AbeBooks.com: All New Very Easy True Stories: A Picture-Based First Reader (560) by Sandra Heyer and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. All new very easy true stories. EXPLORE BY INTERESTS. Documents Similar To All New Very Easy True Stories(New) Skip carousel. Carousel previous carousel. All New Very Easy True Stories|||| > > > > All New Very Easy True Stories ABOUT THIS PRODUCT Description All New Very Easy True Stories Sandra Heyer Publisher: Pearson Education ESL Copyright: 2006 Format: Paper ISBN-10: ISBN-13: 560 Status: In Stock Published: PURCHASE ONLINE Regular Price: $30.65 Your Price: $22.99 (you save 25%) Description Would you believe? • A woman gets a phone call, but it is the wrong number. How does this call save her life? • A man parks near a “No Parking” sign and gets a ticket. Every day he goes back to the “No Parking” sign and parks there, and every day he gets a ticket. Why does he keep going back? • A woman is driving on a highway at 100 mph, and she cannot slow down. What does she do? More very low-level yet high-interest stories! These stories, selected from mainstream news sources, are humorous, poignant, astounding -- and all true! They are told as simply as possible -- exclusively in the present tense -- and all stories are less than ½ page long. All New Very Easy True Stories, by Sandra Heyer, is an ideal first text for students with little experience with English. It is a companion book to Very Easy True Stories, which is at the same level but features different stories and exercises. These two parallel readers give students the option of lingering at the low-beginning level. They can go back and forth between Very Easy True Stories and All New Very Easy True Stories, or they can complete first one book and then the other. Or teachers can use Very Easy True Stories one semester and All New Very Easy True Stories the next. That way, students who stay in a low-beginning class when their classmates move on to the next level can essentially repeat the class but with all new material. Combined, the two books offer 28 stories, giving teachers multiple opportunities to incorporate reading into their thematically-based instructional units. Features • First, students see a series of 18 captioned pictures that clarify the meaning of the sentences beneath the pictures. • Next, students read the story in text form for real reading practice. • Finally, students complete exercises following each story to develop basic reading skills as well as build pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary proficiency. The True Stories series includes: True Stories Behind the Songs More True Stories Behind the Songs Very Easy True Stories All New Very Easy True Stories Easy True Stories, Second Edition All New Easy True Stories True Stories in the News, Third Edition More True Stories, Third Edition Even More True Stories, Third Edition Beyond True Stories © Copyright 2017|||. Table of contents for All new very easy true stories Table of contents for All new very easy true stories: a picture-based first reader / by Sandra Heyer. And links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog. Note: Contents data are machine generated based on pre-publication provided by the publisher. Contents may have variations from the printed book or be incomplete or contain other coding. Table of Contents Introduction.................00 Unit 1 Genesio's Gift..........00 Unit 2 The Surprise...........00 Unit 3 Hiccup! 00 Unit 4 Wrong Number...........00 Unit 5 The Catch............00 Unit 6 Fufu Returns...........00 Unit 7 Not Too Small..........00 Unit 8 Mario's Rabbits..........00 Unit 9 No Brakes!...........00 Unit 10 An Expensive Vacation..........00 Unit 11 The Parking Ticket...........00 Unit 12 The Present.............00 Unit 13 The Taxi Ride.............00 Unit 14 Internet Friend...........00 To the Teacher............00 Answer Key..............00 Introduction All New Very Easy True Stories is a first reader for students of English. It is for absolute beginners who are familiar with the Roman alphabet and have some experience reading words and sentences, as well as for students with well-developed speaking and listening skills but low-level literacy skills. It is a companion book to Very Easy True Stories; that is, it is written at the same reading level and has the same format. However, as the title indicates, it has all new stories and exercises. PURPOSE Why does the True Stories series offer two first readers? First, some students need more time at the introductory level before moving on to Easy True Stories and All New Easy True Stories, the next books in the series. This is particularly true for students with only basic literacy skills in their native languages. All New Very Easy True Stories gives students the option of lingering a while at this level. They can go back and forth between Very Easy True Stories and All New Very Easy True Stories, or they can complete first one book and then the other. (Students can read either book first.) Second, many teachers like to incorporate reading into their