Phonics video for volunteer tutors

I would like to find a video that details the 44 sounds of English that volunteer tutors can review before tutoring. We offer tutor training,  but do not get into phonics specifically.  The video I'd like to use would be for tutors that are working with pre-literate and beginner ELL learners that are high level speakers and want to learn to read.  

Comments

This is not a video, but it is my very favorite website for the sounds of English.  It may be too technical for volunteer tutors, but you never know - they may be budding ESL teachers and get hooked on "phonics!"    Enjoy!   http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html    btw- this is not for phone-graph correspondence, just for producing and recognizing the sounds themselves, so it may not be what you need.  That said, others may find it helpful.

Helaine Marshall, LIU Hudson

 

 

Hi all-- It is encouraging to see requests for ways for volunteer tutors to learn more about English and phonics other than just referring to a book!!   I like the sounds of speech site, but as noted, there is no instruction and no easy way to translate that into instruction for students.  What I like is something that has been around for YEARS-- color charts for teaching phonics.  What started out as a really great visual and auditory way to get a handle on the many sound of English graphemes has become a whole industry, with excellent training videos, training sessions and lots and lots of support for teachers and tutors.  This is at English Language Training Solutions :   - https://elts.solutions/about-us/

This is a tried and true approach to much better speech and phonics understanding for English language learners and helps volunteers become very effective English tutors!   

That said, may I offer my caution again about launching into phonics with non-literate students without first assuring that their phonological awareness skills are strong?  Phonics doesn't  always cover these skills,   and since these folks have no real understanding of how sound becomes script, it can be overwhelming for them to be flooded with phonics instruction.  Remember that children learning to speak are introduced to phonics over a long period of time and with lots of experience with language before they ever see print.   I think the folks in Minneapolis have done a great job of studying how best to ease non-literate adults into print awareness-- I highly recommend the video at newamericanhorizons.org.    

Also, please do not forget that visual issues will interfere with reading instruction.   I have cited here my last visit to a large adult ESOL program in my state where I was asked to consult about four students who were not making progress in the very beginning English class.  As it turned out, all four had significant visual challenges-- one had actual eye damage-- but had never told their teacher, who assumed their difficulties were perhaps learning disabilities.  This is always an unfortunate conclusion for adult ELs-- but all the more so when the problem is SO not that..... I only found out about the vision issues by having very pointed conversations with these students.  One had to be asked in a variety of ways if she could actually SEE things on the page.   She interpreted the question several ways before finally admitting she had problems seeing clearly.  Also, adults who have coped with poor vision without benefit of corrective glasses are often totally unaware of how their poor vision will impact their reading.    That is why it is so necessary to address this BEFORE failure happens.   

The other vision challenge to check is what is called in some places "visual stress syndrome"-- sometimes known as the Irlen syndrome.  This problem causes issues that look similar to those caused by other reading challenges, but is caused by the way the brain processes light in the occipital lobe.   For very clear examples of what people with this syndrome see, go to irlen.com-- this problem is easily identified through a series of questions to the person having difficulties and is easily addressed with the use of specially developed colored overlays (available on the Irlen site or at power path.com-- where you will receive an envelope complete with screening questions when you purchase the overlays, which are the professionally developed overlays from Irlen.).  Extensive research in Britain on this problem and the effect of the colored overlays has found that there is a certain "cure" effect that happens from using the colored overlays for several months.  Those who need the overlays literally cannot read well without them; those who do not need the overlays experience no effect whatsoever from using them.  So there is little chance of a false positive, as it were.  Many of us, myself included, find it more restful to read with an overlay, or with a colored background on the computer screen or on colored paper.   I ALWAYS insist that handouts at my workshops be printed on pastel colors just to assure that everyone can look at them comfortably.   Using colored paper---even a good cream color-- reduces the strain on the eyes of those who have VSS by quite a lot.   But those who NEED the overlays cannot read well at all without them.   Note that this is NOT a "cure" for dyslexia, as some have claimed.   I have worked with severely dyslexic readers who LOVE using overlays because there is less strain on the eyes, but who continued to have difficulty decoding readily, which is the primary effect of dyslexia.   

