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Contribution from Françoise Lazare: Words in Color in an innercity neighborhood Why do six- to eight-year-old children, from a volatile neighborhood where unrest, boredom, violence and suffering are rife, change their attitude to learning as soon as they realize they can learn to read with Words in Color? This approach involves many game-like activities whose humor creates emotional states which will remain essential referents for learning. It creates a situation in which resistances fall and the learners are able to be present in the moment. It also creates and maintains cohesion in the group. Interest, curiosity and mental dynamism are stimulated as the learner realizes that the material enables her/him to regain the state of living in the present and at the same time it opens the door on a new field of investigation which excites her/his creativity. Once trust and contact have been established, the teacher can present the children with challenges at their level. Challenges which become ever greater. The learner: - recognizes a way of functioning (learning) that he has been able to initiate since babyhood, - is reawakened by this unknown (the material) which revives in him a well-known functioning (learning), - recognizes this alter ego who both l ikes and k nows how to learn, - discovers another self-image which disturbs his previous self image (“dumb”, hyperactive or any other negative adjective which has been used to categorize him). This moment is often a shock and may sometimes lead to the child putting a stop to his learning and even “regressing”, - is in contact with a terrible dilemma, a 5