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.
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The number of English language learners (ELLs) in American schools has more than doubled over the past 20 years. The articles in this section will give you lots of useful ideas for creating an environment that is welcoming and supportive for your ELLs and their families, and also encourages and facilitates learning.
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Find ways to help English language learners with learning disabilities who are struggling in math. Strategies for working through mathematical problems, questioning, and assessment are included.
This article provides a number of ways that you can make storytelling a part of the time your family spends together.
The first five years of a child's life are a time of tremendous physical, emotional, social, and cognitive growth. The experiences a child has during this time can make an impact on their readiness to learn. Here the Education Department offers some tips to guide parents in choosing childcare.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has upped the ante in determining accountability for school districts across the country. This article reveals ways to move beyond conventional testing methods to provide the best possible learning environment or students.
Integrated Vocabulary Instruction: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners in Grades K-5
An integrated and comprehensive approach to vocabulary instruction is important for all students, particularly English language learners.
Making Music: Literacy Tips for Parents
Music is a great way to introduce children to sounds and words! Research indicates that exposure to music has numerous benefits for a child's development.
Children who aren't motivated to read can benefit from support at home. Learn what parents can do to make reading a more enjoyable experience for struggling readers in this interview with Dr. Marie Carbo.
Seeking Help for a Struggling Reader: 8 Steps for Parents
What should you do if you think your child is having trouble with reading? Sometimes children just need more time, but sometimes they need extra help. Trust your instincts! You know your child best. If you think there's a problem, there probably is.
Closing the Achievement Gap: Focus on Latino Students
This policy brief provides a snapshot of the current demographic and achievement trends of Latinos, some of the specific barriers to closing the achievement gap, and presents a set of recommendations to improve educational opportunities for Latino children.
Parents' Guide to Standardized Testing
Standardized testing is one form of assessment used in schools. Find out about standardized tests, how and why schools use them, and how you can support your child in this article for parents.
Informal Reading Assessments: Examples
These sample charts explain how to assess students informally in the classroom. Most of the assessments here should be given one-on-one.
Building Trust with Schools and Diverse Families
While increased family involvement is linked to improves student performance, it is not always fully understood and examined within schools. Different types of involvement may include parenting, communicating with schools, volunteering at schools, supporting learning at home, participating in school governance and decision-making, and taking part in school-community collaborations. In order to encourage and foster this comprehensive involvement with all families, school administrators and teachers must develop mutual trust, consider the different cultural attitudes some families may have towards schooling, and be diligent in reaching out.
Student Essay: Fulfilling a Family's Dream
This essay was written by a former ELL student during her participation in programs offered by College Summit, an organization dedicated to strengthening a college-going culture for all students, and for supporting low-income students' college application process. The author describes her experiences as a young girl having to care for her younger brother each day while her mother worked in the afternoon, and remembers an incident that nearly broke apart her family. "I felt I was an adult before I was a kid," she writes.
Poor Children's Fourth-Grade Slump
Teachers have often reported a fourth-grade slump in literacy development, particularly for low-income children, at the critical transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." This study uses Chall's stages of reading development to take a closer look.
English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction
Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.
Teaching English-Language Learners: What Does the Research Say?
The Latino population is the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. This policy brief provides the data and context to support a call for increased attention to the condition of education for Latino students.
English Language Learners with Special Needs: Effective Instructional Strategies
Students struggle in school for a variety of reasons. Unless these students receive appropriate intervention, they will continue to struggle, and the gap between their achievement and that of their peers will widen over time.
What Are Learning Disabilities?
As parents you are familiar with the term learning disability. Yet, it seems that there are so many types, and each educator or other professional you work with uses different terms or ways to describe your son or daughter. The following outline might be helpful in putting these terms and concepts in perspective.
¿Qué son las discapacidades de aprendizaje?