thematically-based instructional units. The story 'The Parking Ticket,' for example, adds dimension to a unit on traffic signs, and the 'Wrong Number' complements a unit on phone etiquette. With twenty-eight low-level stories, teachers have multiple opportunities to match readings with other classroom activities. Third, a choice of two books helps veteran teachers keep their lessons fresh: They can use Very Easy True Stories one semester and All New Very Easy True Stories the next. Alternating between the two books also keeps the lessons fresh for students who choose to stay in an introductory class when their classmates move on to the next level. They can essentially repeat the class but with all new material. Very Easy True Stories and All New Very Easy True Stories can also be used in higher-level classes as the basis of a cooperative reading/speaking/listening activity. One group of students reads a story in one book while another group reads a story in the other book. Then, in pairs, students from one group tell their story to students from the other group, using the drawings as cues as they retell the story. DESCRIPTION All New Very Easy True Stories contains 14 units, each centered on a story that was adapted from a newspaper article and written in the simplest, most concrete language possible. In answer to those students who think that some stories are too amazing to be true: Yes, the stories are true, to the best of our knowledge. The two girls really did use a blanket to catch the boy who fell from a window, and customers waiting in line at a store really did chip in to buy the toy for the woman who had lost her money. In the back of the book, you will find a special To the Teacher section with more information about each story. HOW TO USE ALL NEW VERY EASY TRUE STORIES Each unit is divided into three sections: Pre-Reading, Reading, and Post-Reading Exercises. Following are some suggestions for using each of the sections. Teachers new to the field might find these suggestions especially helpful. Please keep in mind that these are only suggestions. Teachers should, of course, feel free to adapt these strategies to best suit their teaching styles and their students' learning styles. PRE-READING You might want to introduce each unit by acquainting (or reacquainting) students with key words in the story. Most of the nouns in the stories are concrete objects (vegetables, house, car), and most of the verbs are simple actions (sit, swim, drive), so you can easily clarify meaning by drawing pictures, by showing photos or realia, or by acting out words. (If students have difficulty differentiating between common and proper nouns, treat the names of people in the stories as new vocabulary. Draw a simple figure on the board, write the person's name beneath it, and say, for example, 'His name is Genesio.' ) When you are satisfied that students know the key words, proceed to the pre-reading drawing, which introduces the theme of the story and prompts students to recall knowledge and experiences related to the theme. Here is one possible sequence of steps for using the pre-reading drawing. With the help of the pre-reading drawing, elicit the vocabulary of the story. Ask students to turn to the pre-reading drawing in their books. (Or make a transparency of the pre-reading page, and show it on the overhead projector.) Ask students, 'What do you see?' Write their responses on the board, on flash cards, or directly on the transparency. (Some teachers advocate printing in block letters, rather than in upper- and lowercase letters, since block printing is easier for students to copy.) As you write, say the words slowly to model correct pronunciation. Students copy the words onto the picture in their books. If all the students are absolute beginners, it is unlikely they will be able to supply the vocabulary for the pre-reading drawing. Instead of asking students, 'What do you see?' Begin by simply labeling the items and actions depicted in the drawing and slowly pronouncing the words. Say only five or six words. That's plenty for beginners. Resist the inclination to talk to yourself as you label ('Let's see.and over here there's a.' Tell students what the story is about. Point to the title of the story, and read it aloud slowly. Then connect the vocabulary of the pre-reading drawing to the title. For example, say, 'This story is about a custodian.' (Point to the man in the drawing.) 