Happy New Year from Fisher Hill!

We  at Fisher Hill want to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year for 2018!

A good New Year’s Resolution would be: to become a U.S. citizen!

Fisher Hill has an excellent series of two workbooks to help Spanish speakers pass the English writing, reading and civics portions of the U.S. Citizenship Exam.

U.S. Citizenship for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 gives Spanish speakers information to help pass the American Government questions on the Civics test. Book 1 also provides practice to help pass the reading and writing tests. U.S. Citizenship for the Spanish Speaker Book 2 gives Spanish speakers information and practice to help pass the American History and Integrated Civics questions on the Civics test. Book 2 also provides practice to help pass the reading and writing tests.

To pass these three sections, the applicant must be able to write correctly one sentence dictated by the interviewer; read out loud correctly one sentence given by the interviewer; and answer six out of ten of the civics questions given by the interviewer.  He/she will have three opportunities to write correctly a dictated sentence and three opportunities to read out loud correctly a sentence given by the interviewer.

The Civics Test includes 100 questions about government, history and integrated civics.  Applicants will be asked 10 questions.  The Civics test is an oral test.    One or more of the 10 civics questions may be about the current people holding different government offices.  Applicants will need to know the names of these people holding the current government offices.

Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, and the directions are in Spanish. Teachers like our books because everything is ready to go!  There’s an answer key and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book. Happy New Year from Fisher Hill!

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our U.S. Citizenship for the Spanish Speaker workbooks.

English Vocabulary

This is the fourth in a series of blogs about Fisher Hill’s English literacy program.  In this blog, I will talk about the English Vocabulary series.  The series has six workbooks. Fisher Hill’s literacy program has six levels.  Each level has four books.  The books are workbooks.  Each level has:

a Reading and Spelling workbook

a Reading Comprehension workbook

a Writing Composition workbook

and a Vocabulary workbook

Each level begins with the English Reading and Spelling workbook. After completing the English Reading and Spelling workbook, students can begin the English Vocabulary workbook at that level.  The purpose of the English Vocabulary workbooks is to help Spanish speakers improve their English vocabulary.  The English Vocabulary workbooks reinforce the vocabulary learned at each level in the program.  English Vocabulary Book 1 reinforces the vocabulary taught in Level 1.  English Vocabulary Book 2 reinforces the vocabulary taught in Level 2 of the program.  There are six English Vocabulary workbooks, one for each level.

The workbooks are bilingual.  The directions are in Spanish.  The English translation of the Spanish directions is located at the back of the book.  There is also an Answer Key at the back.

Spanish speakers increasing their English vocabulary will improve their English reading and listening comprehension and also strengthen their English writing and speaking skills.   Good vocabulary skills help people visualize.  Visualization helps people remember what is read or heard.

On our website, there are placement tests to determine which level a student should begin.  A student needs a score of 80% to go to the next level.  For example, if a student gets 60% on the placement test for level one, then that student needs to begin with level one with English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. Each level begins with the Reading and Spelling workbook.

These placement tests can be found under Teacher Resources on our website www.Fisher-Hill.com .  Teacher Resources can be found on the top tool bar.  Click on Teacher Resources, then click on Reading and Spelling.  Then scroll down to the placement tests. The placement tests are called Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 and so forth.  Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 is for level one.

There are other teacher resources for these workbooks on our website.  There is a Scope and Sequences to help you use the program.  There are Word and Sentence Practice pages and Word Chains to help with fluency.

