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Lawrence Public Schools ESL Curriculum Playbook
Lawrence Public Schools ESL Curriculum Playbook
Building Language One Unit at a Time
Building Language One Unit at a Time
English language development requires more than a single program — no curriculum alone meets the full linguistic and academic needs of every Multilingual Learner. ESL curriculum in Lawrence must integrate all four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing) while supporting students across the WIDA Standards: Social and Instructional Language, and the Language of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.
Reflecting our district's "Open Architecture" model, each school has flexibility to select the ESL curriculum that best serves its English Learners. The ML Department strongly recommends the district-provided curriculum from Vista Higher Learning, aligned to both the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and WIDA ELD Standards, and designed to support language development across all four domains at every grade band. These resources give teachers a consistent, research-based foundation — while still leaving room for the professional judgment and responsiveness every ESL classroom requires.
This summer, 12 LPS teachers worked across all 19 ESL programs, K-12, to unpack Units 1 and 2 of each curriculum — translating standards and pacing into clear, teacher-ready guidance so every classroom starts the year with a strong foundation. You'll find that unpacked work in the ESL Curriculum Playbook.
Below, find our recommended programs organized by grade band, from Get Ready! for newcomers to LIFT and Engage for students at WIDA Level 2 and above. For the planning frameworks, WIDA tools, and methodology behind how these programs get translated into daily instruction, visit Instructional Best Practices.
Instructional Texts
Instructional Texts
If you are new to ESL instruction or have yet to attend an ESL specific graduate program and/or educator preparation program, the following texts may be of use; we are always happy to recommend additional resources:
Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching: A course in second language acquisition. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2014). Essential Linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Honigsfeld, A., & Dove, M. G. (2010). Collaboration and Co-teaching: Strategies for English learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (2013). How Languages are Learned. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Peregoy, S. F., & Boyle, O. (2017). Reading, Writing and Learning in ESL: A resource book for teaching K-12 English learners. Boston: Pearson.
Zwiers, J., & Crawford, M. (2011). Academic Conversations: Classroom talk that fosters critical thinking and content understandings. Portland, ME.: Stenhouse.
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