Video makes it easy to learn
Lessons
40L volunteers have developed a variety of lessons to help you improve your reading and spelling. 40L’s lessons are delivered through video, which makes them easy for parents, tutors, or teachers to use. There are lessons for all ages, some developed by 40L, and a link to a series of beginning phonics lessons from fellow tutor Vanessa Peters. This page has a description of each of the lessons to help you choose. There are also good books for each type of student, see our Reading Resources page for lists.
This is 40L’s most recently developed series of lessons. The lessons incorporate spelling, morphology, and Webster’s Speller into the lessons, making them very efficient and effective. They teach phonics to the 12th grade level. They are recommended as a starting point for most remedial students, from elementary school to high school age to adults. They do, however, require a bit of help from a parent or a tutor. You should have the one page consonant and vowel sound chart handy when teach the lessons. The most important thing to emphasize is sounding out the words from left to right. You can guide your student to the sounds on the chart at first, eventually it becomes a self teaching tool. Younger children may need a bit more help, especially with the last 5 lessons, but many 1st grade students have had success with the lessons with guidance.
These lessons are watch and learn, so they are very easy for a student to use on their own. They teach phonics to the 12th grade level. The lessons incorporate spelling & morphology. The use the book of Romans as a reader after each lesson. Many students who need a lot of repetition find it helpful to watch these lessons in conjunction with the Syllables Lessons. They are complementary and will reinforce the things taught in the Phonics Lessons—the material is similar but they are taught in a different way. Adults and older students generally need a lot of repetition and can benefit from repeating the lessons.
These lessons teach all the spelling rules and patterns from the Phonics Lessons. While they focus on spelling, they are a good review of the Phonics Lessons. The spelling lessons are for adults and older children, children reading at least at 4th grade level. They are self teaching and use the book of James. Students reading below the 4th grade level who need spelling help should view the phonics lessons. The phonics lessons have all the spelling information contained in these spelling lessons, but the phonics lessons cover the spelling information at a slower pace.
These video lessons are designed for Black children but can be used by any beginning student. They are self teaching. They are designed to be used with Vanessa’s workbooks but it is just as easy to write the letters and words from each lesson on any paper designed for beginning handwriting.
The lessons are a bit long for a young student. Each lesson should be broken up into 15 to 20 minute blocks to keep the student’s attention focused. WIth this age, is best to do short sessions separated by a physical activity or snack break rather than one longer session.
40L volunteers hope these lessons will help you on your journey to reading and spelling success. We've witnessed our students not only enhance their literacy skills but also experience a significant boost in confidence following the completion of these lessons.
