Barebones Blog
What's New at abc English
June 2023: The Level 1 Phonics and Level 2 Phonics slideshow lessons have been redesigned. The new versions introduce each phonics pattern with a "speech to print" approach, include more practice with encoding (handwriting and spelling) to reinforce decoding, and provide more support in reading connected text. The word lists, sentences, and stories have not changed and still match the books available at abceng.org/books. The redesigned Level 3 Phonics lesson slideshows are coming soon.
February 2023: The Level 4 Phonics slideshow lessons and the Level 4 Phonics book are now complete!
Other Resource Websites
LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults), professional organization for teachers and researchers
Literacy Minnesota, especially the Instructional Support Kits, Classroom Videos, and Pre-Beginning ESL Curriculum
English Unlocked, also from Literacy Minnesota
The Literacy Centre of Expertise, especially their podcast
Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange, especially their U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment poster
CIWA (Calgary Immigrant Women's Association), especially their Health Literacy Resources
We Speak NYC videos; student favorites are Stay in School and Love and Money
BRYCS (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services), especially the images and info in Raising Children in a New Country
Bow Valley Readers (Lexile Levels 100 to 600)
Pathway to Literacy Indianapolis (Free and open educational resources for adult English learners who are emergent readers)
The Math Worksheet Site (printable worksheets to add numbers and numeracy practice to your teaching)
ELLI (Formerly ESL Library) (however, most resources here are for students who read at Lexile 600 and above)
Books for Students
abc English Books
What's Next?
Sam and Pat
Futures, Literacy Workbook
At the River (and other books by Shelley Hale Lee)
Educational Technology
quizizz.com, to create online quiz activities
quizlet.com, especially the "spell" activity for dictation practice
Tools for Makers
Canva, especially to create student certificates
ttsmp3, to input text and output an mp3 audio file
Virtual Speech Recorder, to easily record and save audio files online
Flaticon and The Noun Project, for free icons
Photos for Class and Creative Commons, for free photos
Articles and Presentations
Teaching Structured Literacy + Assessment of Decoding Skills I created this presentation for the 2022 LESLLA Symposium. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). I present a Bridge Analogy to explain how to teach LESLLA students with a Structured Literacy approach, and also discuss why assessment of decoding skills is important.
Training Webinar: Orientation to using abc English Teaching Resources This is a recording of a 60-minute training webinar that I presented to a group of teachers in February 2022. They have graciously given permission for me to share the recording with others. This training will help you understand how to get started using the new abc English Online Library resources and Phonics books.
The Science of Reading: A Workshop for Adult Literacy Educators I created this presentation for the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy in November 2021. The goal of the presentation is to show examples of how I've applied research to practice in my work with adult literacy students. You'll see examples of strategies backed by reading science that I've used with some of my current adult literacy students. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). You can also view a recording of this presentation through YouTube.
The Science of Reading: Implications for LESLLA I wrote this article to summarize key concepts from reading science, and discuss how they apply to the work of LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults). This article is based on the presentation below.
The Science of Reading I created this 24 minute presentation about the Science of Reading for the 2021 LESLLA Symposium. The presentation outlines the key concepts in the Science of Reading and the shifts in instruction that many K-12 programs are making in teaching reading in the last few years. I also share my thoughts on how this research applies to our work with adult emergent readers.
Podcasts for Professional Learning
Podcasts about the Science of Reading I have found podcasts to be a helpful way to fit professional learning into my busy schedule. It's a convenient way to be introduced to the ideas of leading experts and the experiences of other literacy teachers, and I often find myself making notes to follow up on books or research articles mentioned in order to dive deeper. For those who are interested in similar learning, I've started to keep a collection of podcast episodes here. Although these podcast episodes generally focus on K-12 reading instruction, I have found a lot of value in considering how this knowledge can inform my work with adult emergent readers.
Interesting Research
Analytic vs. Synthetic: Systematic Phonics This blog post by Tim Shanahan gives a good overview of synthetic vs. analytic phonics instruction, and the importance of a systematic sequence of instruction.
Embedded Mnemonics in Phonics I've found a lot of success using key words and visuals to teach the alphabet letters and sounds quickly and efficiently. Here's some research to back that up.
Home Language Literacy and Adult ESL Learners. "Research conducted with adults in the United States in recent years shows that reading in the native language aids the acquisition of and reading ability in a second language." I haven't experimented with home language literacy instruction much, but I'd like to. Check out the Home Language Literacy resources if you want to try incorporating it into your teaching.
