I remember my very first reading experience, crying because I couldn’t understand how to do it.  I went on to overcome the problems and become an avid reader. Reading is one of the most important things I do every day, and I cannot imagine life without reading skills. My desire is to give to others the joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from learning to read.
       My first experience teaching some one to read was a 16-year-old home-bound student I was hired to teach. I found out he could not read and his younger sister had been doing his school work. I set out to teach him to read, and became a student of reading techniques.  As an activity director of a sixteen-bed home for the handicapped, I was given eight students from eighteen to sixty years old and was told to teach them to read. This task had not been accomplished in their years at school, but I was expected to do it. This is where I learned to break things down to their smallest steps, and help my students achieve success.  At this point I became part of the literacy program. I began to teach them basic phonics and had literacy volunteers work individually with them to practice reading.  All of them accomplished some reading skills. 
      I then began to home school my son and taught him to read at the age of five, using the skills I had learned in literacy training.  I loved to attend literacy training workshops because I always came home with another nugget of wisdom that would help a student. I soon began to realize that the hardest part of helping a student succeed, was overcoming that sense of failure they had experienced all through school. If I could change that, their chances of success would increase.  Through the Adult Literacy program, I worked with adult students for twenty-five years. Then, I began to work with younger students who were failing and helped them gain the reading skills they needed. I also helped a brain-injured woman relearn reading.  Every student I work with challenges me in some way to keep learning and studying.
      One of the most rewarding and challenging experiences I have had is working with ESL (English as a Second Language) students.  They ask many questions about the English language and expect more than “That’s just the way it is.”   They want to know how to figure out the sound of a word and to know why it says that, and what rule they should use. I also find that the window of opportunity for working with many literacy students is very short. They often change jobs and move on before much can be accomplished.  
     In 2003, I began working on a phonics curriculum to be used by tutors to move their students systematically through a body of materials with success and a sense of achievement. I tried to make it simple and easy to understand for both the tutor and student because neither one needs to experience more failure. Being a tutor means teaching another person communication skills, so that they will no longer be vulnerable to manipulation and control by others, and will have the skills necessary for survival and prosperity. 
      Work on the curriculum slowed down when I moved in 2013. I needed time to establish my new home and take care of my family. Then, in the spring of 2024, at the urging of my grandchildren and daughters, I recommenced work on the project. This time, my daughter Regina was in a position where she could help me with computer skills and the organization of my files. On the eve of Mother's Day, we talked for hours about what the curriculum could look like. Then we took out a piece of paper and put together a plan. Funny Phonics was born. We are happy to share with you our labor of love. Happy reading!

Note: Mrs. Hahn was given the "2006 Spotlight on Service Award" by Illinois Secretary of State/Illinois State Librarian Jesse White and by the Illinois Press Association. This was presented to her for her outstanding service as an Illinois Literacy Tutor.