Fisher Hill’s English Vocabulary Series

Fisher Hill’s English Literacy Program

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker workbooks which are part of our English literacy program for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

English Writing Composition

This is the third in a series of blogs about Fisher Hill’s English literacy program.  In this blog, I will talk about the English Writing Composition series.  The series has six workbooks. Fisher Hill’s literacy program has six levels.  Each level has four books.  The books are workbooks.  Each level has:

a Reading and Spelling workbook

a Reading Comprehension workbook

a Writing Composition workbook

and a Vocabulary workbook

Each level begins with the English Reading and Spelling workbook. After completing the English Reading and Spelling workbook, students can begin the English Writing Composition workbook at that level.  The purpose of the English Writing Composition workbook is to help Spanish speakers improve their English writing skills.  The English Writing Composition workbooks uses a structured and systematic approach to teach the different writing skills. Book 1 in the series begins by teaching basic sentence structure, progresses to longer, more detailed sentences, and ends with students writing informative paragraphs. In Book 6, students are composing informative, operational, persuasive and contrast/comparison essays.

The workbooks are bilingual.  The directions are in Spanish.  The English translations for the Spanish directions are located at the back of each book.  There is also an answer key at the back.

As with all skills, writing takes practice, practice, and more practice to become proficient.  The English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker series provides the practice and information Spanish speakers need to improve their English writing composition skills.

On our website, there are placement tests to determine which level a student should begin.  A student needs a score of 80% to go to the next level.  For example, if a student gets 60% on the placement test for level one, then that student needs to begin with level one with English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. Each level begins with the Reading and Spelling workbook.

These placement tests can be found under Teacher Resources on our website www.Fisher-Hill.com .  Teacher Resources can be found on the top tool bar.  Click on Teacher Resources, then click on Reading and Spelling.  Then scroll down to the placement tests. The placement tests are called Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 and so forth.  Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 is for level one.

There are other teacher resources for these workbooks on our website.  There is a Scope and Sequences to help you use the program.  There are Word and Sentence Practice pages and Word Chains to help with fluency.

Fisher Hill’s English Writing Composition Series

Fisher Hill’s English Literacy Program

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker workbooks which are part of our English literacy program for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

English Reading Comprehension

This is the second in a series of blogs about Fisher Hill’s English literacy program.  In this blog, I will talk about the English Reading Comprehension series.  The series has six workbooks. Fisher Hill’s literacy program has six levels.  Each level has four books.  The books are workbooks.  Each level has:

a Reading and Spelling workbook

a Reading Comprehension workbook

a Writing Composition workbook

and a Vocabulary workbook

Each level begins with the English Reading and Spelling workbook. After completing the English Reading and Spelling workbook, students can begin the English Reading Comprehension workbook at that level.  The purpose of the English Reading Comprehension workbook is to help Spanish speakers improve their English reading comprehension skills.  Reading comprehension is the ability to draw meaning from written words.

The English Reading Comprehension workbooks are made up of twenty lessons.  Lessons include practice with fluency, vocabulary, visualization, comprehension, phonology and phonics.  There is an answer key at the end of each lesson.

Reading smoothly (fluency) is an important skill.  Fluency allows readers to think about what they are reading instead of having to think about sounding out words. Decoding skills need to be learned and practiced so these skills become automatic when reading words.  Visualizing (making pictures in your head) helps readers remember what they have read. Good vocabulary skills help readers visualize.  Readers cannot visualize a word if they do not know its meaning. All of these skills:  fluency, visualizing, vocabulary, and decoding are necessary for reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension is the goal of reading.  Reading is an essential skill for jobs and daily life.  Many people enjoy reading and say it is one of their favorite pastimes.  Others read only when it is necessary. Whichever the case may be, everyone needs to know how to read.  Learning to read comes more easily to some people than others.  Most people need to be taught how to read.  It is different from learning to talk.  Learning to read can be very difficult for some people but with practice, most everyone can learn to read.

On our website, there are placement tests to determine which level a student should begin.  A student needs a score of 80% to go to the next level.  For example, if a student gets 60% on the placement test for level one, then that student needs to begin with level one with English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. Each level begins with the Reading and Spelling workbook.

These placement tests can be found under Teacher Resources on our website www.Fisher-Hill.com .  Teacher Resources can be found on the top tool bar.  Click on Teacher Resources, then click on Reading and Spelling.  Then scroll down to the placement tests. The placement tests are called Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 and so forth.  Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 is for level one.

