Halloween

Halloween is a favorite holiday for many people.  It is celebrated around the world.  In the United States, it is celebrated with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, costumes, candy, parties, and decorations.  In my neighborhood, we have over seven hundred trick-or-treaters. That’s a lot of candy! My neighbor said she spent over $300 on candy.  I’m sorry to say but I have not passed out candy for many years.  The last year we passed out candy, my younger son’s girlfriend, in her darling winged costume, sat on the front porch the entire evening passing out candy.  Our cul-de-sac looked like a crowed mall.  Why so many people?  Two doors down, our neighbor goes all out with billowing smoke and animated creatures that will jump out at you.  For the past few years, our house has been dark on Halloween night.  For one reason, my son no longer has the girlfriend who will sit on the porch all evening until 9:00 passing out candy. 

Many children, instead of trick-or-treating in neighborhoods, go to the mall, Disneyland or church on Halloween night to trick-or-treat or to enjoy other types of fun activities. 

Halloween is celebrated around the world.  Each country has different activities for the holiday.

It is fun to read about how different countries celebrate Halloween and other holidays.  People who have low literacy skills can improve this skill by practicing their reading.  Fisher Hill books are excellent for Spanish-speaking teens and adults who want to improve their reading skills. Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks.

Audio Books

Last spring I drove from southern California to the Grand Canyon.  It was approximately eight hours and on the way, I listened to audio books.  Before leaving for the trip I went to the library to check out several audio books.  You can’t beat the library’s price of $1.00 a book.  If you bought an audio book from a store it could cost as much as $30.  After that trip, I was hooked on audio books. Now instead of listening to the radio or a music CD, I listen to stories.  The readers of audio books can really bring the characters to life with their different accents and voices.  If you haven’t listened to an audio book, I recommend you go to the library and check one out. I always check out two at a time (unless I’m going on a long trip and then I’ll check out more)  in case one of them is not very good.  But so far there has only been one that I did not care for. 

Fisher Hill has one series English for the Spanish Speaker that has CDs to go along with the books.  English for the Spanish Speaker is a four book series and each book has a CD. 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 CD for each book contains the vocabulary lists, conversations and stories from each lesson in the book.  A person could listen to these CDs on a long road trip or while stuck in traffic to practice their English.  This series has been very popular with adult education classes.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks and CDs for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

Fisher Hill Workbooks Part Two

This week’s blog is about the four workbook series offered by Fisher Hill that can be used together by Spanish-speaking teens and adults to learn how to read, spell, and write in English.   The four series are English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker, English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker, English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker and English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker.

When using the four series, English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker comes first.  This series is the foundation for the other series.  After completing Book 1 in the English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker series, Book 1 from any of the other three series may be used.

English Reading and Spelling for Spanish Speakers is a six book series.  The series uses a very systematic and explicit approach in teaching the speech sounds that are necessary to read and spell.  The word lists are in Spanish and English and all the directions are in Spanish with English translations.

English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker is also a six work series.  This series helps Spanish speakers improve their English reading comprehension.

The six book series English Reading Composition for the Spanish Speaker helps students improve their writing skills.

The six book series English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker reinforces the vocabulary presented in the other three series.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.

Fisher Hill Workbooks

Fisher Hill workbooks are for Spanish-speaking teens and adults who want to learn English.  We have many books so it can be confusing to know which workbook series to use.  In this blog and the next one, I will explain about our different workbook series.

Our most popular series is English for the Spanish Speaker.  This is a four book series.  It is for Spanish speakers who know how to read and write Spanish.  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.  This series has been very popular with adult education classes.

Spanish Made Fun and Easy is a two workbook series.  It is for English speakers to learn Spanish.  It uses the same vocabulary lists, conversations, and stories that are found in the English for the Spanish Speaker series.  The activity pages include exercises to learn Spanish and the directions on the activity pages are in English.  The print in these two workbooks is also large.   Each workbook includes twelve lessons.  The twelve lessons are about everyday activities.

United States of America Stories Maps and Activities is a four workbook series.  The books are bilingual and were written to help students improve their literacy in English, Spanish, history, and geography. Each book includes information about twelve or thirteen states.  Information for each state includes a story, a vocabulary and comprehension page, map and questions, and finally a chart, table, graph, or another type of activity, which presents information to the reader.  Most stories deal with a historic topic.  The stories are written on a fourth - sixth grade reading level.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.