Kinney Brothers Publishing

ESL Teaching & Publishing

esl textbooks

Beginning Adult English – A Closer Look

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The Beginning Adult English series, by Kinney Brothers Publishing, is designed to extend students’ skills and interest in communicating in English. The two-book series provides students with exercises in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each textbook is detailed below with links for downloadable previews and purchase.

Kinney Brothers Publishing offers a wide range of ESL textbooks including Stories For Young Readers for junior high through high school learners, a Phonics Series that begins with your youngest students, and an Easy Sight Words Series. Be sure to check out Trends, a topical set of intermediate and advanced worksheets for secondary and adult English language learners. If you’re looking for more support materials, you might be interested in Q&A, Cursive Writing!, and a treasure trove of games, charts, and flashcards in Donald’s English Classroom!

Communication Series – A Closer Look

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The Kinney Brothers Publishing Communication Series is designed to extend students’ skills and interest in communicating in English. The four-book series includes Stories For Young Readers and Dialogues For Young Speakers. The textbooks work in tandem to provide students with exercises in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each textbook is detailed below with links for downloadable previews and purchase.

In Japan, The Stories For Young Readers series is published by Independent Publishers International (I.P.I.) and available through Nellies English Books and David Paul’s ETJ Book Service.

You’ll find an abundance of support materials for this series in our online store, Donald’s English Classroom.  Visit for downloadable audio files, Lesson Packs, and Teacher’s Answer Keys. You’ll also see links for Lesson Packs on Google Slides for online courses and Kindle Books for your digital library.

Kinney Brothers Publishing offers a wide range of ESL textbooks including a Phonics Series that begins with your youngest students, an Easy Sight Words Series, and Trends for secondary and adult English language learners. If you’re looking for more support materials, be sure to check out Q&A, Cursive Writing!, and a treasure trove of games, charts, and flashcards in Donald’s English Classroom!

Fun Facts About English #59 – Words of Spanish Origin

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Fun Facts About English 59 Kinney Brothers Publishing

All of the highlighted words in the story below came into the English language via Spanish.

The English language is an amazing amalgamation of many European and other languages. Check out these posts about the linguistic influence of Native American languages, French, and classical languages like Greek and Latin!

See the previous or next Fun Facts About English

Donald's English Classroom

A good set of flashcards is worth its weight in gold! Check out all the vocabulary-building flashcard sets in Donald’s English Classroom!

Phonics & Spelling Series – Planning Ahead

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Phonics and Spelling Series Kinney Brothers Publishing

In the last post, I talked about Stories For Young Readers from Kinney Brothers Publishing and how to purchase the series for your classes.  In this post, I’ll focus on our Phonics & Spelling series.  I’ll provide links for purchasing and recommended support materials for each text to help you plan for new classes. Check out this post if you’re looking for supplementary resources for your classes.

For many teachers, a solid phonics program is the cornerstone of their pre-K thru elementary classes. Focused phonics lessons and phonemic awareness improve pronunciation, listening comprehension, and give students the confidence to read and understand English. The Kinney Brothers Publishing five-book Phonics &Spelling series is designed to teach kids the fundamental sounds and spelling of English in a multi-year, step-by-step ESL program.

The Phonics & Spelling series is also published by Independent Publishers International (I.P.I.) in Japan and available with a special discount for overseas customers through David Paul’s ETJ Book Service.

You’ll find an abundance of support materials for this series in our online store, Donald’s English Classroom.  Visit for downloadable flashcards, charts, games, and activities.

A to Z is the first step to introducing very young ESL students to the ABCs and phonics. If your kids are just learning to hold a pencil, this is the perfect primer.  Children love coloring the large images and build dexterity writing the upper and lower-case letters. Included are easy dot-to-dot coloring pages, mazes, and matching exercises.  Check out the preview to learn more.

A to Z Kinney Brothers Publishng
Flash Card Set – ABC Flash Card Set – Phonics Bingo – ABC & Phonics I Have/Who Has – ABC Bingo Animals – Sea Fishing

ABC & Phonics, Book 1 lays the groundwork for phonetic based learning and focuses on writing and identifying upper and lower case ABCs.  With basic writing, matching, and ordering exercises, teachers can readily assess student progress.  The alphabet is broken down into four sections, a-f, g-l, m-r and s-z with a review for each section.  Click here for support materials that include flashcards, charts, games, and activities that make learning the ABCs fun!  You can download a preview for this textbook here.

