Sentence Structure

Struggling writers often lack good sentence structure, sentence organization and variety. Having a word bank available with actions verbs, vivd adjectives, and effective transition words is helpful to add variety to sentences. Starting sentences with a prepositional phrase, including an appositive after the subject or ending a sentence with a dependent clause also adds variety and sophistication to sentences.

What are transition words? Transition words help your writing to flow more smoothly. Without these types of words, your writing can sound choppy. Examples of transition words are: therefore, however, finally, as a result, consequently. Look up transition words on the internet and you will find many. Using transition words will help your writing flow more smoothly.

What is a prepositional phrase? A prepositional phrase starts with a prepostion and ends with a noun. Examples of prepositional phrases are: in the morning, after work, during recess, at the park. The list is endless. If you start your sentence with a prepositional phrase, you need to put a comma after it. For example: At the park, we saw our friends playing basketball.

What are appositives? An appositve is a noun or noun phrase that renames the noun right beside it. For example, The puppy, a black cocker spaniel, chewed on a pair of brand new shoes he found in the closet. Appositives are separated from the rest of the sentence with commas.

What are dependent clauses? A dependent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. It does not express a complete thought so it cannot not be a sentence. Here is a sentence with an independent clause at the end: You can earn fifty dollars, if you can work on Saturday.

Adding these different phrases and words, can add variety, sophistication and organization to your sentences. Practicing with new sentence strutures leads to automaticity in your writing compositions.

 Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults who want to learn how to read and write in English. Our workbooks provide the necessary practice for writing and reading.

The main idea when reading:

When reading, especially when reading informational text, it is important to determine the main idea in each paragraph.  Most paragraphs have a topic sentence that states the paragraphs main idea. Paragraphs also have detailed sentences that support the main idea.

Identifying main ideas is needed in order to understand and remember what is being read. This basic skill is used for note taking and summarizing. When reading informational text, you can highlight the main idea sentence in one color and detailed sentences in another color.

You can practice main idea by identifying the category for a list of words. For example: the category for baseball, soccer, football and tennis would be sports.  The category for apples, oranges, pears and plums would be fruit.

When reading, the first sentence in a paragraph will often be the topic sentence.  If not, the topic sentence may be in the middle or at the end of a paragraph. If the main idea must be inferred, then you can write the topic sentence in the margin of the text. To identify the mian idea in a paragraph, answer the question, What is the subject the author is talking about throughout the paragraph?

Lecture notes can be grouped by main idea. Draw a line down a piece of paper with one-third of the page on the left and the two-thirds of the page on the right. Write the main idea on the left side and list the details of that main idea on the right side of the paper. This type of note taking can also be used when reading a textbook.

As with all skills, identifying the main idea takes practice. Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults who want to learn how to read and write in English. Our workbooks provide the necessary practice for these skills.

Be thankful if you can read!

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S. can’t read.

According to the Department of Justice, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” According to BegintoRead.com “85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, and over 70 percent of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.” Economic security, access to health care, and the ability to actively participate in civic life all depend on an individual’s ability to read.

Fisher Hill workbooks are especially good for teens and adults who have had difficulty learning to read. Our workbooks provide a very systematic and explicit approach to teaching the English speech sounds that are necessary for reading and spelling. Our books are geared toward Spanish-speaking teens and adults because the instructions are in Spanish and the content is for older students. English translations are located at the back of each workbook. The workbooks provide practice, pictures and large print to make learning to read easier and more enjoyable.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults who want to learn how to read and write in English.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

This summer have fun with your children and practice English at the same time. The following are some fun summertime activities.

Beachball Fun: Toss the beach ball with your children. Each time you or your children catch the ball say an English word that starts with the letter of the alphabet. The first person will say a word that starts with the letter a, for example, apple. The next person says a word that starts with the letter b, for example, boy. Continue playing the game until you get to the end of the alphabet.

License Plate Fun: When driving in the car this summer, check out the different license plates. Take turns calling out the first three letters of a license plate, the others in the car then say three words that begin with the three letters. For example, BDT coud be big, dog, tip. Or you could make the three words go together for a silly phrase. For example, big dog taps.

Match ‘Em Up: This game can be played anywhere: sitting on the porch, at the beach, in the car. Someone says a word, the next person says a word that begins with the ending sound of the word just said. For example, if someone says, hop, then the next person says a word that starts with p. For example pen. The next person says a word that starts with n. For example nut. The game continues with the new word always starting with the sound the previous word ended with.

