First Reader Lessons for ESL & Literacy Students
who cannot read English and possibly cannot read in any language.
Description of Wisdom Series A
The ESL Wisdom Series A was written with the adult ESL student in mind, who cannot speak English and cannot read or
write English either. It can even be used with the student who cannot read or write in any language.
The ESL Wisdom Series A is not limited to ESL students, however. It can be used with an illiterate English speaking
student, and because it has pictures it is appropriate for children as well as adults. These lessons can be used to teach
ANYONE how to read and write English.
Content of Lessons 1 through 3: Learning Keywords
Lessons 1 through 3 of the Wisdom Series A concentrate on the English alphabet and the sounds associated with it. The
student needs to learn 38 vocabulary words thoroughly, to help him/her in remembering the letter sounds.
The student should not proceed beyond lesson 3 until the teacher is satisfied that the student is comfortable with the letters of
the alphabet as well as the 38 vocabulary words. These 38 Keywords are tools, and this should be emphasized to the
student. Reading is as easy as working with tools. Learn how to use these 38 tools, and anyone can learn to read!!
Common Abstract & Connective Words
Lesson 4 must be understood in order to be appreciated. There are 126 new words in this lesson. These words are fairly
abstract and most of them are difficult to illustrate with pictures. However, these are common words that will enable the
student to read full sentences.
Objective: the student must be able to read the words in this lesson, but does not need to understand them yet. The student
will begin to understand their meaning and purpose as they are used in the lessons following. Do the best you can with
Lesson 4, don't work too hard on it and then move on to lesson 5. The goal is to make these 126 words become “sight”
words: words that the student can read on sight without thinking about it. The student will gradually learn these 126 words in
successive lessons.
Learning the Vowel Sounds of A, E, I, O and U
With Lessons 5 through 9, the Wisdom Series A settles down to a pattern that will become familiar to the student. Lesson 5
concentrates on learning the sounds of the vowel A. Lesson 6 concentrates on the vowel E. Lesson 7 is the vowel I. Lesson 8
is the vowel O, and is the longest because O has seven sounds (at least.) Lesson 9 is the vowel U. Each lesson provides
additional illustrated vocabulary words that will help the student remember the new sounds that they are learning.
The Wisdom Series A teaches the student how to read based on vowel sounds. Consonants are (almost) incidental, until
Lessons 10, 11 and 12...
Multiple Consonant Sounds
Lesson 10 teaches multiple consonants at the end of words. Lesson 11 practices multiple consonants at the beginning of
words. These two lessons will probably be more difficult for the ESL student, primarily because the consonant blends and
digraphs are much more difficult to pronounce. The teacher may discover that reading and writing the words is not the
difficulty, but saying them is!
Do not expect perfect pronunciation. If the student can recognize (read and write) the illustrated vocabulary words without
much difficulty, then you can move on to Lesson 12.
Alphabet Soup: When a Plan Comes Together!
Lesson 12 is called the alphabet soup lesson, because it includes almost all the words from the previous lessons. This time,
however, they are sorted by consonants instead of by vowels (all words beginning with B, then C, then D, etc.) The student
must remember the vowel sounds and practice them in a more random fashion. However, the lesson does give Keyword
clues to help the student with pronunciation. Lesson 12 includes all vocabulary words.
The Importance of the Vocabulary Keywords
There are 240 vocabulary words in Series A. The vocabulary words are keywords which provide an example for almost
any sound in the English language. If the student learns these 240 words well, they will have the clues necessary for reading
and pronouncing almost any English word. The vocabulary words are illustrated with pictures throughout the Series, so the
student can understand their meaning. Most of the vocabulary words are nouns, but some are verbs.
126 Common Words
In addition to the 240 illustrated Vocabulary words, there are also 126 common words from Lesson 4 that the student should
be comfortable with. Both of these lists are provided in Lesson 12, for review. The student should be able to read all these
words easily because they have been particularly emphasized throughout the Series.
Review & Assessment Worksheets
The Assessments are a valuable tool in the Wisdom Series. Almost every lesson includes an Assessment Worksheet. The
Assessments have mostly pictures on them, which are the Key vocabulary words from each lesson.