'His name is Genesio.' (Point to the word 'Genesio' in the title.) As students progress through the book, try to stop at 'This story is about.' And see if students can use the pre-reading drawing and the title of the story to make predictions about the story. Teaching Absolute Beginners All New Very Easy True Stories was field-tested in several ESL environments. One of those environments was a class of zero-level adult learners, all native speakers of Spanish. Before beginning Unit 1, the teacher told his students--in Spanish--that they were going to hear and read a story. He told his students not to worry about understanding every word, but to try to get the gist of the story. He said that in the course of reading the story, maybe they'd learn a couple of new words, and that would be great! Those few words in Spanish instantly changed the atmosphere in the classroom: The students went from looking apprehensive to looking relaxed. Their goal had changed from the impossible to the possible--instead of trying to understand every word, they were just going to enjoy the story and maybe pick up a few new words (a goal they did, in fact, accomplish). If you have absolute beginners in your class, it is well worth the effort to find people--more advanced students in the same class, perhaps, or in another class in your program--to make a similar announcement in your students' native languages. When you do find native speakers to make the announcement, consider asking them to write it for you so you'll be able to encourage future students in their native languages. READING Following is one possible sequence of steps in reading the story: 1. Read the story aloud to the students. Ask students to turn to the second and third pages of the unit, which are in comic-strip format. (Or make transparencies of these pages and show them on the overhead projector.) Tell students to look at just the drawings for now, not at the words beneath the drawings. The purpose of this first reading is to give students a global, not a word-for-word, understanding of the story. Read the story aloud as students look at the drawings. Begin by saying 'Number one,' and slowly read the sentence that the first drawing illustrates. Then say 'Number two,' and read the appropriate sentence. Continue in this manner. Saying the numbers of the pictures while telling the story ensures that all eyes are on the same picture. If your students are absolute beginners, you might need to reduce the story to its most basic elements when you tell it the first time. In Unit 1, for example, instead of reading the story exactly as it is written ('He doesn't buy new clothes. He wears old clothes'), you might say, 'New clothes? You will probably want to walk away from the pictures from time to time and act out some scenes, perhaps with the help of props, or you might want to act out the entire story, if it has plenty of action. (The teacher who field-tested 'An Expensive Vacation' came to class with a ski jacket, a lighter, a few pieces of wood, and bills in one-, five-, ten-, and twenty-dollar denominations. By the time the teacher 'burned' the $10, all eyes were riveted on the scene.) Some of the stories build suspense. You might stop short of the last few sentences when reading those stories aloud and let students--silently--read how the story ends. Read the story a second time. This time, however, instruct students to look at the words beneath the pictures. During subsequent readings, you might wish to call students' attention to basic grammatical structures, not by giving lengthy explanations, but by reminding students of rules they have already learned. (For example, after reading the sentence 'He goes to free concerts in the park,' say, 'I go, you go, they go, we go, she goes, he goes.' Give students time to read the story silently. Some students will be ready to go to the fourth page and read the story in text form. Other students will need to read the story in comic-strip format so that they can go back and forth between the words and the pictures to check their understanding. Present the story in a different way. If students have a global understanding of the story but need practice mastering its language, you might try one of these activities: -Read the story aloud, but this time, make 'mistakes.' ('Genesio is a mechanic. He works at a garage. He cleans the cars.' ) Pause after each sentence, letting students speak in chorus to correct the mistake, rather than calling on individuals. A variation of this technique is to make mistakes in only some of the sentences. Students say 'Yes' if the sentence is correct, 'No' if it isn't. (Some teachers like to give each student two differently colored index cards. On one card 'YES' is printed; on the other card 'NO' is printed. After hearing each sentence, students hold up the card with their answers.) -Read the story aloud, sentence by sentence, and ask the entire class to repeat, echoing your pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm. -Read sentences from the story at random. Students call out the number of the corresponding picture. -Say key words in the story. Students scan to find the words and circle them; they can verify their work by checking with a partner. Teaching Young Students If you teach young students, you may need to use one of the four activities above instead of, not in addition to, having students read the story on their own. Adults understand that looking at the pictures while hearing the story is a helpful pre-reading step; children see it as an end unto itself. Middle school students who participated in field-testing material were somewhat puzzled by the teacher's request that they read the story silently. They had just heard the story, and they knew how it ended. Why would