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This blogs site is for Alameda County Library Adult Literacy Tutors and is maintained by Write to Read staff at Alameda County Library.

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Comprehension

This website is recommended by tutor Carol Cyr, who says, "I've been giving my students readings from the 'Critical Thinking Reading Comprehension Worksheets,' starting at Grade 2. He read a passage the other day and had no problems answering the comprehension questions! That was definitely a *first* for him...It's wonderful to know that he *does* comprehend, when the reading is at an easy enough level for him."
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm

A Pinterest board with different links to improve reading skills. (Basically a bulletin board with different links.)
pinterest.com/cllstraining/reading-skills/

Stories for beginning readers

News stories for adult students and easy crossword puzzles.
www.newsforyouonline.com

Beginning and intermediate literacy and life skills. Also has a simulation of an ATM.
www.gcflearnfree.org

News and information for struggling readers:
Newsela is an education technology startup dedicated to transforming the way students access the world through words. Our team combines powerful technological know-how with real-world experience earned in the classroom, the newsroom, and the boardroom. We publish high-interest news and nonfiction articles daily at five levels of complexity for grades 2-12 using a proprietary, rapid text-leveling process. By combining relevant and interesting nonfiction content with standards-aligned assessments, Newsela gives educators the primary solution to dramatically improve students’ literacy skills for the 21st century.
https://newsela.com/

Free texts for literacy teachers: 
CommonLit offers high-quality, free collection of fiction and nonfiction to support literacy development for students in grades 5-12. It includes a wide range of reading materials organized by  lexile, theme, genre, literary devise, reading level and common core standard. Excellent resource for inquiry-based learning and lesson planning. 
www.Commonlit.org

Small articles about Fort Knox followed by practice sentences to read and write.

A document that can help tutors learn to encourage questions from students in their class and to help the tutors ask questions that will motivate and help students more.


Decoding + Spelling

Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study was published by the National Institute for Literacy by researchers MacArthur, Alamprese, and Knight in 2010. The complete student workbook as well as the teacher lesson plans are all free and online! This series may seem challenging for tutors, but there’s an excellent teacher’s guide, and many non-teachers have used the series successfully.
1. Learner Activity Book
lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/MakingSense_LearnerActivityBook_ALL.pdf
2. Lesson Plans
lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/MakingSense_LessonPlans_ALL.pdf
3. Teachers’ and Administrators’ Guide
lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/MSteachers2010.pdf

Basic Vowel Sounds Worksheet

Basic skills for literacy or ESL students. 

Connecting sounds with letters
www.locutour.com/exercises/online.php?type=Phonology-WP

Story by Story Phonics Lessons
www.mcedservices.com/phonics/phonics.html

Beginning and intermediate literacy and life skills. Also has a simulation of an ATM.

Good information on phonics and spelling.
www.literacyconnections.com/AdviceforReadingTutors.php

Word Families

Six Kinds of Syllables (PDF)

A document detailing one way to teach students phonics and sounds.

Grammar and Usage


The lessons are rated by 1-beginner, 2-intermediate, 3- advanced with audio, written and visual learning styles with follow-up quizzes. Students and tutors can progress at their own pace.
Free English Video Lessons on grammar

The Visual Guide to English Prepositions Part 2/2 (Infographic)
This infographic covers some of the most common English prepositions of time. Examples are provided for: in, on, at, since, for, ago, before, to, past, from, till/until, by, ...
www.grammarcheck.net/infographics/

This index includes 427 references to both the Guide to Grammar and Writing and Principles of Composition.
Grammar Index

Worksheet: It's & Its

Website takes you through details of grammar. 
grammar.about.com/od/partsofspeech/a/partsofspeech.htm


Clear and concise explanations and exercises on basic grammar and punctuation.


Computer Skills


Tutorials on Mousercize, Computer Basics, and Typing 

guides.aclibrary.org/content.php?pid=255094&sid=2376388


Mouse Exercise: 

http://www.pbclibrary.org/mousing/mousercise.htm

http://www.pbclibrary.org/mousing/intro.htm

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/mousetutorial

www.mouseprogram.com/

http://tech.tln.lib.mi.us/tutor/

www.linchomestudy.ca/online/eaonline/MouseMaster/MouseMaster01.html


Typing:



https://sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/keyboarding.php

www.rapidtyping.com/

www.powertyping.com/


www.typing.com

www.visibone.com/type/

Keyboard Fingers

https://businessdegrees.uab.edu/mis-degree-masters/business-keyboarding-skills/



Computer Skills Test and Certificate

www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/

www.goodtyping.com/test.php

https://www.typingtest.com/

http://www.10keytutor.com/

Miscellaneous:


www.gcflearnfree.org/computers





Everyday Literacy Skills


Free worksheets and games to tell time, make changes, and more. 
worksheets.theteacherscorner.net

Guide To Saving Water

English for Nursing Assistants
www.cnaenglish.org/

Videos on how to do a number of things. 
www.ehow.com

Make personal calendars.
www.timeanddate.com/calendar

Tips for students to be successful in all their studies.
www.nelrc.org/publications/strategies/Successful%20Student%20handout.pdf

Health Information for Intermediate to Advanced-level Literacy Students
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html

Beginning and intermediate literacy and life skills. Also has a simulation of an ATM.

Earthquake Safety : Recommended Earthquake Safety Actions
www.shakeout.org/dropcoverholdon/

The purpose of this libguide is to offer teachers tools they can use in their classrooms. This libguide is only meant to function as a menu of options and resources.
http://sfusd.libguides.com/blacklivesmatter

With material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in the Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940 present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond.
LGBT History and Culture

Driving


California Deparment of Motor Vehicles

Department of Motor Vehicles Videos

Practice Driver's Test and answer from the DMV website : 





Job Readiness

Project Care: Learn to work as a nursing assistant
projectcare.worlded.org/

Work skills. (Will have to create an account, for free.)
buildingskills4work.org

Another helpful reading website. (This website takes a long time to load.)
www.cdlponline.org

For Smarter Job Search
www.job-hunt.org

Career Planning
www.gcflearnfree.org/careerplanningandsalary/


English as a Second Language (ESL)

Links

Excellent online program for Spanish speakers who are beginning English learners. The program also includes citizenship test practice lessons.
Pumarosa


Clear and concise rules for grammar. Designed for ESL students and teachers
http://www.englishmaven.org/index.html

Basic Grammar and Writing for ESL Students
web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/sample/beginner/gs/

ESL Literacy for Beginners.
home.earthlink.net/~brekkmail/id11.html

English Language Reference 
www.usingenglish.com/reference.html


Activities for ESL Students
http://a4esl.org/

Documents


Lore Winterman-Sturm shared this chart comparing alphabets. She explains, “I was trying to get across the idea that saying A, B, C are only the names of the letters, but not necessarily the way the letters are spoken, especially a letter like H which is named aich, but is often pronounced ha.  I put together a partial alphabet comparison taken from an Internet site and added the English letters. I don’t know yet if it will work with my student.”
Alphabet Comparisons

An activity for ESL students in which they can send a postcard to someone. 
ESL Activity: Sending a Postcard

Includes advice for how to incorporate creative writing in ESL classes, as well as a few prompts to encourage creative writing. (By Linda Millar)
Tips and Prompts for Creative Writing

Teach spelling using word patterns.
Word Patterns

Worksheet: "-ed" Endings (Pronunciation)