There are other teacher resources for these workbooks on our website.  There is a Scope and Sequences to help you use the program.  There are Word and Sentence Practice pages and Word Chains to help with fluency.

English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker Series

Fisher Hill’s English Literacy Program

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker workbooks which are part of our English literacy program for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

English Reading and Spelling

For the next four blogs, I will talk about each series in Fisher Hill’s English literacy program.  In this blog, I will talk about the English Reading and Spelling series.  The series has six workbooks. Fisher Hill’s literacy program has six levels.  Each level has four books.  The books are workbooks.  Each level has:

a Reading and Spelling workbook

a Reading Comprehension workbook

a Writing Composition workbook

and a Vocabulary workbook

Each level begins with the English Reading and Spelling workbook. These six workbooks were written to help Spanish speakers learn to read and spell in English.  It uses a systematic approach in teaching the English speech sounds and provides practice with phonemic awareness, which is the ability to identify individual sounds and their order within words.  Learning the different speech sounds will help students read and spell in English fluently.  Eighty-five percent (85%) of words in English are phonetic.  This book also presents many of the commonly used words, called sight words, that are not phonetic.

The workbooks are bilingual since the word list for each lesson is presented in English and Spanish.  There are pictures to go with many of the words in the lists.  Each lesson emphasizes one or two new speech sounds.  The vowel sounds in English are different than those in Spanish, but many of the English consonant sounds are similar to those in Spanish. Most consonants in English have one sound. Vowels can make several speech sounds.  Sometimes the letter “y” is used as a vowel.

Words are made up of syllables (units of pronunciation).  Some words have one syllable, others have two or more syllables.  Every syllable must have a vowel sound.  If a word has three syllables then it has three vowel sounds.

Each lesson’s word list begins with words that contain the speech sound that is being emphasized in that lesson.  The last two words in the list are sight words.

Practicing English speech sounds, sight words, and their spellings will help Spanish speakers learn English reading and spelling.

In English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Books 4, 5, and 6, prefixes and suffixes are introduced and practiced.

On our website, there are placement tests to determine which level a student should begin.  A student needs a score of 80% to go to the next level.  For example, if a student gets 60% on the placement test for level one, then that student needs to begin with level one with English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. Each level begins with the Reading and Spelling workbook.

These placement tests can be found under Teacher Resources on our website www.Fisher-Hill.com .  Teacher Resources can be found on the top tool bar.  Click on Teacher Resources, then click on Reading and Spelling.  Then scroll down to the placement tests. The placement tests are called Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 and so forth.  Sound Spelling Placement Test Book 1 is for level one.

There are other teacher resources for these workbooks on our website.  There is a Scope and Sequence to help you use the series.  There are Word and Sentence Practice pages and Word Chains to help with fluency.

Fisher Hill’s English Reading and Spelling Series

Fisher Hill’s English Literacy Program

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker workbooks which are part of our English literacy program for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

Being Grateful

Being grateful is good for one’s health. I’m grateful everyday for family, friends, experiences and feelings.  Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks for our many blessings but really we need to do this every day.

We can all be grateful for our ability to learn.  This ability can be used throughout our lives.  Fisher Hill has many workbooks to help Spanish-speaking adults learn English.

Fisher Hill has an ESL (English as a Second Language) series to help Spanish speakers learn English.

Fisher Hill has a literacy program to help Spanish speakers learn how to read and write in English.

Fisher Hill has a citizenship series to help Spanish speakers pass the U.S. citizenship test.

Fisher Hill has a series about U.S. history and geography.

Fisher Hill has a series to help English speakers learn Spanish.

All of our books are workbooks that are easy to use.  Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, directions are in Spanish, there’s lots of pictures but the content is for adults. There’s an answer key at the the end of each lesson and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book.

