Barebones Blog
A place to share anything related to the world of teaching adult and adolescent English learners who have emerging literacy skills. If you want to comment on something below, or share an interesting item I could add to this list, please reach out.
What's New at abceng.org
December 2020: New resources include Easy English Reading packets, Reading Skills Stories packets with new audio and activity suggestions, and a start on some Home Language Literacy resources in Spanish, Swahili, and Somali, with plans to add other languages in the future.
Coming Soon at abceng.org
I'm currently experimenting to make some interactive digital activities that can be sent to a student's phone and used like an app. These activities will run through a web browser and won't require downloading a separate app, since that can be a barrier for students with low literacy and minimal technology skills. I plan to have a sample activity out in January 2021.
Other Resource Websites
LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults), to connect with other teachers and researchers
Literacy Minnesota, especially the Instructional Support Kits, Classroom Videos, and Pre-Beginning ESL Curriculum
Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange, especially their U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment poster
BRYCS (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services), especially the images and info in Raising Children in a New Country
More Printable Resource Websites
(Note: Other than the Bow Valley Readers, most of these websites are best for students who have already gained basic reading skills and read fluently at Lexile 600 and above)
Bow Valley Readers
ESL Library
Newsela
Read Theory
ReadWorks
Reading for Today's Adults
The Math Worksheet Site (math practice, not reading practice, but worth knowing about!)
Other Books
What's Next?
Sam and Pat
Futures, Literacy Workbook
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
Weebly, to easily create a website
Interesting Research
Does Contextualized or Decontextualized Instruction Matter? This article reports on research done with preschoolers learning letter-sound correspondence, but I think it's an interesting consideration for older learners acquiring alphabetic skills for the first time as well. "Findings support explicit decontextualized alphabet instruction emphasizing the relation between verbal letter labels and letter forms." I'd love to see this research repeated with adult and/or adolescent emergent readers.
Native 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." This is also an aspect of teaching literacy that interests me. This research is from 1999. Does anyone know of more current research in this area, specific to adult and/or adolescent emergent readers?
Speed School for Out-of-School Children in Mali. This project studies older children, not adults. However, I think the idea of a "speed school" program is intriguing and would love to see similar research conducted with adult or adolescent learners in a third-country resettlement context. (Also, in general, I'm inspired by the research of the Innovations for Poverty Action organization and its founder, Esther Duflo.)
A place to share anything related to the world of teaching adult and adolescent English learners who have emerging literacy skills. If you want to comment on something below, or share an interesting item I could add to this list, please reach out.
What's New at abceng.org
December 2020: New resources include Easy English Reading packets, Reading Skills Stories packets with new audio and activity suggestions, and a start on some Home Language Literacy resources in Spanish, Swahili, and Somali, with plans to add other languages in the future.
Coming Soon at abceng.org
I'm currently experimenting to make some interactive digital activities that can be sent to a student's phone and used like an app. These activities will run through a web browser and won't require downloading a separate app, since that can be a barrier for students with low literacy and minimal technology skills. I plan to have a sample activity out in January 2021.
Other Resource Websites
LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults), to connect with other teachers and researchers
Literacy Minnesota, especially the Instructional Support Kits, Classroom Videos, and Pre-Beginning ESL Curriculum
Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange, especially their U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment poster
BRYCS (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services), especially the images and info in Raising Children in a New Country
More Printable Resource Websites
(Note: Other than the Bow Valley Readers, most of these websites are best for students who have already gained basic reading skills and read fluently at Lexile 600 and above)
Bow Valley Readers
ESL Library
Newsela
Read Theory
ReadWorks
Reading for Today's Adults
The Math Worksheet Site (math practice, not reading practice, but worth knowing about!)
Other Books
What's Next?
Sam and Pat
Futures, Literacy Workbook
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
Weebly, to easily create a website
Interesting Research
Does Contextualized or Decontextualized Instruction Matter? This article reports on research done with preschoolers learning letter-sound correspondence, but I think it's an interesting consideration for older learners acquiring alphabetic skills for the first time as well. "Findings support explicit decontextualized alphabet instruction emphasizing the relation between verbal letter labels and letter forms." I'd love to see this research repeated with adult and/or adolescent emergent readers.
Native 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." This is also an aspect of teaching literacy that interests me. This research is from 1999. Does anyone know of more current research in this area, specific to adult and/or adolescent emergent readers?
Speed School for Out-of-School Children in Mali. This project studies older children, not adults. However, I think the idea of a "speed school" program is intriguing and would love to see similar research conducted with adult or adolescent learners in a third-country resettlement context. (Also, in general, I'm inspired by the research of the Innovations for Poverty Action organization and its founder, Esther Duflo.)