  I thought I could never learn to spell. Spelling isn't as difficult as I thought it was. I wish that someone had told me about these spelling rules before."

 

■ Natalie, age 15, grade 9 from The Charter School of San Diego.  Her pre-test was 41/100 and after a total of 11 hours of classroom instructions, she scored 100/100.  Natalie said, "In the future, I will teach my kids to spell."  Natalie went on to say, "I didn't learn how to read until I was in fourth grade and I never learned how to spell.  This class helped me learn to spell.  I especially liked Ms. Sadik's techniques for remembering things."  Natalie said she would absolutely participate in this class again.  "I'd do it in a heartbeat."

■ B.J., age 13, grade 8 from The Charter School of San Diego.  His pre-test 50/100 and after nine hour of classroom instructions, he scored 99/100 on a post-test.  B. J. said, "Now, I know how to spell.  Spelling is easy.  Ask me any words, and I will spell them."  B.J.'s father said that his son was learning the spelling of thousands of words everyday and that his vocabulary was increasing.  A year later, B.J. and his father expressed that he was one of the best students in his class.  He said, "I get straight A's in every class."

 

Many famous people are creative in spite of their reading and spelling difficulties. A few such persons are:

■ Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize physics winner;

■ James Joyce, Nobel Prize winner for literature;

■ Thomas Edison, inventor;

■ Agatha Christie, English playwright;

■ Winston Churchill, British prime minister and historian;

■ Nelson Rockefeller, U.S. Vice President;

■ Entertainers Tim Conway, Tom Cruise, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, George Burns, and the list of such persons is increasing as more and more people decide to come out of their spelling closets.

■ The following article is from a report published by the San Diego Council on Literacy:

"Illiteracy is not dramatic, but it does set the stage for the drama. It is not murder, AIDS, drugs, poverty, or unemployment. At the same time, it is all these things. It is the 3rd grader with low self-esteem, the wife beater and victim of family violence, the drop-out, the pregnant teenager, the unemployed mother, the man behind prison walls, the neglected child, the gang member, the drug dealer, the cancer patient, and the marooned family members lacking access to the health and human services a community can offer.

Many individuals have a difficult time finding health and human services because they cannot read. They do not know how to look up services in the telephone book. They cannot read the United Way’s list of social service agencies. They do not know to call Ask-A-Nurse for medical advice. They do not have access to information. Literacy is many things. It is power. It is a political act. It is freedom and it is a tool for discovering one's personal incarceration.  It is a key to success. It is discovering God and salvation. It is family unity. It is communication and interaction with other people. It is survival with room for error. More than anything, it is a tool for acquiring knowledge and functioning in society. Society is complex enough as it stands. Basic literacy is vital to the individual and to our way of life. It affects everybody. It is a starting place for solutions."


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©1997 Camilia Sadik. All rights reserved. Each new rule that governs phonics and English spelling, which is discovered by the author, is patented worldwide by Camilia Sadik. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. Schools may not copy any pages or ideas from this Website to distribute to students. Please note that the books are for sale at a reasonable rate, whereby teachers and students can each use a copy to teach or to learn.