Being grateful is beneficial to one’s health. We are fortunate to be able to learn throughtout our lives.   Order one of our workbooks today for yourself or for someone who would benefit from one of our series.  Through November, our two U.S. Citizenship workbooks are discounted.  Go to our website and use the coupon code 1117 to get the discount.  Our workbooks also make wonderful holiday gifts.

ESL Series

Fisher Hill’s Literacy Program

U.S. Citizenship Series

U.S. History and Geography Series

Learn Spanish Series

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our workbooks.

English Verb Practice for Spanish Speakers

Last week a teacher asked if our literacy series covered different verb tenses. The answer is Yes.  Our literacy series covers the present, past, future and progressive/contiuous verb forms.

Our literacy series has six levels.  Each level has four workbooks:

a Reading and Spelling workbook

a Reading Comprehension workbook

a Writing Composition workbook

and a Vocabulary workbook

Most all the workbooks include practice with verbs.

On our website, there are placement tests to determine on which level a student should begin the program.  These placement tests can be found under Teacher Resources.  Teacher Resources can be found on the top tool bar.  Click on Teacher Resources, then click on Reading and Spelling.  Then scroll down to the placement tests. A student needs to have a score of 80 percent on the placement test to go to the next level.  Once the level is determined then the first book to use would be the Reading and Spelling workbook for that level.  The Reading and Spelling workbooks introduce students to the sounds they need to read and spell for that level. The workbooks use a very systematic, explicit approach to teaching the forty-four speech sounds used in the English language.

After completing Levels 1 through 3, students have learned and practiced most of the forty-four English speech sounds.  Levels 4 through 6 work on words with prefixes and suffixes.

With the English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker workbooks, students work on reading comprehension at each level. With the English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker workbooks, students practice their writing composition at each level.  English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker workbooks review the vocabulary presented in each level.  After completing all six levels, students have acquired an excellent foundation in English literacy.

Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, directions are in Spanish, there’s lots of pictures but the content is for adults.  Teachers like our books because everything is ready to go!  There’s an answer key at the the end of each lesson and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book.

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill to learn more about our literacy program and teacher resources.

Christmas Shopping in October!

Don’t know what to get your parents or grandparents for Christmas this year?  How about a workbook to help them become a U.S. citizen?  Fisher Hill has two workbooks to help Spanish Speakers pass the Citizenship Test.  The workbooks are called U.S. Citizenship for Spanish Speakers.  There are two workbooks in the series to help Spanish speakers pass the English writing, reading and civics portions of the U.S. Citizenship Exam. To pass these three sections, applicants must be able to write correctly one sentence dictated by the interviewer; read out loud correctly one sentence given by the interviewer; and answer six out of ten of the civics questions given by the interviewer. Applicants have three opportunities to write correctly a dictated sentence and three opportunities to read out loud correctly a sentence given by the interviewer.

U.S. Citizenship for Spanish Speakers Book 1 gives Spanish speakers information to help pass the American Government questions on the Civics test. Book 1 also provides practice to help pass the reading and writing tests. U.S. Citizenship for Spanish Speaker Book 2 gives Spanish speakers information and practice to help pass the American History and Integrated Civics questions on the Civics test. Book 2 also provides practice to help pass the reading and writing tests. The Civics Test includes 100 questions about government, history and integrated civics. Applicants will be asked 10 questions. The Civics test is an oral test.   One or more of the 10 civics questions may be about the current people holding different government offices. Applicants need to know the names of the people holding the current government offices.

Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, and the directions are in Spanish. Teachers like our books because everything is ready to go! There’s an answer key and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book. Don’t forget to do your Christmas Shopping in October this year.

Visit us on line at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks. This year for Christmas by the gift of learning for someone!