An example of the effect of this syndrome on 2 beginning readers:  I was asked to consult with a tutoring program in the midwest about a man who had been to every English tutoring program in the large city where I lived.   No one had had any success with helping him learn to read.  HIs current tutor was in a workshop I did on learning challenges in adult ELs and asked if I would come evaluate him.  From the description his tutor had given of his problems, I was expecting that he had oral language difficulties.  She said that he could not seem to retain the names of letters of the alphabet and made peculiar errors when looking at pictures.   Early on in the conversation with him (he was a refugee from East Africa), I asked him what he saw when he looked at the page.   He put his hands up over the book and moved them back and forth, indicating that things moved on the page!   I had to go home to get the overlays since, as I said, I had not been expecting that problem.   We tried several colors until he picked the one he like, smiling broadly and saying "THAT!!! THAT ONE!!"  Because the letters on the literacy book page had moved so much for him, he had never seen them the same from day to day-- making it seem as if he could not remember them, Once they stopped moving with use of the overlay, he was able to progress rapidly in his literacy instruction.  

A similar problem happened with a young woman from West Africa adopted by a family in MA-- she had been receiving basic phonics instruction but had hit a wall, never being able to read words longer than about 3 or 4 letters.   She had memorized part of The Cat in the Hat, but it was quickly obvious when she attempted to read it to me that it was the page she was memorizing-- she could not remember the same words she had read several times on one page when she came to them later in the book, where she knew the story much less well.  Again, I asked her what she saw when she looked at the page, and again she indicated with her hands that things swam all over the page.   Her adoptive father was there, and his jaw dropped!  He said "That explains SO MUCH!!"  He said they were  so puzzled why she often seemed to locate things in strange places on pages.  Her reading tutor had concluded she had dyslexia,  but dyslexia does not cause one to not be able to read words longer than 3 or 4 letters.....And again, just as for the East African, when she chose a combination of colored overlays, her reading suddenly stabilized and she reported that things no longer moved on the page.  

I know this all sounds incredible, but I have not only diagnosed many students with visual difficulties, but been witness to screening of many others.  I have long maintained that if visual problems are at the root of reading problems for some students and these can be so easily addressed by overlays and a good vision screening with an optometrist (behavioral optometrists sometimes do the screening with colors as well), then why would you prevent a student from finding out if that, in fact is the cause of his or her reading difficulties.  Of course it will not make a reader who has never learned to read into a reader, but it will make all the difference for those who struggle.

Thank you for reading and thinking about your own students!  Robin Lovrien   

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching pronunciation through phonics is an integral part of my program based on my free website, PUMAROSA.COM and some videos on YouTube (see below).

I believe that pronunciation is a key element in learning English, and, because it is difficult for many people, I use humor and a step by step, gradual method which seems to work well. I usually "weave" a phonics lesson into other lessons, especially for beginners. More advanced students need fluency, diction, articulation, etc.

Although my lessons are primarily for Spanish speakers, speakers of other languages have also found these exercises helpful.

PRONUNCIATION -PUMAROSA.COM:


The Alphabet

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/alphabet/index/load.htm?f

 

Numbers - pronunciation

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/numbers/pron_num/load.htm?f

 

Cognates

PRONUNCIATION

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/cognates/pron_cog/load.htm?f

 

CONFUSING WORDS / PALABRAS QUE CONFUNDEN

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/confusing_words/index/load.htm?f

 

PRONUNCIATION OF VOWELS, CONSONANTS AND COMBINATIONS

 

VOWELS -http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/index/load.htm?f

 

 

COMBINATION OF VOWELS

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/vowels_comb/load.htm?f

 

CONSONANTS

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/consonants/play.htm?f

 

COMBINATION OF CONSONANTS

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/consonants_comb/load.htm?f

 

VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/vow_cons_comb/load.htm?f

 

TONGUES TWISTERS – TRABALENGUAS

http://www.pumarosa.com/ingles/pronunciation/tongue_twisters/load.htm?f

 

 

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

http://www.inglesconprofepablo.com/pronunciacion

 

 

 

Hi Shelley-- i just wanted to add that I am happy to hear you supplied your classroom with over the counter reading glasses.  Buying reading glasses to have in class was one of the smartest things I ever did.  I was working most recently with Mexican migrant workers and immigrants --several older ones had not had new glasses in years and seized happily on the glasses I provided.  ( I made sure to have a variety of strengths and styles-- all at about $3 a pair-- sometimes cheaper).    It made ALL the difference.... getting eye exams and then glasses can seem expensive and overwhelming to many.    I advocate finding ways to help learners get the eye exam and the prescription, and then going online to a vendor of glasses to get them MUCH MUCH cheaper than in any store.  I get progressive lenses in really nice frames for myself for as little as $36.    What a boon to people needing glasses-- and almost EVERYONE needs glasses sooner or later.     Robin    ( and I just learned that I get one free eye exam a year from Medicare!!)  

