Category: Literacy

Suggestions for Pre-K English language assessment tools

Although the State of Missouri does not recognize or require a single assessment tool to evaluate the English language proficiency of pre-K learners, the question does come up from early childhood educators in Missouri.  A recent poll from MELL Specialists across the state, enabled me to curate a worthy list of pre-K assessment tools that MO districts might want to consider.  Please note that tools listed below do not represent an endorsement of their effectiveness:

MO DESE Early Learning Section recommends (not requires) The Desired Results Developmental Profile which has a section specifically for English Language Learners, more commonly known as the DRDP (2015).

The Bilingual Early Language Assessment (BELA) was recommended in a book called “One Child Two Languages”.  It was developed at Harvard and used in the Cambridge Public Schools:  BELA Toolkit

The State of Illinois uses (actually requires) the Pre-IPT

Many states use the Pre-LAS

A speech pathologist working in education in Seattle recommended Pre-school Language Scales, 5th Edition (Spanish)

The Texas pre-K language assessment was recommended as being especially helpful for students from migrant families.

If you are using a specific pre-K language assessment not included on this list, I’d love to hear from you.  Leave a comment with your recommendation, why you find it reliable, and provide a link if possible.

Thanks for reading and sharing!

A Great Idea for Project Based Learning

 

New York Times Third Annual Student Editorial Contest: Write About an Issue That Matters to You

What can we learn from students who are migrant, immigrant, and refugee?  The unique perspectives of students can reach millions through the New York Times annual student editorial contest.  A perfect project for an ELA, Social Studies, or sheltered classroom.

Find all the deets here:  Student Writing Contest

Deadline:  March 29

 

Appropriateness of Online Discussions in the ELL Classroom

Last semester I posted a blog about multicultural youth literature.  A favorite book on my recommendation list is Sold.

Here’s how a National Writing Project  found that “Sold” fostered immigrant students’ abilities to participate in on-line discussion groups in meaningful ways.

How have you incorporated Sold in your classroom?

 

Even more resources for multicultural youth literature

Those of you who attended my workshop on multicultural youth literature may be happy to know I’ve found more resources to support the inclusion of quality kid-friendly lit from around the world in classrooms and school libraries. (I’m pretty sure that’s a run-on sentence, but forgive me it’s almost time for winter vacation!)

  1.  How about the idea of reading around the world?  A great concept, huh?  Easily adaptable to an all-school challenge perhaps?  If you haven’t see this TEDTalk by Ann Morgan, it’s very worth the 12 minute time-investment to spark your curiosity about multicultural literature.  Another score, Morgan’s blog also provides her complete reading list from the entire year!

2.  An EL teacher-colleague and friend highly recommends the World Stories site.  After spending a little time checking out the site, I’m impressed!  Not only are the stories submitted by youth, they have downloadable PDF versions in English and the original language.  In most cases you’ll also find an audio reading accompanies the story in often hard to find languages.  (Pretty cool to hear an entire story in Turkish, for example.) I’m already thinking about how I can use these resources to support newcomers, support and strengthen the longevity of heritage language skills with families, and even broaden perspectives on literature while using the audio story-telling components to build awareness of the need for (and beauty of) integrating additional language skills in historically English dominant classrooms.  So many ideas, so little time!  One caveat:  you’ll notice that the site is sponsored by philanthropists in the UK which means the English pronunciation will sound a bit different.  (I’m not aware of a similar site in the U.S., but would appreciate knowing about it if you’re willing to share in a reader-reply.)

3.  If you’re not using NewsELA as a source for non-fiction you’re missing out on a fantastic resource.  Daily news articles reflect highly current issues on a global scale.  In addition to the multi-lexiled options for each story, AND the Spanish-language versions, AND the standards based Q&As that follow each lexiled version of a story, I also appreciate that a significant number of news stories are chosen for their appeal to students across a broad cultural base.  NewsELA also offers a balance of stories that speak to tragedy as well as triumph.  There are text sets to help you locate stories along a theme, or you can search stories by categories across 12 grades and along 8 reading standards.  Although it’s intended use is K-12, I’m even using stories from the site to help a 20 year-old EL improve his English reading and comprehension skills before an upcoming entrance exam for a local GED-Connections class. I pull stories from this site nearly every week for my adult ELs, and they can’t seem to get enough of these articles.   Are you getting the message that I <3 NewsELA?!

Where do you find resources for broadening the cultural base of literature with your students?