Barebones Blog
What's New at abc English
January 2024: The Reading Skills Stories have been redesigned. Each new lesson slideshow includes a new Grammar section, improved Word Sort and Multisyllable Word practice, and a new Conversation & Writing activity. Audio support is embedded within several activities as well.
October 2023: The U.S. Citizenship Lessons are now complete. These lessons prepare students to pass the U.S. Naturalization test, including the 100 Civics questions and the Reading and Writing test. In addition, the Level 3 Phonics slideshows lessons have been redesigned. The new versions give more and varied practice with the Level 3 skills, including multisyllable words and advanced vowel patterns.
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
Future, Literacy Workbook
At the River (and other books by Shelley Hale Lee)
Tools for Makers
Canva, especially to create student certificates
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
(Video) Strategies for Teaching Low Beginning English Learners I created this presentation for Wisconsin Literacy's 2024 Winter Virtual Conference. Key points include identifying Different Types of Beginners, considering both the Language and Literacy needs of students, and the importance of Teaching with Routines. You can see the slides here.
(Slides & Video) Techniques for Teaching Foundational Literacy Skills I created this presentation for the 2023 LESLLA Symposium. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). This presentation shares research-backed techniques for teaching Foundational Literacy Skills -- phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency. The slides include academic references for further learning about each technique. Here is a video recording of the first half of this presentation.
(Article) Structured Literacy: A Framework for Teaching LESLLA This article outlines a Bridge Analogy to help teachers understand how to plan language and literacy instruction using a Structured Literacy approach. It is published in the 2022 LESLLA Proceedings, and is based on the presentation below.
(Slides) 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. (See also the related article above).
(Video) 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.
(Slides & Video) 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.
(Article) 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.
(Slides & Video) 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. (See also the related article above.)
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.
What's New at abc English
January 2024: The Reading Skills Stories have been redesigned. Each new lesson slideshow includes a new Grammar section, improved Word Sort and Multisyllable Word practice, and a new Conversation & Writing activity. Audio support is embedded within several activities as well.
October 2023: The U.S. Citizenship Lessons are now complete. These lessons prepare students to pass the U.S. Naturalization test, including the 100 Civics questions and the Reading and Writing test. In addition, the Level 3 Phonics slideshows lessons have been redesigned. The new versions give more and varied practice with the Level 3 skills, including multisyllable words and advanced vowel patterns.
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
Future, Literacy Workbook
At the River (and other books by Shelley Hale Lee)
Tools for Makers
Canva, especially to create student certificates
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
(Video) Strategies for Teaching Low Beginning English Learners I created this presentation for Wisconsin Literacy's 2024 Winter Virtual Conference. Key points include identifying Different Types of Beginners, considering both the Language and Literacy needs of students, and the importance of Teaching with Routines. You can see the slides here.
(Slides & Video) Techniques for Teaching Foundational Literacy Skills I created this presentation for the 2023 LESLLA Symposium. You can read the full presentation by viewing the Speaker Notes (press S on your keyboard after opening the presentation). This presentation shares research-backed techniques for teaching Foundational Literacy Skills -- phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency. The slides include academic references for further learning about each technique. Here is a video recording of the first half of this presentation.
(Article) Structured Literacy: A Framework for Teaching LESLLA This article outlines a Bridge Analogy to help teachers understand how to plan language and literacy instruction using a Structured Literacy approach. It is published in the 2022 LESLLA Proceedings, and is based on the presentation below.
(Slides) 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. (See also the related article above).
(Video) 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.
(Slides & Video) 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.
(Article) 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.
(Slides & Video) 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. (See also the related article above.)
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.