 

Hi Shelley, Robin and all, Yes! Such a great idea to provide reading glasses. If you have a Dollar Tree, you can buy them for only $1.00 each in a variety of strengths. I wanted to ask about the online sources for the inexpensive reading glasses. $36 for progressive lenses is amazing!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

Dr. Robin, thanks for reflecting on so many important aspects relating to phonics instruction. For sure, phonemic and phonological awareness precede phonics instruction. Phonics represents a totally artificial and arbitrary interpretation of sounds, which makes no sense to those who haven't experienced the idea that sounds go together to provide meaning.

It would be interesting to follow up here on an earlier discussion around a LINCS resource, https://community.lincs.ed.gov/discussion/teaching-analogy-phonics. There are different ways of approaching phonics instruction, depending on whether students are literate in their own languages or not, or if they are ESL students with limited English vocabulary. Let's talk more! Leecy

After reading your document, the reader may have Helen Irlen syndrome.  Students need color paper (yellow or green) to read black ink. It's not Dyslexia but has similar symptoms. The color paper as you describe serves  as a contrast without the use of a filter.  Helen has a book on her findings.  ( I learned about it about 10 years ago).  Most people are not familiar with the condition.

Sheila Manley

Sheila Manley    

I would highly recommend Debbie Heppelwhite's Synthetic Phonics.com website or her new phonicsinternational.org website.  Be sure to download the American/Canadian alphabetic charts (not those used in the UK).  They are a brilliant visual/auditory help in understanding how one sound can be represented graphically in print in a multitude of ways. Her materials are mostly free, comprehensive and definitely help ELL students grasp the way the English sound system works.

Julie, thanks so much for asking the question and for the resources shared by others here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqUVnXExTQ - This Youtube video has no instruction. It simply pronounces the 44 phonemes and 4 blends in English. I appreciate that the "pronouncer" accurately reproduces the voiced consonants in English, which so many teachers murder. Example: /d/ instead of /duh/. :) I also appreciate that the clip is not directed at young children, as so many phonics resources are, and it is spoken in American instead of British English. Leecy

Reading Horizons has an excellent online workshop that covers the 44 sounds of English. It starts with short vowels and single consonants and ends with strategies for multisyllable words. Register at http://www.readinghorizons.com/reading-workshop/​. It's free for 30 days once you register and takes about 4-5 hours to complete. You don't have to finish it in one session; you can log out and it will bookmark your place. There is an assessment at the end and participants receive a certificate that can be submitted for PD hours. Participants can print out a lengthy syllabus which is extremely helpful as a teaching resource.

I recommend it for anyone who teaches ESL, beginners to advanced. I am an ESL literacy instructor and teacher trainer in NC. We have been using this workshop for several years now. It helps ESL instructors review and remember the sound/spelling patterns of English, and helps us communicate those patterns effectively to our students. The workshop teaches the Reading Horizons marking system which is unique to their program, but we can gain a lot from this workshop even if we are not using their materials. The information I gained has changed the way I teach for the better! Shelley Lee

 

 

 

Hi Shelley and all, Thanks for sharing your experience with teaching phonics, Shelley. You report that you have found the Reading Horizon approach helpful in your teaching, which is good to hear. It would be great to hear more from you on this -- as well as other teachers who are using Reading Horizons.

I actually went through the Reading Horizons training myself, and my experience is different. I found the marking system used in Reading Horizons to be quite complicated, i.e., too abstract and complex to use with adults who are learning to read for the first time.

