Shelley Hale Lee - In Town (Great Stories: Beginner)

Dear In Town Readers,

We hope you enjoy the stories in this book. You can use the stories in many different ways. You can read silently, or out loud to a friend. You can read into a voice recorder and then listen to your pronunciation.

In this book, you will read about the Mendez family and the Yousef family. Vera and Ricardo Mendez have two children: Carmen and David. Dina and Abdul Yousef have three children: Zara, Hassan, and Fariba.

In Town has stories with vocabulary for everyday situations. You can practice conversation with some of the stories. The stories may be easy to understand. You and your family might be in some of the same situations as the characters.

The stories will help you read fluently. Many common English words are in the stories. It will become easier and faster for you to read these common words. This book will help you practice the sounds of English, especially the vowel sounds. You will read short words, but also some longer words and sentences.

We hope you enjoy reading In Town!

Shelley Lee, Author

In Town features and reviews many of the same vowel sounds taught in At the Lake and Other Stories for Adult Emergent Readers (Lee, 2020).

Here are the main spelling/sound patterns and some example words from In Town. You could model them in advance for students before they read, or answer questions later.

• short a:black, bag, cash
• short e:red, leg, text
• short i:sit, fish, zipper
• short o:socks, box, job
• short u:bus, hug, lunch

• long a: a_e, ai, ay:Kate, wait, pay
• long e: ee, ea, y, ie:green, team, happy, field
• long i: i_e, igh, y, ie:size, right, apply, pie
• long o: o_e, oa, ow, -old:phone, goal, grow, cold
• long u: u_e, ue, ew, ou, oo:cute, blue, new, soup, noon

• all, alk:small, talk
• ou, ow:out, brown
• 2 sounds of oo:hood, school
• R controlled vowels: ar, or, er/ir/ur:arm, shorts, driver, shirt, purple

In English, C has two sounds: /k/ as in car, and /s/ as in city.

C + a consonant, or C + vowels a, o, or u will produce the hard sound. This is a consistent rule, 100% of the time.

• clap
• Carmen
• cold
• customer

C + vowel sounds e, i, or y will produce the soft sound.

• ice, nice, price
• dance
• percent
• medicine
• pharmacy, pharmacist

G has two sounds: /g/ as in good, and /j/ as in gel.

G + a consonant, or G + vowels a, o, or u will produce the hard sound. This is a strong rule, but there are some exceptions: girl, give, get.

• green
• game
• goal
• gum

G + vowel sounds e, i, or y will produce the soft sound.

• manager
• message
• vegetables
• Chargers
• giant
• gym

• I will = Ill
• I am = Im
• you are = youre
• she is = shes
• we will = well
• that is = thats
• there is = theres
• can not = cant
• does not = doesnt
• do not = dont
• it is = its
• is not = isnt

• Davids jacket
• The boys section
• The girls section
• Kates Diner
• Faribas teacher
• Dinas husband

You could choose to teach these words in advance, or just be ready to answer questions.

1. Does It Still Fit?: closet, winter, weekend
2. A New Jacket: section, growing, getting tall, bigger
3. Matching Hats:matching
4. Kates Diner for Lunch:customers, server, regular, something, napkins, happen
5. A Box and a Tip: yummy, pumpkin
6. A New Job: sidewalk, manager, downtown, application, information
7. A Text and the Crosswalk: apartment, message, husband, fever, headache, medicine, pharmacy, crosswalk, signal, button
8. Mr. Green Can Help: pharmacist, counter, consult, bottle, swelling
9. Hassan is Sad and Sick: soccer, afternoon, temperature
10. Hassan Feels Better: vegetables, uniform, yellow
11. At the Soccer Park: people
12. The Big Game: Blazers, Chargers, passing, thirty minutes, goodbye, tomorrow

It is October. It is cool outside. Leaves on the trees are red, yellow, and brown. Some leaves are falling down. Soon it will be cold.

Veras kids need their jackets. Where are their jackets? Vera opens the hall closet door. She looks for Carmens purple jacket. Davids jacket is blue. Vera takes out the jackets. Will they still fit Carmen and David?

Vera says, Carmen, come here please! Put on your purple jacket. David, please come too! I have your blue jacket from last year. We will see if the jackets still fit.

Carmen puts on her purple jacket. She zips it. She puts on the hood. It still fits! It is the right size. Vera is happy.

David puts on his blue jacket. But he cant zip it. The zipper is broken. The arms are too short. This jacket does not fit. It is too small.

David says, Mom, it doesnt fit. I need a new jacket for the winter.

Vera says, Yes, I can see that. We will go shopping on Saturday. There is a weekend sale.

On Saturday, Vera and her family go shopping. David needs a new jacket. It is October, and it is cool outside. The mornings are cold.

Ricardo drives the car to the store. There is a weekend sale. Coats and jackets are 40% off. Ricardo and David go to the boys section. Vera and Carmen look around at the purses and scarves.

David likes the red jackets with black stripes. He picks one with a hood. David tries a size 10. The size 10 is too tight. It is too small. He tries a size 12. It is just right.

David tells Ricardo, Dad, I like this jacket. It is just right for me.

Ricardo tells David, Son, you are growing fast. You are getting tall. This is a 12. Is there a 14?

David finds a size 14 jacket. He takes it off the rack, and he puts it on. It is a little big, but it will be okay. He likes the black stripes and the hood.