Como padre, puede que está familiarizado con el término "impedimentos del aprendizaje". Aún así, parece que hay demasiados tipos, y cada maestro o profesional que trabaja con usted tiene diferentes términos o maneras de describir a su hijo o hija. La siguiente discusión puede ayudarle a poner estos términos y conceptos en perspectiva.
Bilingual Students With Disabilities Get Special Help
There are many children who are eligible for both special education and English as a Second Language instruction, but few models for how to serve these children well. Learn about a program in Clark County, Nevada in which dually trained teachers provide overlapping instruction to meet both these needs.
This study follows a group of teachers implementing an early reading intervention program with students at-risk for learning disabilities, most of whom were also English language learners.
Learning to read in a new language involves different skills than learning to speak. Here's how teachers can make sure ELLs are getting solid reading instruction.
Context Counts in Second Language Learning
Learning a second language is hard, but it can be made easier when the teacher knows a bit about the similarities between the first and second languages, and can successfully motivate students.
Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading, writing and spelling difficulties. This article provides a list of common signs of dyslexia.
Helping Parents Communicate Better With Schools
Good communication between parents and teachers has many benefits. When parents and teachers share information, children learn more and parents and teachers feel more supported. Good communication can help create positive feelings between teachers and parents.
Preventing Difficulties for Low English Proficiency Children
Hispanic students in the United States are at especially high risk of reading difficulties. Despite progress over the past 15 to 20 years, they are about twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to read well below average for their age.
Who Are the Children Who Have Reading Difficulties?
Knowing which children are more likely to be at risk for reading problems allows for early intervention to prevent the majority of these problems from developing. Learn what group and individual factors make certain children at risk.
Evaluation is used to identify the children who are eligible for special education and the type of help they need. Find out four steps in the evaluation process, from analyzing known information to developing a program.
Recommendations for Teaching Reading to ELLs
Although more research is needed, the research we do have suggests that knowing how to speak English makes it easier to learn to read English. This article makes some recommendations for teaching reading to non-English-speaking children, and raises questions for future research.
English Language Learners and Reading Difficulties
English language learners are at risk for future reading difficulties for a number of reasons. Here are some factors all teachers of ELLs should know.
Teaching English Language Learners
Children who are learning English as a second language have been taught to read both with and without using their native language as a base for learning. Research gives us some insight into what works with English language learners.
Research Agenda: Reading Among Children for Whom English is the Second Language
Research suggests that reading instruction in a child's first language has a positive effect on literacy development in both languages. Ideas for further research on teaching English language learners to read are included.
Recommendations for Teaching Reading to LEP Students
Researchers recommend learning to speak a new language before learning to read it, since spoken language familiarizes newcomers with new word patterns and sounds.
Writing and Spelling: Practical Ideas for Parents
As children learn some letter-sound matches and start to read, they begin to write words and sentences. Seeing how words are spelled helps children in reading and writing.
Writing and Spelling Ideas to Use with Kids
As children learn some letter-sound matches and start to read, they also begin to experiment with writing. These activities can be used with children to develop their writing and spelling abilities.
Acquiring a Second Language for School
Learning a second language for school is not simply a linguistic challenge; it poses social, cultural, academic, and cognitive challenges as well. This article describes a conceptual model for acquiring a second language for school that reflects all these challenges, and makes recommendations for instruction stemming from this model.
Creating Programs for Language Minority Families
For language minority families, learning English is a key component of family literacy programs. This article describes questions to consider when establishing a program for language minority families.
A Guide to Learning Disabilities for the ESL Classroom Practitioner
It is estimated that in the United States, 15% of the general population has a learning disability. It is possible that many of the ESL students whom we view as poor language learners are struggling because they too have a learning disability.
Creating Programs for Language Minority Families
Learning English is often the reason that language minority families seek out community programs. This article describes questions to consider when establishing a family literacy program.
In teaching second language learners how to speak and read English, it is important not to neglect their writing development. Here are some strategies for teaching ESL children to become writers.
I teach kindergarten to Spanish-speaking students and have very much liked your materials.
~ Amy S., Boston Public Schools
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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.
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