Instead, I have implemented the Language Experience Approach, which builds on learners' oral language and seeks to balance top down skills (i.e., vocabulary and comprehension) with bottom up skills (i.e., phonemic awareness and phonics). Patsy Vinogradov describes the Whole-Part-Whole method in the article, "Maestra, the letters speak!" (see link below). Using this method, we start with whole language that makes sense to learners. We then identify elements of phonemic awareness and phonics "parts" within that language and teach those elements explicitly. It's important to then return to the whole language to deepen learners' comprehension.

The Whole-Part-Whole method is demonstrated in the New American Horizons video on Building Literacy with Emergent Readers (see link below). It is also discussed in the ELLU online course on Teaching Emergent Readers (see link below).

See the list below for these--some of which have already been mentioned in this discussion thread-- and other resources related to teaching emergent readers.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this important discussion. This is just what makes LINCS so valuable. Keep your ideas coming, all!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

Dear Susan and all, I use the Reading Horizons Online Workshop for my teacher training courses but I don't use their materials in my ESL literacy classes. I have tried it with literacy students, though. In 2010, some colleagues and I conducted a study on the use of Reading Horizons in our Basic Skills Division. We tested out the program in five classes for 80 hours of instruction: ABE, Compensatory Ed, ESL Beginning Literacy, ESL High Beginning, and ESL High Intermediate. The ABE department had been using RH with much success and they are still using it. RH also worked very well for the Compensatory Ed students. In the ESL department, we found that the RH approach was effective with high intermediate students, but was not well suited for beginning literacy or high beginning students. The marking system was confusing for my beginning lit students. While the instruction was systematic, kinesthetic, and explicit, oftentimes it wasn't put in a meaningful context for my students. Still, I learned a lot while teaching RH and am grateful for the experience.

In my teacher training course, participants complete the Reading Horizons Online Workshop to reacquaint themselves with the sounds and spelling patterns of English. They also learn about the LEA approach through Patsy Vinogradov’s article, “Balancing Top and Bottom: Learner-Generated Texts for Teaching Phonics” and watch the New American Horizons video, “Building Literacy with Adult Emergent Readers.” The article and video show how to put the nuts and bolts of foundational literacy to work in the context of the adult ESL classroom. This combination of resources works well for us. We have also used the ELL-U Emergent Readers module.

Hello Shelley, Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and for telling us more about how you are using Reading Horizons (RH) in your program for teacher training and instruction. It's really great that you were able to collect data to examine the efficacy of RH with different groups of learners. Thanks also for mentioning Patsy's article "Balancing Top and Bottom: Learner-Generated Texts for Teaching Phonics" which was published in the proceedings of the 2009 LESLLA conference. I wanted to provide a direct link to this helpful article, which begins on page 3.

Adult ESL teachers, who teach learners with limited or no formal schooling, definitely need to be trained in how to teach reading. Most of us--unless one was trained as an elementary school teacher or reading specialist, did not have that training as part of our undergraduate programs. Understanding the phonemic and phonics elements of English is critical to the process of teaching reading. From what you say, Shelley, Reading Horizons has helped to build that essential knowledge base for your teachers.

Thankfully, we have more resources now to prepare adult ESL teachers than in the past. However, this continues to be a critical professional development issue for our field. It would be great to hear what is working for others as well as what questions members have about ways to adequately prepare teachers to address the needs of those with limited formal schooling.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

 

 

Susan et al who have shared so much here, this discussion continues to expand in very rich ground. I hope that it will continue to grow! And to continue to think about phonics, some months back, I reviewed a helpful resource to teach phonics among adults. It is "A collection of 12 short stories from a contextual phonics program for teaching adults to read. Each story is available online and in portable document format (pdf). A standard lesson plan is provided that can be used with each story. Go to http://mcedservices.com/phonics/phonics.html and click on different valuable links!

What is your opinion about the recommended differences in choice of approaches in teaching native as opposed to non-native speakers of English? Leecy

Hi Leecy and all, I think the question of how to approach print literacy instruction with adults who grew up speaking English versus those who speak other languages and are learning to read print for the first time is a fascinating question. I confess that I have had very little experience teaching phonemic awareness and phonics to individuals who grew up speaking English. Those former students had already mastered the bottom up fundamentals of reading, so we focused on the top down skills of vocabulary and comprehension. Adults who grow up speaking English, of course, have a huge oral language resource to build upon. My experience with teaching bottom up skills is limited to emergent readers who are also learning to speak English.