they want to read it? When, however, reading the story was made into a game, they were enthusiastic readers. They especially liked identifying mistakes in the teacher's version of the story and scanning for key words (an activity that they turned into a race to see who could find the words first). THE POST-READING EXERCISES Pronunciation The exercise section begins with an activity that helps students correlate English letters with the sounds they represent. Some units focus on vowel sounds, others on consonant sounds. In the course of the book, the pronunciation activity acquaints students with twelve vowel sounds and sixteen consonant sounds. Exercises that highlight vowel sounds group words in the story according to their accented vowel sound. Students, especially those whose first language is phonetic, are usually surprised to discover that the five English vowels make more than five sounds. The purpose of the exercise is simply to make students aware that these sounds exist in English, not to drill students into pronouncing the sounds perfectly. (In fact, doing so would probably be a disservice. Keep in mind that some vowels make one sound when they are stressed, as they are in the exercise, but change to the neutral vowel [schwa] when they are in an unstressed position. Consider how the pronunciation of the 'a' in 'and' changes when 'and' is put in an unstressed position: 'cream and sugar.' ) If your students have high-level speaking skills, you might pause after each column of words and ask, 'Do you know other words with this sound?' Write their contributions on the board. Spelling This exercise is a dictation exercise. For absolute beginners, write the words on the board so that they can copy them. More advanced students like to work this exercise like a puzzle, trying to figure out the word from the letters given and announcing it before the teacher can say it. Comprehension Students can complete these exercises individually, in pairs, in small groups, or with the whole class. The exercises can be completed in class or assigned as homework. At the back of the book there is an answer key to the exercises. Note that many of the exercises not only test comprehension but subtly call students' attention to English syntax. For example, an exercise that asks students to match the first half of a compound sentence ('Ann steps on the brake') with the second half ('her car goes faster') also makes students aware that the word and often connects two parts of a compound sentence. Speaking and Writing These exercises personalize the themes of the stories. They are written at a level parallel to that of the readings; that is, they assume that students speak and write about as well as they read. As a result, these exercises rarely introduce new vocabulary; the vocabulary consists of words recycled from the story. If, however, your students are fairly proficient speakers, you will probably want to encourage them to talk about the stories, asking them, for example, if they, like Ann, have ever had trouble with a car's brakes, or if they, like Ken Walker, have ever gotten help from someone on the Internet. You could let the discussion lead into a writing activity, using the Language Experience Approach. Briefly, the Language Experience Approach consists of these steps: 1. The student orally relates a story or experience. The teacher writes the student's words (sitting next to the student so the student can see what is being written). The teacher reads the story. The student reads the story. Keep in mind that the first step in the Language Experience Approach is an oral one. If your students are zero-level speakers of English, you will not want to venture from the controlled speaking exercises in the book. Students in a beginning ESL class can have a wide range of experience with English, as you may know only too well. Some students are at zero-level in all the skills areas--reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Other students may have well- developed speaking and listening skills, but low-level literacy skills. Another group may have studied English in their native countries, perhaps for years, and are fairly proficient readers and writers, but were placed in a beginning class because they are unable to speak or understand spoken English. So, you may have to tamper with the exercises--to adjust them up or down, to skip some, or to add some of your own. Both the exercises and reading selections are intended to build students' confidence along with their reading skills. Above all, it is hoped that reading All New Very Easy True Stories will be a pleasure, for both you and your students. All New Very Easy True Stories and Very Easy True Stories are the first books in the True Stories reading series. They are followed by Easy True Stories, All New Easy True Stories, True Stories in the News, More True Stories, Even More True Stories, and Beyond True Stories. Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: English language -- Textbooks for foreign speakers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2018
Categories |