About ELLs: Guides for Instruction

These books offer a great introduction to working with ELLs. Each guide covers a number of helpful topics such as getting to know your students, creating a welcoming classroom environment, and working with parents.

More booklists are available that focus on specific topics such as ELLs in elementary and secondary grades, as well as on immigrants, refugees, and internationally adopted students.

Between Worlds, Third Edition: Access to Second Language Acquisition

In the third edition of this title by ELL experts David E. and Yvonne S. Freeman, the authors present the most up-to-date research from the field regarding second language acquisition and best practices for ELLs in a format that is accessible and easy to use. Topics include in-depth case studies of students, as well as theories of language acquisition, bilingual education, reading instruction, academic language, and how a school's cultural orientation impacts student language learning. Each chapter also presents discussion questions, classroom examples, and teacher reflections.

English Language Learners: Day by Day K-6

During her experience as an ESL and bilingual teacher, Christina Celic has compiled a number of practical strategies for creating an effective and welcoming learning environment in her classroom. In this guide, she shares hands-on approaches for classroom set-up and management, creating a class profile, determining appropriate homework assignments, and incorporating content learning throughout the classroom and curriculum. The first chapter, focusing on classroom set-up, is available on the publisher website.

English Language Learners: The Essential Guide

This book provides an excellent introduction to English language learners and effective ELL instruction. Topics include: getting to know your students, teaching language through content, and developing academic language. The guide, which refers to a number of specific policy and instruction models throughout the country, also ties strategies to multicultural children's books, and offers suggestions for further reading on a number of topics.

Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice

Dr. Wayne E. Wright offers a timely overview of the ELL field for educators and administrators that includes chapters about: ELL demographics; second-language theory; historical background; ELL policy at the federal, state, and local level; ELL assessment; language instruction; content-area instruction; primary language support; and technology in the classroom. Chapters tools such as guiding questions, activities, key terms, supporting documents, and exercises available on a companion website make this an essential resource for pre-service courses and professional development.

From Borsch to Burgers: A Cross-Cultural Memoir

Half o a bowl of borsch and half of a burger

This singular memoir from one of Ukraine’s new literary lights tracks her journey from a little girl toiling in the potato fields of the Soviet Union to the shiny but sometimes foreign new world of America. From Borsch to Burgers elegantly and humorously captures her gleeful yet puzzling journey through new foods, customs, language, and love. Her message of cross-cultural discovery presents enlightening insights into understanding the nuances found in spanning two worlds.

Getting Started with English Language Learners: How Educators Can Meet the Challenge

Whether you're a new teacher or a veteran with lots of experience working with English language learners, you'll find a wealth of useful information in this practical guide by Judie Haynes, an experienced ESL teacher and co-founder of the website EverythingESL. The book begins with a discussion of the stages of second language development and also covers such topics as working with newcomers, differentiating instruction for ELLs, and challenges related to content area instruction for ELLs.

If Only You Knew

If Only You Knew
Age Level: Young Adult

Emily Francis' memoir tells her story through a series of letters she writes to eight immigrant students in whom she sees pieces of herself. She shares memories from her childhood in Guatemala, where she worked in her mother’s fruit-selling business and helped raise her four younger siblings, through her journey into the United States as an undocumented, unaccompanied minor, and to her experience fulfilling her dream of becoming an award-winning educator of immigrant students and English learners.

Schoolwide Approaches to Educating ELLs: Creating Linguistically and Culturally Responsive K-12 Schools

In this helpful guide, Professor Sonia Soltero of DuPaul University takes a fresh look at the schoolwide factors that influence ELL achievement and offers suggestions on how to orient the entire school community towards ELL success. She includes a timely discussion of language learning myths, the role of public opinion on ELL programming, and the socioeconomic realities that can affect students and parents alike, as well as classroom ideas and recommendations for leadership and advocacy.

Supporting English Language Learners: A Guide for Teachers and Administrators

Learn how to help ELLs thrive in the classroom and school community from veteran educator Farin A. Houk. Written in a style that is thoughtful, compassionate, and easy to read, Houk offers numerous examples and specific strategies to assist school leaders (at the classroom, department, and administrative levels) develop a schoolwide plan for addressing ELLs' needs, allocating resources on behalf of ELLs, providing effective instruction, and becoming advocates at the district and local level.

Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress

Half the students in U.S. schools are experiencing or have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. Much has been written about these students from a therapeutic perspective, especially regarding how to provide them with adequate counseling supports and services. Conversely, little has been written about teaching this population and doing so from a strengths-based perspective.

Using real-world examples as well as research-based principles, this book shows how to

The More-Than-Just-Surviving Handbook: ESL for Every Classroom Teacher

The newest edition of this helpful handbook presents a number of strategies for addressing daily challenges that both ESL and mainstream teachers face in the classroom, such as: How do I prepare for a new ESL student? How do I balance the needs of students at different reading levels? How do I manage difficult classroom behavior? A number of appendices and forms are included as well.

The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America

The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America

Journalist Jo Napolitano delves into the landmark case in which the School District of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sued for refusing to admit older, non-English speaking refugees and sending them to a high-discipline alternative school. In a legal battle that mirrors that of the Little Rock Nine and Brown v. Board of Education, 6 brave refugee students fought alongside the ACLU and Education Law Center to demand equal access.