The Assessments are versatile. You can use the Assessment Worksheets before you begin a lesson, as a Preview exercise to
find out what the student knows already. Then, use the Assessment Worksheet to Review each lesson and practice
writing/printing the specific Vocabulary words from that lesson.
The Review Assessments have the same pictures as the other Assessments, but in a different order. There are very few
pictures in Lesson 12. Therefore, Lesson 12 should be used along with the Review Assessment Worksheets for additional
practice in recognizing and writing the Vocabulary words.
Certificate of Completion
In order to receive a Certificate of Completion, the student should be able to:
1. Read all or most of the words/sentences in the vocabulary lists easily, and
2. Be able to recognize and write the words for most of the pictures on the Review Assessments, and
3. Complete the Final Assessment successfully. The Final is a condensed version of the Assessments and includes pictures
selected from all the lessons.
Teacher Notes and Lesson Checklists
Teacher Notes are included with Wisdom Series A and B. Series A also includes a Lesson Checklist which evaluates
whether a student is ready to move on to the next lesson.
Reproducible Format
The ESL Wisdom Series are distributed and copyrighted by the EDDON Corporation in New Port Richey, FL. They are
affordable literacy lessons in the popular new "reproducible" format. These lessons may be reproduced freely for your
students or local literacy program, but the Wisdom Series may not be reproduced for mass distribution or resale purposes.
If you have a large literacy program with multiple locations, then it might be possible to make special arrangements with
EDDON: please contact us.
- The ESL Wisdom Series was created because we could not find an inexpensive,
reproducible ESL curriculum to use in our own church-based, volunteer, no-budget ESL
program.
 We wanted the curriculum to be "reproducible" because this is an affordable format that
is very popular in education today. - We needed something for raw beginners who could not read or speak any English and
possibly could not read in their own language either. This is a very critical situation for a
refugee who is new in the U.S. -- we were anxious to meet a specific and urgent need. We
could not find literacy materials that were specifically written for this type of ESL student.
Some companies offered supplements to augment their regular literacy materials, but no one
(that we know of) had written a curriculum that was primarily for the adult illiterate ESL
student. Perhaps it was crazy to try and write our own... but what did we have to lose? And,
we did have very qualified, educated people to help us. So, the Wisdom Series A was born
out of necessity, invention and field experience.
- Professional Quality, Professional Review
- The retail version of the ESL Wisdom Series has been designed and typeset by a professional desktop publisher, so it is
attractive as well as functional. It has been closely reviewed by ESL and teaching professionals, and given a nod of
approval. The preview/review worksheets make it possible to conduct your own on-site validation if such evaluation is
necessary.
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- The Wisdom Series A makes your job as a teacher so much easier and helps your students learn all the more: primarily
because of thousands of picture illustrations and the preview/review picture worksheets that enhance each lesson.
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- Easy for Anyone to Teach!!!
- Each lesson has a Checklist which makes it possible for almost any English speaking person to teach English using these
lessons. The Checklist which must be completed before moving on to the next lesson. And, suggestions for additional
exercises and teaching aids are provided with each lesson as well. It is a well rounded package that is EASY to use.
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- We believe that the ESL Wisdom Series will be very useful in teaching ESL around the world. Hopefully the ESL Wisdom
Series will give you and your students a headstart advantage in your own ESL endeavors!
Please call EDDON at (727) 372-7717 if you have any questions. Or, email us. The internet address is
prillycharmin@yahoo.com
The retail version of the Wisdom Series consists of blackline masters that are reproducible (on a copier) for one school site
location. The retail version includes all of the above, plus:
Picture illustrations showing the lesson vocabulary in a flashcard format.
Teacher instructions for the Wisdom Series activities.
Lesson Checklist and Teacher Notes pertinent to each lesson.
Preview & Review picture worksheets that can also be a pre-test and/ or post-test.
Final Exam.
Certificate of Completion.
And more!!!
Retail version of the Wisdom Series A: $29.95
The retail package is what makes your job as a teacher so much easier and helps your students learn all the more:
primarily because of the illustrations and the preview/review picture worksheets that enhance each lesson.
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The EDDON Corporation
6421 Arbor Dr.
New Port Richey, FL 34655
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