Summertime Hopscotch: With chalk, draw a hopscotch board on the sidewalk. Instead of numbers in each space, write a sight word. Say the sight words as you jump on each space.

Audiobooks: Are you planning a road trip this summer? If so, nothing is better than an audiobook for a long drive. You can check out audiobooks from your public library. Listening to audiobooks can build your vocabulary and improve your reading skills. It is easier to decode words that you have heard. Aslo, audiobooks improve listening comprehension.

Whatever you do this summer, have a safe and fun time.

Our English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker workbooks help Spanish-speaking teens and adults increase their English vocabulary.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to find out more about our workbooks that help Spanish-speaking teens and adults learn how to read, write and speak English.

How does our literacy series work? We have four different titles in our literacy series. Each title has six volumes. Each volume is a workbook. These four series can be used in conjuntion with each other. The very first book to use would be English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. This series introduces students to reading in English. The series uses a very systematic, explict approach to teaching the forty-four speech sounds used in the English language. After completing English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1, students are ready to practice their beginning reading skills by using English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. They can also begin practicing writing by using English Writing Compostion for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 reviews the vocabulary presented in English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 and English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. After completing the Book Ones in the series, students can begin the Book Twos. The four series, each with six workbooks, were written to be used together. By using the four series together, students get a good foundation in English literacy.

If you have any questions about our workbooks, please content us at www.Fisher-Hill.com.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to find out more about our workbooks that help Spanish-speaking teens and adults learn how to read, write and speak English.

This summer would be a great time to visit the public library.  If you want to increase your reading fluency, you need to practice reading.  Check out some good books and enjoy.  Library cards are free.  Go to your local library and get a card if you don’t have one yet.

Your local library might also provide literacy classes or one-on-one tutoring.  Many libraries use our books for their literacy classes.  Other libraries carry our workbooks.

Libraries have summer reading programs for children.  Often children get prizes for reading so many books.  Libraries may also have special hour programs for children.

Before making a trip to your local library, check their hours.  They may be closed on certain days.

If you don’t have time to go to a literacy class or tutoring sessions, you can learn on your own.  Our workbooks from our literacy series are good books to use. They can be used in conjunction with each other.  For example: English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 can be used with English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker Book 1, English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 and English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker Book 1.  Each series has six workbooks.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to find out more about our workbooks that can help Spanish-speaking teens and adults learn how to read, write and speak English.

Unlike oral language, which is learned naturally from infancy, reading is a skill that is acquired at an older age, through instruction and with effort.  Some children read with less effort than others.  I’m sure you’ve heard parents say, my child just started reading one day.  Other parents will say, I’ve read books to my children since they were infants and they still do not have interest in learning to read or have difficulty learning to read.  Reading is a complex process and requires may skills:  the perception and discrimination of forms and sounds; appearance of letters; linkage of names and meanings with clusters of letters and words; and memory, motor, visual, and auditory factors.

“Developmental dyslexia is a disorder manifest by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and socio-cultural opportunity” (Critchley 1969)  Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.

A definition currently supported by the National Institutes of Health states that dyslexia is inaccurate and/or slow, effortful reading that typically originates with weaknesses in the phonological processing system of language, although weaknesses in many other language functions may be observed.  For example, text reading fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension are adversely affected by this impairment.

Kindergarten and first grade children with poor abilities in phonological awareness (the ability to identify and mentally manipulate the speech sounds) and timed letter naming are likely to experience reading failure unless appropriated instruction is given.  If at-risk children are taught in kindergaten and first grade, outcomes are significantly better than if treatment is withheld until later.  First grade intervention takes less time, has more benefit in the long term and is likely to prevent secondary emotional problems, in comparison to programs implemented at the third grade or later.

Effective classroom-based programs that minimize reading failure in all but 2-5% of children include several components:  structured phonemic awareness (orally identifying and manipulating syllables and speech sounds), phonics (making associations between sounds and letters), fluency (developing speed and automaticity in accurate letter, word and text reading), and vocabulary expansion and text comprehension.  (Louisa Moats 2014)

Fisher Hill’s literacy series support these different components. Each series has six workbooks and each series can be used in conjunction with the other three series.  For example the Book Ones in each series can be used together.  The titles of these series are:

English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker

English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker

English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker

English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to find out more about our workbooks that help Spanish-speaking teens and adults learn how to read, write and speak English.