Children with Reading Difficulties

Does your child have a reading difficulty?  Both of my boys had difficulty learning to read.  I was surprised when this happened.  I had read to them since they were babies.  We visited the public library and checked out books.  They went to toddler story hour every Thursday morning.  Yet, they had difficulty learning to read.  If your child has a reading difficulty, this can make school difficult for them and you.  It’s hard for them to read their social studies book or their science book.  I remember reading those books with my kids.  “OK.  You read a paragraph and then I’ll read a paragraph.”  Homework was not a pleasant time in our family.  In fact, it caused great disharmony at home.  We never gave up though, year after year we struggled along.  When they were in  junior high and high school, I hired college students to help with homework.  They were lucky to get this extra help from me and tutors. 

Now the boys are twenty-six and twenty-four.  The oldest one who was in RSP (a branch of Special Education) in grades third through sixth is now getting his PH.D in Organic Chemistry.  In high school, I had him reevaluated and from this evaluation he was able to get extra time on the SATs which is a test that is required for most colleges.  He took the SATs three times before he got a high enough score.  In college, I told him “Cs get a degree.”  In the first two years of college, I was happy to see Cs.  When he took Organic Chemistry, he got an A and had found his niche.  Oh, happy day!  It took him seven years to get an undergraduate degree.  With his slow reading, he only took three classes a semester.

In my next blog, I will talk about my younger son’s difficulty with reading. 

Many immigrants or migrants in the United States may have had little prior schooling in their home country and may only be able to read a few words in their native language.  When immigrants have access to language and literacy instruction, they can increase their literacy skills.  Which in turn will help them participate more in their community and the job market.

Our series English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker is an excellent place to begin for Spanish speakers who need to learn how to read and spell in English.  This series uses a very systematic and explicit approach in teaching the English speech sounds which are necessary in learning to read.

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

Image courtesy syracuse.com

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.