Popular English Programs from Fisher Hill

Fisher Hill has two popular programs to help teens and adults learn English. We have an ESL series and a literacy program. Both the ESL series and the literacy program are made up of workbooks. The workbooks are designed to be easy to use. On each page, the directions are short and concise. The work on each page is designed to not be overwhelming for the student. Both programs are geared for Spanish-speaking teens and adults but the lessons in the workbooks are to learn English so anyone wanting to learn English can greatly benefit from using our workbooks.

Our ESL series is called English for the Spanish Speaker. This is a four workbook series. Each book in the series has eight lessons. In Books 1 and 2, the lessons are about every day activities. In Books 3 and 4, four lessons are about every day activities and the other four are about United States history or government. The print in the workbooks is large. The reading level in Book 1 is at the first and second grade level. The books get progressively more difficult. The reading level for Book 4 is at the fourth grade reading level. Each lesson begins with a vocabulary list, then a conversation, story, activity pages, and finally an answer key. The lessons are bilingual with the word lists, conversations, and stories presented in Spanish and English. The directions for the activity pages are in Spanish but the activities are in English. There are two dictionaries at the back of each workbook: a Spanish dictionary and an English dictionary. There is a CD available for each workbook so the student can listen to the vocabulary lists, conversations and stories in English.

Our English literacy program includes four different series. These four series are to be used in conjunction with each other. The very first book to use would be English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. This workbook introduces students to reading in English. The workbook uses a very systematic, explicit 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 Composition for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 reviews the vocabulary in the other three workbooks. After completing Level 1 in the program, students can begin Level 2. After completing the six levels, students have a very good foundation in English literacy.

Each level in the English literacy program contains:

an English Reading and Spelling workbook

English Reading Comprehension workbook

English Writing Composition workbook

and an English Vocabulary workbook

Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, directions are short and consise, there’s lots of pictures but the content is for adults. Teachers like our books because everything is ready to go! There’s an answer key at the the end of each lesson and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book.

Visit our website www.Fisher-Hill.com to learn more about our ESL series and our English literacy program.

Word Chain with the Short /e/ Vowel Sound

Word chains are good practice to acquire automaticity with speech sounds. Word chains can provide practice for targeted speech sounds. Soon, under Teacher Tools on our website, we will have word chains to practice different sounds. This word chain will have words with the short /e/ vowel sound. Teacher’s can use these chains by dictating the words to students and then having the students make one sound change. When making a word chain, each new word is different by only one sound. It is best to do this with small white boards so students can erase the letter (usually one letter) to make the new word.

Below is the dialog to use with a word chain.

Teacher: Write the word pet. (Students write the word.) What’s this word? Students say pen.   How do you spell it? Students spell the word p-e-n. Teacher then writes pen on the large board so all can see it.

Teacher: If this word says pen, make one change so it says pet. (Students change the n to a t.) What’s this word? Students say pet.   How do you spell it? Students spell the word p-e-t. Teacher erases the n in pen and replaces it with a t.

Continue the chain with the above dialog. With this approach, students are seeing the word, hearing the word and writing the word. They are using three of their five senses: sight, hearing and kinesthetic (by writing the word). Each time after the students have made the change on their white boards, the teacher changes her word as the students spell the new word.

Word Chain with the Short /e/ Vowel Sound

Here are the words for a chain using words with the short /e/ vowel sound.

pen

pet

net

let

leg

beg

bed

fed

red

led

This word chain with short /u/ words would be good to use when students are doing Lessons 9 in English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker Book 1.

Fisher Hill’s English literacy program has six levels.

Each level contains:

an English Reading and Spelling workbook

English Reading Comprehension workbook

English Writing Composition workbook

and an English Vocabulary workbook

For each level, students need to always start with the English Reading and Spelling workbook. Then students can use the Reading Comprehension and Writing Compsoition workbooks at that level to practice their comprehension and writing skills. With the vocabulary workbooks, students review the vocabuary from each particulary level.

Visit our website www.Fisher-Hill.com to learn more about our literacy workbooks and to view our many different teacher resources.