English Learning Book Series for Monastic Use "New Words with Tissa and Phussa"

Currently, there are two books produced for this series.

To download, click HERE (then choose Tissa & Phussa Series)

In producing this series of books, the Dolch words list and Buddhism terms which are related to the daily life of the young samaneras (novices), including the practices of the monastics and layman, are used.

By using day-to-day terms, we hope the young monastics learn to read and communicate with each other in English faster. Subsequently, that they be able to read the Jātaka picture books, and later the other suttas translated directly from the Pāli suttas.

What is the Dolch words list?

Dolch words are high frequency English vocabulary commonly used to teach children to read.

The Dolch sight words list consists of 220 frequently used words that make up 50% to 75% of the usage in English language. These words cannot be decoded by the typical pronunciation rules, thus they are to be memorised.

How to use these books?

Start from book 1. The book gradually introduces new words, followed by simple sentences, and the words are repeated in different sentences or context. Students are advised to read the book aloud, either in small groups or in front of the classroom using a hand pointer.

New words are highlighted in bold. Students will be able to keep track of the words they have learned and motivated to continue learning new words.

Some books are divided into different sections. The same section is repeated until students are confident with the new words before they proceed to the next section of the book.

Remarks: The books are in A5 size PDF document, thus it is best to print as a booklet using A4 papers.