Inherent in this discussion is the equally important issue of providing print literacy instruction for those who are learning to read for the first time in the home/native language.

It would be wonderful to hear from teachers who have worked with both groups of adult learners about how they approached teaching reading with each group -- including teachers who are teaching print literacy in the home/native language.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

I hope others will jump in here to share their practices in this regard (phonics among native vs non-native speakers). I know that in the past, there was some agreement that using analytic phonics instruction worked best for native speakers and synthetic phonics was more appropriate for non-native speakers since the latter did not have the vocabulary needed to relate to sounds of familiar words. There seems to be a shift now, leading to using synthetic phonics instruction for all. What is your experience? If you teach phonics to both groups, how do you differentiate instruction? Leecy

I was asked to provide more of a definition for the two approaches I mentioned in my last post: analytic and synthetic phonics. Although still used extensively, other phonics approaches have joined the list. Notice my comment earlier on the LINCS resource on Analogy Phonics. It has great plans and help on applying that approach. Other methods are listed at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/phonics-instruction.

In terms of selecting one approach or another for native and non-native speakers, I'll comment on my experience using Analytic and Synthetic approaches, which, I believe, are still the most used.

Analytic phonics  has students take words that they know well, and has them identify the sounds that make up that word. Think of Analytic as a process of analyzing something familiar. Analytic Phonics emphasizes onsets (initial sounds), rhymes (final sounds), and word families. You'll find students going from [h]at to [b]at and bat to bats or batting, etc...

Some  of you might recall (I'm showing my age) the two big adult literacy movements in the US way back, starting with the late fifties(!): Laubach Literacy and Literacy Volunteers of America. The latter, LVA, promoted an excellent method, called Language Experience Approach, where students would tell a short story or describe a short incident. The teacher would write exactly what the student said with no editing at all! After that, the tutor would go through the statements with the students reading along until they could read the words and sentences on their own. After all, they dictated them. Next, the tutor would use Analytic phonics to take phonetically-spelled words in the statements and break them apart. Finally, the tutor would take sound words and have students practice those, making flashcards or completing other activities. On and on.

As you might suspect, if an ESL student doesn't have a well-developed oral vocabulary, this approach would not be highly recommended.

In Synthetic-Phonics instruction, students transform letters into sounds and then blend them to form recognizable words. In this approach you'll find students "stretching" sounds as they add new letters and blending sounds together. They look at a word and start sounding it out. I've even had students make up new words! Laubach Literacy taught both ESL and native speakers in a series using this approach, first teaching the sounds and names of letters, and then having students recognize them in words where blends were also introduced. Sight words were learned just that way, repeated time and time again in all of the stories.

If a student is already a reader of a native language that uses an alphabet, there is no need to teach phonics, of course! A reader by any other name is still a reader! :)

BTW, those two organizations are now one: ProLiteracy, a fantastic organization promoting adult literacy all over the world! The resources are wonderful!

Hope that helps. Leecy

 

 

Hello Susan and all, thank you, Susan, for your list of resources. Here are some additional resources for our low literacy learners and their teachers. Thanks to Patsy Egan for sharing her most recent list, which I have incorporated here. I have also posted a document on my website, www.emergentreaders.org, which combines Susan's list in the post above with my list.​

~ Shelley Hale Lee, shelleyhalelee@gmail.com

RESOURCES FOR TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

·         LESLLA (Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition)  www.leslla.org

LESLLA is an international forum of researchers who share an interest in research on the development of second language skills by adult immigrants with little or no schooling prior to entering the country of entry.The goal of LESLLA is to share empirical research and information to help inform and guide further research on second language acquisition for the low-educated adult population. This research in turn will provide guidance to education policy development in all those countries in which immigrants settle and most need educational support. Teacher Resources:    http://www.leslla.org/teacher_resources.htm

·         Video series: Classroom Activities for Adult ESL Learners, http://mnliteracy.org/classroomvideos. These free videos demonstrate effective activities for low literacy learners. More information at http://atlasabe.org/mn-abe-news/esl-classroom-activity-videos