What's New at abc English
June 2023: The Level 1 Phonics and Level 2 Phonics slideshow lessons have been redesigned. The new versions introduce each phonics pattern with a "speech to print" approach, include more practice with encoding (handwriting and spelling) to reinforce decoding, and provide more support in reading connected text. The word lists, sentences, and stories have not changed and still match the books available at abceng.org/books. The redesigned Level 3 Phonics lesson slideshows are coming soon.
February 2023: The Level 4 Phonics slideshow lessons and the Level 4 Phonics book are now complete!
Other Resource Websites
LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults), professional organization for teachers and researchers
Literacy Minnesota, especially the Instructional Support Kits, Classroom Videos, and Pre-Beginning ESL Curriculum
English Unlocked, also from Literacy Minnesota
The Literacy Centre of Expertise, especially their podcast
Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange, especially their U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment poster
CIWA (Calgary Immigrant Women's Association), especially their Health Literacy Resources
We Speak NYC videos; student favorites are Stay in School and Love and Money
BRYCS (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services), especially the images and info in Raising Children in a New Country
Bow Valley Readers (Lexile Levels 100 to 600)
Pathway to Literacy Indianapolis (Free and open educational resources for adult English learners who are emergent readers)
The Math Worksheet Site (printable worksheets to add numbers and numeracy practice to your teaching)
ELLI (Formerly ESL Library) (however, most resources here are for students who read at Lexile 600 and above)
Books for Students
abc English Books
What's Next?
Sam and Pat
Futures, Literacy Workbook
At the River (and other books by Shelley Hale Lee)
Educational Technology
quizizz.com, to create online quiz activities
quizlet.com, especially the "spell" activity for dictation practice
Tools for Makers
Canva, especially to create student certificates
ttsmp3, to input text and output an mp3 audio file
Virtual Speech Recorder, to easily record and save audio files online
Flaticon and The Noun Project, for free icons
Photos for Class and Creative Commons, for free photos
Articles and Presentations
Teaching Structured Literacy + Assessment of Decoding Skills I created this presentation for the 2022 LESLLA Symposium. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). I present a Bridge Analogy to explain how to teach LESLLA students with a Structured Literacy approach, and also discuss why assessment of decoding skills is important.
Training Webinar: Orientation to using abc English Teaching Resources This is a recording of a 60-minute training webinar that I presented to a group of teachers in February 2022. They have graciously given permission for me to share the recording with others. This training will help you understand how to get started using the new abc English Online Library resources and Phonics books.
The Science of Reading: A Workshop for Adult Literacy Educators I created this presentation for the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy in November 2021. The goal of the presentation is to show examples of how I've applied research to practice in my work with adult literacy students. You'll see examples of strategies backed by reading science that I've used with some of my current adult literacy students. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). You can also view a recording of this presentation through YouTube.
The Science of Reading: Implications for LESLLA I wrote this article to summarize key concepts from reading science, and discuss how they apply to the work of LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults). This article is based on the presentation below.
The Science of Reading I created this 24 minute presentation about the Science of Reading for the 2021 LESLLA Symposium. The presentation outlines the key concepts in the Science of Reading and the shifts in instruction that many K-12 programs are making in teaching reading in the last few years. I also share my thoughts on how this research applies to our work with adult emergent readers.
Podcasts for Professional Learning
Podcasts about the Science of Reading I have found podcasts to be a helpful way to fit professional learning into my busy schedule. It's a convenient way to be introduced to the ideas of leading experts and the experiences of other literacy teachers, and I often find myself making notes to follow up on books or research articles mentioned in order to dive deeper. For those who are interested in similar learning, I've started to keep a collection of podcast episodes here. Although these podcast episodes generally focus on K-12 reading instruction, I have found a lot of value in considering how this knowledge can inform my work with adult emergent readers.
Interesting Research
Analytic vs. Synthetic: Systematic Phonics This blog post by Tim Shanahan gives a good overview of synthetic vs. analytic phonics instruction, and the importance of a systematic sequence of instruction.
Embedded Mnemonics in Phonics I've found a lot of success using key words and visuals to teach the alphabet letters and sounds quickly and efficiently. Here's some research to back that up.
Home Language Literacy and Adult ESL Learners. "Research conducted with adults in the United States in recent years shows that reading in the native language aids the acquisition of and reading ability in a second language." I haven't experimented with home language literacy instruction much, but I'd like to. Check out the Home Language Literacy resources if you want to try incorporating it into your teaching.