Typing International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Characters

I have been working on a correlation of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with the sounds of the English language. In this process, my colleague and I have learned how challenging it is to type the IPA characters into a document and have them look the way you want them to in the end. If you have done any work with trying to type IPA characters yourself, I'm sure you can relate. I came across a website today, however, that I wish I had found before. This tool allows you to type some of the IPA characters that are difficult to find. You then copy and paste the text into your document. To go to the site, click here.

Older Students Need Training in Phonemic Awareness

A colleague of mine, Neil Anderson, just shared with me a link to an online article from the new online publication, the TESOL Journal, which appeared today. The last article in the journal is about the importance of older students receiving training in phonemic awareness. To read this article, click here. I am encouraged to see this article in this publication as I reflect on how more research is needed in the area of phonemic awareness and phonics for ESOL students.

How Do I Teach Literacy?

Why is it important to know how to teach literacy? If you found this blog post by doing a search on the Internet, why do you want to learn how to teach literacy? Maybe you know someone--a family member, a neighbor, an associate--who needs some help with reading. Maybe you have a child or grandchild who is an emerging reader and you want to learn some tricks to jump start their reading. Maybe you know someone who is a good reader but a poor speller. Maybe you have a neighbor down the street who struggles with reading and writing and you want to help them increase their literacy skills. Maybe you have a close friend or family member who you feel compelled to help. Maybe you are tutoring a non-native English speaker who is learning English. Maybe you are going abroad to teach English and you want to know some strategies to teach. Learning how to teach literacy promotes life-long learning--not only for the person who is being taught to read and write, but also for the person teaching literacy skills as well since there are numerous opportunities to teach reading and writing.

So the question is, "What resources are out there to learn how to teach people how to read?" A great resource is www.phonicstraining.com which teaches the nuts and bolts of how to teach decoding and spelling strategies. It's free for 30 days, which is plenty of time to go through the training. I have shared this resource with several family members and friends who have expressed interest in learning literacy strategies to teach and have received favorable feedback. In fact, I shared this link with a sister who was tutoring a man who was illiterate in Las Vegas. I've shared this link with another sister who has children who are learning to read, one of whom is a good reader, but a poor speller. I've shared this link with two aunts who have both independently expressed interest in getting involved in literacy training. I've shared this link with a friend who tutors refugees, another friend who conducts speech therapy, a friend who writes educational children's books, and another friend who is training students to go teach English abroad.

Literacy affects all of us in one way or another. It's empowering to have knowledge of literacy strategies that we can teach which in turn empowers others.

Curriculum Vision

As the Curriculum Manager and ESL Director at Reading Horizons, I have learned a lot about the "development" aspect of the coined term "Curriculum Development." To "develop" in this context means to create, polish, and improve materials and to oversee projects to completion. For me lately, it means getting down in the trenches, rolling up your sleeves, and going to work. As I have been actively engaged in improving the Reading Horizons software and direct instruction materials over the last few years, I have learned the role of patience, balance, and vision. I have been reminded of the importance of character in the work place--sincerely caring about your work, consistently striving to do your very best, and putting in an honest day's work.

I mentioned the word vision. Under the leadership of Tyson Smith, President of Reading Horizons, each department has its vision "emblazoned" on the wall in each respective department to always remind its employees of what we are there to do. I want to share the vision statement for Reading Horizons' Curriculum department. It reads:

Produce excellent-quality curriculum that fills expanding needs without compromising the simplicity and effectiveness of the method.

I had an experience this week while engaged in a significant, "brain-draining" task that kind of popped up out of the blue. I was "in the zone," concentrating deeply on the task at hand, when the end users of the product I was working on came to mind. I thought of students learning how to read for the first time in their lives. I thought of refugees who have had very little formal education who would learn life-long literacy skills. I thought of non-native English speakers who have never learned strategies that have "clicked" for them before. I thought of teachers and tutors and volunteers who have a noble "vision" and a strong desire to help their students learn to read, to learn literacy skills, to learn English. It put things in perspective for me. It made my efforts seem worth it. It made the workload, though very heavy and overwhelming at times, seem lighter. It made me want to try even harder to "produce excellent-quality curriculum that fills expanding needs."

There are a lot of needs out there. I'm grateful to work for a company that assumes a small role in helping to fulfill some of those needs. I appreciate those users, both students and teachers alike, who motivate me to do my best to live up to this curriculum vision while fulfilling their own.

(To see where this blog post coexists, see http://www.readinghorizons.com/community/blog/post/2009/10/16/Curriculum-Vision.aspx.)

Lemons for Literacy Awareness

I participated in an event on Saturday that promoted literacy awareness that I thought was worth mentioning. Reading Horizons sponsored an event to promote literacy awareness and help raise funds for a new literacy center opening up in Utah valley. Passers-by were invited to donate a few minutes of their time to a good cause by playing an online game called Lemons for Literacy.

