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Research has shown that students can be taught to comprehend the material better while they are reading. Successful instruction of this type has usually focused on the teaching of comprehension strategies — that is, intentional actions students can use during reading to guide their thinking. Such strategies improve both understanding and memory. Some strategies that have been successfully taught include summarization, questioning, story maps, comprehension monitoring, and graphic organizers; however, the teaching of the combined use of multiple strategies has been most effective in improving reading. Strategy teaching is most effective when it takes a gradual release-of-responsibility approach in which the teacher models the strategy use (“I do it”), guides students to use it successfully within reading (“We do it”), and then assigns independent practice with the strategy (“You do it”). Reading comprehension instruction needs to take place in both narrative and expository text.
This tool kit can help U.S. educators and others who work directly with immigrant students — including asylees and refugees — and their families. It is designed to help elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff strengthen opportunities for cultural and linguistic integration and education; understand the basics about their legal obligations to newcomers; provide welcoming schools and classrooms for students and their families; provide the academic support to attain English language proficiency and to meet college- and career-readiness standards; and support newcomers’ social-emotional skills.
This toolkit includes background information on reaching out to Hispanic parents, four sample workshops, videos in Spanish and English, booklists, and bilingual handouts. Additions to the toolkit include a new parent workshop on helping children become successful readers and 200 children’s book titles geared towards Latino families.
Keeping periodic track of the progress English language learners are making in their second language acquisition skills is essential. This starter kit provides helpful forms for PK-12 educators who work with ELLs to find out if they’re on track learning the important academic English skills they need to be successful.
This 10-chapter toolkit features recommendations on how to implement best practices with ELLs. It includes information on topics such as how to write curriculum, communicate with parents, and serve ELLs with disabilities, as well as updates on research. The toolkit is the companion document to a letter sent to states, which outlines legal obligations to English Learners under civil rights laws.
