Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Teaching & Instruction
Good teaching can be the difference between success and failure for a young reader, especially one who is learning to read in English as a second language. All teachers need to have a large repertoire of methods and strategies at their fingertips if they are to help their students develop the reading and writing skills that will allow them to become successful learners. The articles in this section offer a variety of strategies that cover all components of reading instruction, as well as information on how to design an effective reading program.
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Culturally Responsive Instruction for Holiday and Religious Celebrations
The first step in implementing more culturally responsive instruction is recognizing how our own cultural conditioning is reflected in our teaching. This article shows teachers how to bring rich cultural content into their teaching in a way that expands students' knowledge and interest. The article offers suggestions that teachers can use throughout the school year, as well as when observing cultural and religious holidays and celebrations.
A School Year Start Up Checklist
Gear Up for a New School Year!
Starting a new school year positively is very important. It is likely that most teachers will have newly enrolled students in their classrooms, as well as students who do not speak English as their first language. For this reason, there is a lot for teachers to think about as they start the new school year.
It's time to go back to school! Whether you're a novice or an old pro, we have some ideas and resources to get you ready and set for the best school year yet!
Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners
Which words should you teach first? Use this guide to Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 words to effectively build your students' vocabularies.
Reading Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners
Explicit teaching of reading comprehension skills will help students apply these strategies to all subject matter.
How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs
This roadmap can help you teach content knowledge to ELLs through comprehensive lessons that develop background knowledge and build academic skills.
Cooperative Learning Strategies
Cooperative Learning is a great way to engage ELLs in learning both language and content. This article has several ideas for small group activities that build skills and promote teamwork.
Introducing a Text Before Reading
Teachers can help motivate students to learn by activating prior knowledge and pre-teaching difficult concepts and vocabulary before starting a new unit.
Oral Language Development for Beginners
Teach vocabulary and communication skills by having students act out simple activities. This strategy, called Total Physical Response, helps students in the early stages of language development.
English language learners have to learn content with their native English-speaking peers, but they have the added challenge of learning English at the same time. Here are some ways to support ELLs in learning academic content.
Using Children's Television to Learn Literacy and Language
Television can be another good way for English language learners to learn new words and improve their overall English skills.
Regardless of what reading program or strategies you use in your classroom, reading needs to be fun! There are many ways that you can help promote the joy of reading.
Standards-Based Writing for ELLs
Writing is a social process, and each culture has its own conventions about sharing narratives. Help ELLs become successful writers by fostering self-expression and explicitly teaching English writing conventions.
Knowing vocabulary words is key to reading comprehension. The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Using a variety of effective teaching methods will increase the student's ability to learn new words.
Reading In Middle and High School
English language learners (ELLs) enter U.S. schools in all grade levels, and with a wide range of backgrounds, reading skills, English language proficiency, and content knowledge. These resources address some of the unique challenges of working with older ELLs.
Reading in Second and Third Grades
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must have basic knowledge about sound-symbol relationships, vocabulary, and reading prosody. These form the basis for decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension that students will need to learn content in the upper grades.
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must be able to distinguish between different sounds and have basic knowledge about the written alphabet, sound-symbol relationships, and concepts of print. These form the basis for decoding and reading comprehension.
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must be able to distinguish between different sounds and have basic knowledge about the written alphabet, sound-symbol relationships, and concepts of print. These form the basis for decoding and reading comprehension.
Assess the fluency skills in your ELL students by finding the right reading level, tracking reading rate, and paying attention to expression and comprehension.
Why the name "Colorín Colorado"?
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Colorín Colorado is a free web-based, bilingual service that provides information, activities, and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (ELLs, also known as students of English as a second language).
Colorín Colorado is produced by Reading Rockets — an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital. Original artwork by Caldecott Award-winning illustrator David Diaz is used with permission.
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Colorín Colorado receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers. Additional funding is provided by the National Institute for Literacy and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
¡Colorín Colorado! ® is a registered trademark of WETA.
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