·         Handbook for Tutors Working with Adult ESOL Literacy Learners, developed by Margi Felix-Lund, Portland State University, 2013, https://sites.google.com/site/margifelixlund/ 

·         Minnesota Literacy Council, free online training course “Literacy Level ESL Instruction” (as well as many others) free at http://online.themlc.org, appropriate for new teachers and volunteers. Also, low-literacy curriculum used at many MLC sites is posted here (< 180): http://mnliteracy.org/tools/volunteer-esl-curriculum

·         SLIFE (Students with Limited or interrupted Formal Education) and the MALP (Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm), Helaine Marshall and Andrea DeCapua, http://malp.pbworks.com. Outlines the MALP, provides access to numerous publications, powerpoint presentations, and a teacher wiki, all concerning teaching students with limited or interrupted formal schooling (SLIFE).

·         Study Circle Guide for Low-literacy Adult ESL, from ATLAS (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Vinogradov, P. (2011). Study circle guide for teachers of low-literacy adult ESL students. ATLAS, ABE Teaching and Learning Advancement System. St. Paul, MN: Hamline University.

www.atlasabe.org       [Click: Professional > Adult ESL]

This complete study circle guide outlines the activities of a multi-week, 3-meeting practitioner study circle for teachers of adult low-literate ESL students.  A report on the pilot of this study circle can be found here:

Vinogradov, P. (2012). “You just get a deeper understanding of things by talking:” Study circles for teachers of ESL emergent readers. Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education, 1, p.34-48.

·         CAELA – Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, http://www.cal.org/caela/

·         Videos and resources from MN Low-literacy Adult ESL + Dyslexia Study Circle: www.englishcodecrackers.com

·         Florida Adult ESOL Practitioners’ Taskforce

Standards for three levels of low-literacy adult ESL, native language literacy assessment tool, etc. Curriculum developed in Florida for emerging literacy students.  On the Florida Department of Education website, the Adult Education web page has this course along with five other ESOL-related courses that have been written by Florida adult ESOL practitioners.  The link to the FL DOE web page is www.fldoe.org/workforce/dwdframe/ad_frame.asp.  The link to the curriculum iswww.fldoe.org/workforce/dwdframe/rtf/32010303.rtf.  

 

 

RESOURCES FOR CLASSROOM USE - Decodable readers

·         At the River and Other Stories for Adult Emergent Readers by Shelley Hale Lee, Wayzgoose Press. Additional resources available at www.emergentreaders.org.

·         Sam and Pat 1 and 2 by Jo Anne Hartel, Betsy Lowry, and Whit Hendon, Thomson Heinle

·         What’s Next? by Lia Conklin, New Readers Press

·         Talk of the Block by Ann Haffner, New Readers Press

 

RESOURCES FOR CLASSROOM USE - Other readers and teaching guides

·         abcEnglish 1 and 2 by Jennifer Christenson. Additional resources available at www.teachabcenglish.com

·         ESL Literacy Readers from Bow Valley College, https://centre.bowvalleycollege.ca/tools/esl-literacy-readers

·         The Elder Literacy Initiative life skills curriculum at www.elderliteracy.org

·         MN Literacy Council Pre-beginning ESL Story Bank and Curriculum

This Pre-Beginning ESL (levels 0-1) curriculum was created with a grant from the Saint Paul Community Literacy Consortium to implement Bridge Prep components into curricula. It was completed in March 2014, authored by Jessica Grace Jones.  To prepare learners to transition to jobs and lay a foundation for post-secondary, this curriculum incorporates level-appropriate Transitions skills developed by the Hamline ABE Teaching and Learning Advancement System (ATLAS) Academic, Career and Employability (ACES) framework such as critical thinking (e.g., categorizing and sequencing) and self-management (e.g., maintaining a binder of class handouts) into every life skill unit. This curriculum builds literacy skills through regular practice with print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency and comprehension. In building literacy skills, it also prepares learners for success on CASAS assessments. 

http://mnliteracy.org/tools/curriculum-lesson-plans/pre-beginning-esl

·         St. Paul Public Schools, Hubbs Center, Curriculum for Level 0 and up, Beginning ESL Literacy, from St. Paul, Minnesota, http://hubbs.spps.org/ELL_0_Course_Syllabus.html