Reading
What to read? How to teach reading to EAL students?
This page highlights culturally responsive texts, the Science of Reading for EALs, and professional development considerations regarding reading for EAL students.
Also, visit the "Language Routines" page for more information about literacy development and strategies for EAL students of all ages.
Danger of a single story
All students benefit from reading a wide variety of texts: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, infographics, etc.
Wide reading, however, is fundamental for EAL students. Not only does reading extensively about themes and concepts build background knowledge and literacy skills, but also provides greater opportunities for students to connect their personal experiences to what is written on the page, leading to deeper understanding and engagement.
Click on the link above "Why Diverse Books Matter: Mirrors and Windows" to learn about why diverse books matter for all students and what's being done to increase students' access to diverse books.
Colorin Colorado offers numerous practical resources and tips for choosing books that reflect you students' experiences, cultures, and languages in "Using Diverse Books with ELLs: A Guide for Educators". Click on the link above.
Not only does this article highlight the troubling lack of diverse backgrounds represented in children's books, but it also provides some links to books by and about diverse and racialized people.
Diverse Text Lists
"I only knew of Laos through the language that we spoke at home. My parents didn't speak English at home because they spoke it with the vocabulary of a two-year-old. When you speak a language at that level, it takes away your power, your brilliance and your authority. So we always spoke Lao at home. "
Multilevel Informational Texts
West Coast Reader
Scholastic Talk About
Newsela
Science of Teaching Reading to EAL Students
The Science of Teaching Reading to English Learners.pdfCopy of Reading Research Quarterly - 2020 - Goldenberg - Reading Wars Reading Science and English Learners.pdfReading Research Quarterly - 2020 - Phillips Galloway - Broadening the Lens on the Science of Reading A Multifaceted.pdf
The Active View of Reading builds upon the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough's Rope Model of Reading.
This webinar on the Active View of Reading highlights how this model addresses the needs of EAL students.
Sightwords.com offers customizable word list options for most games.
Text complexity
The webinar, Making Text Accessible for ELs, shares six key considerations for making complex text accessible to ELs and provides easily implementable classroom activities for you and your colleagues. Join SupportEd's Jill Kester and guest co-host Erica Daniels as they explore practical strategies for supporting EL engagement and participation navigating and leveraging complex texts.
If you don't have time to watch the entire webinar, the link to the right provides a summary.
What Works - Multilevel -Texts.pdfThe collection of tools below can be used in setting expectations for the complexity of texts students need to be able to read. Visit achievethecore.org for more information.
Copy of 1. Know Yourself, Know Your Students - Achieve the Core.pdfCopy of 2. Initial Considerations for Complexity & Cultural Relevance - Achieve the Core.pdfCopy of SCASS_Text_Complexity_Qualitative_Measures_Lit_Rubric_2.8 - Achieve the Core.pdfCopy of SCASS_Info_Text_Complexity_Qualitative_Measures_Info_Rubric_2.8.pdf - Achieve the Core.pdfCopy of 3a. Qualitative Analysis Tool- Literary - Achieve the Core.pdfCopy of 3b. Qualitative Analysis Tool - Informational- Achieve the Core.pdf