ABC and Phonics Kinney Brothers Publishing
Flash Card Set – ABC Flash Card Set – ABC Bingo – ABC Fishing – Alphabet Charts – Exit Tickets

Phonics & Spelling, Book 2 begins with a review of the ABCs and sets students on their first exercises in sounding out, reading, and writing three-letter (CVC) words.  Learned vocabulary is then set into easy sentences to teach students fundamental sentence constructs and meaning. Step by step, students also learn how to read and write a simple self-introduction.  The exercises progress in an easy-to-teach, easy-to-comprehend approach adaptable to any program. Included are review pages, puzzles, games, and reading exercises that students find challenging and fun!  Be sure to check out the preview here!

Phonics and Spelling, Book 2 Kinney Brothers Publishing
Flash Card Set – CVC Word Charts – CVC Word Puzzles – CVC I Have/Who Has – Swimming with Sharks – CVC Write Around the Room

Phonics & Spelling, Book 3 takes students further in building English reading and writing skills.  Book 3 begins with a review of CVC words and then takes students to the next challenge of reading, writing, and spelling silent ‘e’ (CVCe) words, words with ea-ee-ey spelling, as well as th, sh, and ch digraphs.  Exercise pages also include practice with numbers, plurals, more extended reading practice, and basic question forms using do and can.  Check out the preview here!

Phonics and Spelling, Book 3 Kinney Brothers Publishing
Flash Card Set – CVCe Word Charts – CVCe I Have/Who Has – Silent e Bingo – Phonics Activity Set – ESL Pronunciation Practice

Phonics & Spelling, Book 4 completes the phonics series with almost two hundred packed pages of phonics lessons, reading and writing practice, puzzles, spelling tests, and Q&A drills. Exercises include consonant blends, digraphs, diphthongs, and practice with silent k, g, and ion.  The phonics lessons in this textbook create a solid foundation that supports students in their future English language learning.  Download a preview here.

Phonics and Spelling Book 4 Kinney Brothers Publishing
Flash Card Set – Diphthong & Digraph Charts – Task Cards – 320 Word Flash Card Set – Clock Bingo – Community Places

If you’d like to learn more about all Kinney Brothers Publishing has to offer, please download our catalogues!  Peruse the complete lineup of our Global Edition ESL Textbooks or check out our ESL Store right from your desktop!  Sign up for our newsletter and download a free CVC I Have/Who Has Activity Set!

Kinney Brothers Publishing Catalogues

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at info@kinneybrothers.com.

As always, best of luck in your classes!

Donald Kinney
Kinney Brothers Publishing
kinneybrothers.com

Supplemental Resources – Planning Ahead

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In the last two posts, I talked about Stories For Young Readers and the Phonics & Spelling series from Kinney Brothers Publishing. In this post, I’ll focus on supplementary materials and provide links for a closer look at each resource.

A solid textbook series is worth its weight in gold. On the other hand, no textbook can give you everything you need in the classroom. Classes are as different as the students who come to study. Differentiation, age levels, extra and special activities, homework, and assessments are some of the myriad ways supplementary materials serve a teacher in the classroom. Personal and school libraries should have resources that are congruent in content and readily available to meet the dynamic needs of your curriculum.

You’ll find an abundance of supplementary materials that work in tandem with our textbook series. They are available as digital download files in our online store, Donald’s English Classroom, or as printed textbooks from Kinney Brothers Publishing.

Phonics Challenge, Book 1, drills young ESL students in identifying and spelling three-letter (CVC) words through basic exercises, puzzles, and games. Phonics Challenge, Book 2, offers worksheets for identifying and spelling silent ‘e’ (CVCe) words. Each textbook works with a base vocabulary of 80 words. With review pages, game boards, reading, and writing exercises, The two-book Phonics Challenge series will give your students hours of engaging and enjoyable English practice. Check out the previews for Book 1 and Book 2!

