Because most textbooks of British English use one particular accent, the form of the southern British accent known as Received Pronunciation, which is neither my 'native' accent nor the regional accent for the area in which I live and teach, I am very aware that phonetic and phonemic systems may need extensive adaptation for local needs. Our adult learners come in from all kinds of backgrounds. Some are not literate in their first language (and some speak languages which are rarely if ever used in written form), others are literate in non-roman writing systems but have little or no knowledge of roman scripts, and some are familiar with roman script, but not necessarily as used in English.
My current colleagues, like myself, are sessionally-paid teachers and don't have much opportunity to try to work together to develop strategies to use with these adult learners. As soon as I have a little time, I will investigate truespel, and I will try to interest at least one manager in facilitating some workshops--I can at least try to push it as a form of CPD, as well as a way of developing techniques. There are still too many adult literacy experts in the UK who insist absolutely on sight recognition and whole word approaches. Those of us who teach spoken language to adults are more aware of the importance of phonemic awareness and of proceeding from that point.
Thank you for all the information. I hope I can put it to good use relatively soon.
Cheryl Thornett
ESOL & Adult Literacy teacher
Birmingham UK


From: Tom Zurinskas 
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 3:16 AM
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov 
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5098] Re: a real curriculum vs. textbook


What is needed for the initial steps is a phonetic system based on English that kids can use to learn the 40 phonemes of English.  This is provided by truespel.  First grade kids will be able to read and write phonetically and be able to look words up phonetically for true phonetic awareness.  This enables transition to standard spelling because truespel is designed as close  to traditional spelling as possible.
 
This establishes good total-set learning for the kids.  There are 26 letters, that's all there are.  There are 40 sounds for USA English, that's all their are.  Now we can spell those 40 sounds using those 26 letters, and you can spell any word you hear.  This makes a consistent sound-spelling.  It also ties in with truespel dictionaries so you can look words up phonetically if you can't spell them.  It also leads to translation guides for global integration.  No other notation is designed to do this.  I use it for spreadsheet analyses in my books.  And no problems with email.  These are big pluses.
 
I'd be glad to help integrate truespel into any curriculum.  Also, truespel is free.  Make your own lessons using the converters at truespel.com.


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+ 
see truespel.com phonetic spelling


 
 





 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 12:21:28 -0500
From: joy.hunder at losttech.com
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5094] Re: a real curriculum vs. textbook

The seven steps scientifically verified by The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: 
1) First, directly teach phonemic awareness.
2) Teach each sound-spelling correspondence explicitly.
3) Teach frequent, highly regular sound-spelling relationships systematically.
4) Teach students directly how to sound out words.
5) Teach students sound spelling, decodable text.
6) Teach reading comprehension using interesting teacher read stories.
7) Teach decoding and comprehension skills separately until reading becomes fluent. 
More than 1.2 billion spent in research. 
  
On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 23:13:29 +0000, Tom Zurinskas wrote: 
  
  That approach seems very reasonable.  Phonetics or phonics can only go so far, then it's on to sight memorization of the word lists.  
   
  Studies show that "phonemic awareness" correlates to success in early readers, so I think it's good to show the best letter-sound relationships you can, then on with the word lists.  At least there is grounds there for "sounding out."
   
  My take is that kids can learn the 26 letters and then the 40 sounds of US English early through truespel notation.  They would then have a simple means of spelling phonetically for what they hear, because truespel uses only letters of the alphabet with the closest match to traditional spelling-sound relationships.

  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+ 
  see truespel.com phonetic spelling


   
   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: cherylthornett at hotmail.com
  To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
  Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 17:10:08 +0000
  Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5084] Re: a real curriculum vs. textbook

  .ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P {padding:0px;} .ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} 
  The current policy in the UK is to recommend concentrated synthetic phonetics, with associated listening skills, in the early stages of education (ages 5-6), but then to move children on to other techniques, including whole word recognition and recognition of word elements such as prefixes and suffixes. I haven't read many complaints about it so far, but as I am in Adult Ed, I'm going by one particular educational journal. The pilots were successful, I believe, but it may be a few years yet before the policy can be evaluated accurately. 
   
   I am hoping to learn more or to find colleagues able to work on using synthetic phonetics with adults, especially with NNES (non-native English speakers, for anyone unfamiliar with these initials). Do you have any suggestions or pointers for this? 
   
  Cheryl Thornett 
  ESOL & Adult literacy teacher
  Birmingham UK 
   


  From: Tom Zurinskas 
  Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2009 7:47 AM 
  To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov 
  Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5080] Re: a real curriculum vs. textbook 


  England has abandoned "whole language" or "whole word" reading insrtruction for "synthetic phonics" .  How's it going?



  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
  see truespel.com phonetic spelling





  ________________________________
  > Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:09:49 +0000
  > From: N.Hann at leedsmet.ac.uk
  > To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov; englishlanguage at nifl.gov
  > Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5077] Re: a real curriculum vs. textbook
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Hi Everyone,
  >
  >
  >
  > In England, an ESOL curriculum was put together around 2001 and learner materials to support it followed a couple of years later. Here is a link to the Adult ESOL Core Curriculum we refer to when planning courses etc. It has been particularly useful for new teachers and had supporting documents such as exemplars of learner language which helped tutors and assessors/ exam bodies get a 'feel' for the levels.
  >
  >
  >
  > Here is a link to it http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/sflcurriculum
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > with best wishes,
  >
  >
  >
  > Naeema
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Naeema B.Hann
  > PhD Candidate
  > Leslie Silver International Faculty
  > Macaulay Hall
  > Headingley Campus
  > Leeds Metropolitan University
  > Leeds LS6 3QS
  >
  >
  > ph. 0113-8129311
  >
  >
  >
  > ________________________________
  >
  > From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Amber Gallup
  > Sent: Fri 30/10/2009 15:45
  > To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
  > Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5076] a real curriculum vs. textbook
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Hello colleagues –
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > I’m wondering if anybody out there has recently gone through the process of designing or formalizing a leveled curriculum for their program (instead of just using a textbook as a curriculum)? Would love to hear about your experiences – how you did it, what your process was, or just what you learned or found challenging? A program around here is thinking about doing just that, so I thought it would be good to hear what the field has to say about it – thanks in advance!
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Amber Rodriguez
  >
  >
  > Riverdale, Maryland
  >
  > To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to http://disclaimer.leedsmet.ac.uk/email.htm 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Windows 7: It works the way you want. Learn more. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Adult English Language Acquisition mailing list
  EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
  Email delivered to cherylthornett at hotmail.com 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now. Joy Hunder
Lost Technology
http://literacypod.com
  


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Find the right PC with Windows 7 and Windows Live. Learn more. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Adult English Language Acquisition mailing list
EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
Email delivered to cherylthornett at hotmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/englishlanguage/attachments/20091105/99197111/attachment.html