Laptops were set up on the grass outside the new literacy center where individuals played the Lemons for Literacy game. To play this game, individuals select the correct definition for a randomly-generated vocabulary word. With each correct answer, or "squeeze" of a lemon, ounces of "lemonade" are produced. For each ounce of lemonade that is earned, Reading Horizons makes a cash donation to a site in need of literacy assistance. The site in focus is a new literacy center called the Superhero Training Center located in Orem, Utah. Free donuts and lemonade were offered to those who stopped by to check out the event.

Individuals who participated in the event were happy to take part in a good cause. They commented on how they enjoyed the "fun" aspect of it--that they didn't know that helping to make a difference could be so much fun. Individuals were encouraged to continue to help by playing the Lemons for Literacy game on their computers at home.


The Superhero Training Center hopes to be able to serve individuals ages pre-school to adult learn literacy skills needed to contribute to a life of life-long learning. To "make lemonade" for the Superhero Training Center, go to www.readinghorizons.com/lemonsforliteracy.

Tricky Words

Do any of these sound familiar?

"Which do I use: affect or effect?"
"Is dessert spelled with one s or two?"
"Which is correct: raise or rise?"

If you can relate to any of the above, then you're not alone. Even though I am an ESOL professional, I admit that I have had my fair share of moments when I have had to think twice before using these words. I found a great resource that I have referred to on occasion to clear up some confusion that I used when teaching writing in American Samoa.

Here are just a few combinations of challenging words, instruction of which would prove helpful in an ESOL classroom, which I've adapted from The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook.

accept/except
Accept is a verb; except is a preposition.
Examples: Please accept my apology.
Everyone except Sam went to the party.

affect/effect
Affect is a verb; effect is a noun.
Examples: Her decision will affect the rest of us.
We hope it will have a positive effect on us.

amount/number
Use amount with noncount nouns. Use number with count nouns.
Examples: That property is worth a large amount of money.
A large number of investors are anxious to buy it.

borrow/lend/loan
Borrow is a verb that means to use something that will be returned later. Lend and loan are both verbs that mean you give someone something that will be returned later. (Loan can also be a noun.)
Examples: May I borrow your book? I will give it back to you tomorrow.
Will you lend me your book?
Will you loan me some money?

desert/dessert
A desert is a large area of hot, arid land. A dessert is a sweet treat usually eaten after a meal. (When I was learning the different spellings of these two words, my teacher taught this pneumonic: "You spell dessert with two s's because you want two desserts!"
Examples: My hometown is a desert.
I would like some pie for dessert.

loose/lose
Loose is an adjective that has the opposite meaning of tight. Lose is a verb that means "unable to find," "not have anymore," or "not win."
Examples: My seatbelt feels loose.
I will lose my keys if I don't put them in the same place everyday when I come home.

passed/past
Passed is the past tense and past participle forms of pass. Past is a preposition or adverb that means "farther/later than." Past is also an adjective or noun meaning "before now."
Examples: I passed the test.
We drove past the scene of the crime this morning.
I have worked for this company for the past 12 years.

raise/rise
Raise (raised) is a transitive verb and always has an object; rise (rose, risen) is an intransitive verb and never has an object.
Examples: If the student does not raise his grades, he will be suspended.
My grandmother raised 10 children.
The sun always rises in the east.

set/sit
Set is a transitive verb and always has an object. (Set can also be an intransitive verb, as in, "the sun sets in the west.") Sit (sat) is an intrasitive verb and never takes an object.
Examples: Could you help me set the table?
Please set the grocery bags on the table.
Please sit wherever you feel comfortable.

they're/there/their
They're is a contraction of they are. There is a word that indicates a place. Their is possessive.
Examples: They're coming at 5:00.
Let's go over there.
My grandparents love their neighborhood.


Reference: Hogue, A. (2003). The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

I'm back!

I am finally getting back into "blogging mode" after a short hiatus. I have been actively engaged in revamping the curriculum for literacy software I'm helping to develop for my job at Reading Horizons. I am the Curriculum Manager and ESOL Director, which has provided me several opportunities to apply past experience in curriculum development and assessment, as well as increase my skill set in these areas. I will keep you posted on the new release upon its completion. Here are a few of the features that really excite me:

• 200+ reading passages for fluency and comprehension development
• 10,000 word vocabulary database
• Customized learning with a competency-based approach
• Multiple opportunities to transfer decoding skills to reading
• Six interim tests with item bank so no one test is like another

Stay tuned! I am looking forward to steady posting again! I will also be going back and adding some photos to some former posts, so be sure to check back to see those additions as well. :)