Easy Sight Words 1, 2, & 3 drill students in a vocabulary of twenty-five sight words in each textbook. The textbooks offer differentiated exercises for easy writing, word identification, and reading practice. Review pages include primary word building activities, word-order exercises, graphing, word search, game boards, and more! With a focus on contextual language building, the Easy Sight Words series is complementary to any phonics and reading curriculum. Download previews for Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3!

Q&A can be used as a teacher’s resource or as a textbook to provide students with over 200 pages of primary question and answer practice. Students are drilled in basic question forms using do, can, are, is, what, when, how, where, which, and who. The worksheets cover simple present, present continuous, and simple past tenses with language appropriate for beginning ESL students. This is an invaluable resource for every language teacher and school library! Be sure to check out the preview for Q&A!

Clock Work exercises ESL students in the primary skill of reading and understanding analog clocks. Simple, step-by-step worksheets guide students from easy practice to more complex concepts of telling time and language. These basic worksheets are useful for children who are just learning to read clocks thru adults brushing up their language skills. Download the preview for Clock Work here!

Cursive Writing! exercises young ESL students in the primary skill of cursive handwriting. Step-by-step lessons lead students from easy ABC practice to writing longer passages. While building students’ dexterity and recognition skills, Cursive Writing! also introduces students to the pleasure of expressive handwriting. Be sure to check out the preview for Cursive Writing!

If you’d like to learn more about all Kinney Brothers Publishing has to offer, please download our catalogues!  Peruse the complete lineup of our Global Edition ESL Textbooks or check out our ESL Store right from your desktop!  Sign up for our newsletter and download a free CVC I Have/Who Has Activity Set!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at info@kinneybrothers.com.

As always, best of luck in your classes!

Donald Kinney
Kinney Brothers Publishing
kinneybrothers.com

Stories For Young Readers – Planning Ahead

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Kinney Brothers Publishing Stories For Young Readers

No matter the time of year, I get inquiries about the best way to purchase Kinney Brothers Publishing textbooks and downloadable resources.  You shouldn’t have to worry about getting the materials you need for your students.  We offer many options so you can make the best choices for your classes. Check out these posts if you’re looking for phonics or supplementary materials for your classes.

The Stories For Young Readers series is available in a variety of formats and sources. For online shoppers, this series available through Amazon.com worldwide! In Japan, the series is published by Independent Publishers International (I.P.I.) and available with a special discount through David Paul’s ETJ Book Service. For pdf and paperless downloads, visit Donald’s English Classroom!

The Stories For Young Readers series includes questions, grammatical explanations, exercises, and puzzles for beginning students. The books are designed to extend students’ skills and interest in communicating in English. Teachers can utilize the stories and exercises for listening comprehension, reading, writing, and conversation.  Book 1 focuses on present simple and present continuous reading exercises.  Book 2 takes students further with simple past, past continuous, and simple future tenses.

Check out the previews or download the first readings from Book 1 and Book 2  for free!  They include audio files, answer keys, and dialogues!

Stories For Young Readers Book 1 Kinney Brothers Publishing

You’ll find an abundance of support materials for this series in our online store, Donald’s English Classroom.  Visit for downloadable flashcards, charts, games, textbooks, answer keys, and audio files.

Stories For Young Readers Book 2 Kinney Brothers Publishing

You might also be interested in Dialogues for Young Speakers – a series of dialogues and surveys designed to extend students’ conversation skills. Following Stories for Young Readers, the dialogues progress from present simple to present continuous in Book 1, and simple past, past continuous, and future tenses in Book 2. Not only will teachers find a wealth of material that will get students up and talking, the dialogues also prove that students can effectively communicate with even a limited vocabulary. You can download these textbooks online, order directly from the Kinney Brothers Publishing web site, or order on Amazon.co.jp.  Download previews for Book 1 and Book 2 here!

Dialogues For Young Speakers Kinney Brothers Publishing

If you’d like to learn more about all Kinney Brothers Publishing has to offer, please download our catalogues!  Peruse the complete lineup of our Global Edition ESL Textbooks or check out our ESL Store right from your desktop!  Sign up for our newsletter and download a free CVC I Have/Who Has Activity Set!

Kinney Brothers Publishing Catalogues

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at info@kinneybrothers.com.

As always, best of luck in your classes!

Donald Kinney
Kinney Brothers Publishing
kinneybrothers.com