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Reading/Vocabulary

BOOKS

Great Short Stories for Listening-Speaking Easy-Reading Adaptations
By David Christiansen
Illustrated by Non Shirasu
ISBN 0-943327-31-8
Jag Publications
11288 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, California 91604
(818) 505-9002
www.jagpublications-esl.corn

This book does it all! Christiansen has simplified classic short stories and woven vocabulary, listening, speaking, phonics, writing and idiom practice into every the lesson. For beginning teachers unsure of lesson planning, the format of these lessons could be an invaluable tool.

Critical Reading Series from Jamestown Press (now available from Contemporary McGraw-Hill)
There are just over 20 stories in each book that slowly increase reading comprehension from the 6th to the 8th grade level. I especially like "Heroes," "Rescued," and "Disasters."

Thumbprint Mysteries from Contemporary Books
Literacy Level and ESL—several great ones in a set. Murder at the Reunion, ISBN 0-8092-0692-7

Laubach Way to Reading (New 2010 edition)
ABE/BEGINNING & ESOL, Reading Levels 0-4
New Readers Press 1-800-448-8878 or www.newreaderspress.com
Structured, phonics based approach developed for adults. Excellent with non-readers and lower level learners.
Sound/symbol relationships taught through pictorial memory clues. Corresponding writing materials available

Building Strategies Reading Level 4-6
Steck-.Vaughn 1-800-531-5015 or www.steck-vaughn.com
Books in each of the 5 GED areas. Includes vocabulary and comprehension practice. Great first step toward the GED

No-Glamour Reading: Content Vocabulary Books 1 & 2
www.linguisystems.com
Great for GED and pre-GED social studies and science vocabulary. Includes short reading passages with vocabulary in context and provides key background knowledge and information. A variety of excellent student worksheets and definitions included with each lesson.

Making Reading Connections
Curriculum Associates, Inc. www.CAinc.com
Excellent books for improving reading comprehension. Research-based materials. Skills include finding the main idea, making inferences and drawing conclusions. Different levels available

Passwords to Success—A Life Skills Vocabulary Program From Weston Walch Publisher, Portland, Maine.
This provides a practical and contextual method to build vocabulary.

Examining Words and Their Meanings
From the Competency Reading Series by Steck-Vaughn Company.
This is another good vocabulary workbook which helps with word stems and their meaning.

Focus on Phonics
By Gail Rice; from New Reader's Press.
This provides a very basic study of letters and word chunks. It is meant for use by a student with a tutor but can be a good sourcebook to reinforce skills.

The Challenger Series
New Readers Press
Although some of the passages in this eight-part series need to be updated, overall the series is a good one in that it touches on many of the components of reading in a very systematic way. I used it primarily in pre-GED classes where vocabulary building, fluency, and reading comprehension were key skills to be mastered.

Word Power
Contemporary Books
This series addresses a pervasive weakness, the under-developed vocabulary. This series has five steps based on reading levels: Introductory, Intermediate 1 and 2; and Advanced 1 and 2. Each book teaches words in context, their spelling and definitions, as well as using this new vocabulary in writing activities.

Say the Word (reading level 3 and above) ISBN 0-88336-152-3
New Reader’s Press
Department SO4
P.O.Box 35888
Syracuse, NY 13235
800-488-8878
www.newreaderspress.com
This book contains lots of practice for students who have basic reading skills, but who have little background with phonics, and may have a problem reading and spelling words that are new to them.

SmartReader (audiotape and leveled book series for adults)
By Recorded Books
1-800-535-5499
www.recordedbooks.com
These audiobooks and read-along texts come in a single package with a teacher’s guide included. The series comes in two levels: level one for grades 1-2 and level two for grades 3-4. The SmartReader texts are recorded on two speeds, so each tape has one side that’s read about 80 words per minute while the second side is read about 140 words per minute. The topics and stories are geared for middle-high school to adult new readers.

WEB SITES

www.readwritethink.org
This great professional resource is a marriage between The National Association of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. Add the Marco Polo Project for Internet Education and you have an amazing resource. Designed primarily for K-8 teachers, the site has wonderful lessons, standards and links to web resources that would fill the bill nicely in an ABE or pre-GED classroom. The lesson plans are well thought-out, easy to understand, and follow a core sequence of reading and writing standards as described by these two nationally recognized language arts organizations.

www.bemorecreative.com
This website is a great source of odds and ends. Originally this site started from someone’s compilation of famous quotations. But it has grown to include, among others, links to maps and flags from around the world, a site all about famous women, and another about legends from many cultures. It’s not only a useful site for ABE and ESOL teachers, but its easy navigability makes it a favorite for students too.

www.howstuffworks.com
If you are teaching any level of reading in the content areas and science is one of the subjects you’re covering, you’ll love this website. You will be able to give your students so much more background information on all sorts of subjects with just a touch of the mouse. They too will be able to answer their own questions that arise from a science reading by perusing this remarkable site. As the site’s name implies, it explains how everything words…from vacuum cleaners to atom smashers, you’ll find the answer here.

www.powa.org
POWA stands for Paradigm Online Writing Assistant, and it can really help you understand ways to help your students’ writing get more “Powa.” Paradigm is an interactive, menu-driven, online writer’s guide and handbook. This website is too complex for many students, but where its beauty lies is in its use as a tool for teachers. Teaching writing can be intimidating, but here’s a resource that can be used as a guide and review for some of the intricacies of grammar as well as an aid to the teaching of composition. This very thorough compendium will remind you of all the tricks you learned a long time ago in English 101, but have forgotten. If you teach writing, this site will be a great addition to your tool chest.