Tag Archives: ELLs

Bebop Books: Guided Reading Book Sets for the Classroom

Bebop Books is an exclusive imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that offers leveled books for guided reading and assessment in the classroom—all with the same commitment to diversity and cultural authenticity that sets all LEE & LOW books apart. In this blog post, we want to spotlight this special imprint and all it offers.

In 2014, children of color became the new majority in America’s public schools, so now more than ever, it’s important that classroom books and materials reflect today’s students.   Our Bebop Books resources are used in classrooms across the country to support literacy learning content for beginning readers, with multicultural content that affirms identity for all students. Continue reading

Bilingual Children’s Books at the NABE Conference

This week we’ll be attending the NABE (National Association for NABEBilingual Educators) Conference in Dallas, Texas. Will you be there? If so, please stop by booth #505 in the exhibit hall to say hello! Here are some of the great books and collections we’re excited to share there: Continue reading

Strategies For Teaching English Language Learners—Part 4: Writing, Speaking, & Listening Practice

Jill_EisenbergJill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science (IES) and What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) released the latest educator’s guide to present best instructional practices for English Language Learners. Over the last several weeks, I’ve looked at several different strategies for teaching English Language Learners based on that guide’s recommendations.

Today, we’ll take a look at how to incorporate vocabulary instruction into activities that support listening, speaking, and writing practice for English Language Learners. This is the final week I will focus on the guide’s first recommendation: Teach a set of academic vocabulary words intensively across several days using a variety of instructional activities.

Drumbeat in Our Feet
Drumbeat in Our Feet

Continue reading

Strategies For Teaching English Language Learners—Part 3: Teaching Vocabulary In Layers

Jill_EisenbergJill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science (IES) and What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) released the latest educator’s guide to present best instructional practices for English Language Learners.

Although we cannot explicitly teach all academic and content-specific words our students will need to know in their educations and careers, we can be strategic in how we teach 5-8 words a week so they can apply these word strategies to new words they come across on their own.

Last week I applied the guide’s recommendations on how to choose an appropriate text and vocabulary words for English Language Learners and I modeled it with the Lee & Low informational text, Drumbeat In Our Feet.

I will continue to focus on the guide’s first recommendation: Teach a set of academic vocabulary words intensively across several days using a variety of instructional activities.

Drumbeat In Our Feet
Drumbeat In Our Feet

Continue reading