Community FAQs

ELL levels are the language proficiency levels. Although the level numbers and names may vary from state to state, there is generally consistency in their descriptors. For example, the state of California uses proficiency levels 1 to 4 to describe where their English learners are at in their language development. Level 1 is Beginning, Level 2 is Emerging, Level 3 is Expanding, and Level 4 is Bridging. States using WIDA standards use proficiency levels 1-6: Entering, Beginning, Developing, Expanding, Bridging, and Reaching. Lower levels indicate beginner-level students while the higher levels indicate more advanced English learners.  

Note: What is most important to look at as an educator is the language proficiency descriptors for each level. These describe what English language skills these students can demonstrate and those skills that need to be developed.

Start by building trust through an open dialogue with students and families about their cultural backgrounds. Start conversations with phrases like 'Help me understand your traditions' or 'Tell me about how things are done in your culture.' This creates space for you to share information about American school culture in return. When speaking with families, use the same approach: 'Help me understand more about your child.' This opens a respectful pathway to discuss school matters while honoring their cultural perspectives.

Another way to explore your students’ cultural traditions is to have theme-based learning units that develop language and culture simultaneously. Here are two examples:  

• Explore my school: Introduce students to locations in a school, personnel, extracurricular activities, classes, events, holidays, etc. 
• Explore my background: Invite students to share their cultural backgrounds with American culture. Try using a graphic organizer and visuals to compare/contrast.

Some districts have an APL or an Assessment of Primary Language, which consists of a short reading and writing assessment.

If this does not exist, you will have to do a little bit of investigation. First, make sure you know your student’s L1 or primary language. Then get a few basic reading or writing resources in that language and see if the student can engage with the material.  During this informal assessment, be sure to meet one-on-one with the student at a place where you cannot be overheard by other students. This discussion may be uncomfortable for students who do not have L1 literacy.

Look for resources that provide a contrastive analysis of the two languages, which can help newcomer students draw similarities and differences between their native language and English. Use resources that explore foundational literacy skills such as comparing the print (e.g. written alphabet) of the language and sound-symbol relationships as well as conversational aspects of the language.

One of the best ways to involve your families is to reach out to them. Welcome them. Provide your office hours and accessible phone numbers. And, most importantly, make sure these communications are translated into the languages they read and speak. If possible have a translator reach out to them via phone or home visit. 

It is very important to know what is on your English learners' Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is a legal document outlining the type of support that the students should be receiving. This might mean that the students should be receiving an instructional support aide to support the students with accessing English content. It could also mean the student receives additional supports during testing. If teachers are not aware of these supports, these students will probably not receive them which may mean non-compliance.  

Yes. WIDA tends to be content-heavy, but it does provide detailed differentiation of student skills and competency expectations at each level. You may have to do some digging into the proficiency level standards to understand the nuances of what skills are being taught.

When looking at the WIDA standards, look specifically in the section about Language Functions and Features. These sections speak specifically to language development.  

Most students in the early primary grades acquire English fairly quickly.  However, it is also important that the students receive direct instruction in foundational literacy skills (e.g., sound-symbol relationship, phonics, phonemic awareness, syntax, etc.) in English as well as be given structured grammar, speaking, reading, and writing opportunities.

This is not always an easy task. Many content teachers will simply not try or abandon any scaffolds that they think do not benefit all of their students. I would start by providing my content teachers simple ways to scaffold instruction such as sheltered instructional techniques (think-pair-share, graphic organizers, step-by-step instructions, etc.)

One place to start is to make sure that you know your students’ proficiency levels. Use your state's ELD standards to help develop your lessons. This will help you target your instruction. 

Then consider grouping your students by language levels when providing direct instruction. Small group instruction will allow you to differentiate your instruction for students with adjacent proficiency levels. For example, students at the beginning levels of language, both early and late (Level 1 and Level 2), would benefit from working together in a small group. In contrast, students at a higher proficiency level (Level 3 and LTELs), would benefit from working in a small group. 

You may also want to consider dividing your instruction into comprehensible chunks. Consider 15 to 20 minutes of direct instruction and 20 minutes of independent/paired practice) based on the same language skills taught in direct instruction.

Also, develop assignments that students can complete outside of your time with them. Provide extra credit, incentives, or certificates for completing these assignments. Make sure that the work that they are completing outside of class is connected to the language skills/competencies that you were covering during class. 

Yes, Language Tree does have resources that connect language to content. Language skill instruction is integrated in the context of academic content. This cross-curricular integration is especially important for more advanced learners who will be exposed to academic language throughout their school day and in their summative assessments.  

As ELD educators, think of language standards as the "driver" and the content topics/areas as the "passengers" in your instruction.  It's important for students to understand the relevance of language across all their subjects because language lives in math, science, and social sciences. There are some great publications that can help educators learn more about “Integrated ELD (English Language Development).

So much of what you are talking about has a lot to do with building a classroom environment where students feel comfortable. When I was a teacher, I did a lot of team-building and class-building activities where students had to rely on one another to complete a certain task. Try to make it engaging and stress-free while establishing a list of classroom norms that include:

• "It's OK to make mistakes."
• "We learn by doing."
• "We don't judge others - we lift each other up."

When planning instruction for your beginning-level students, it is important to discriminate between language and content.  

For example, if you are introducing verb tenses to your students, focus on what the tenses are and how to use them before integrating content.  Try reading aloud (or have students read aloud) a short academic passage (e.g., science, history, etc.). This will demonstrate how language lives in different content areas. Invite students to look for all the past tense verbs in the passage. Ask about the meaning of each verb and how they know which verb tense is being used. Then ask students questions about the content of the reading passage. 

It’s very important to teach all facets of reading development. This should include the structure of the letters, sounds, and words. Students at a beginning level of reading need to be taught foundational language skills (letter sounds, blends, syllables, etc.) This is just as important as teaching comprehension. 

It’s always fun to use different types of text. I like to bring in song lyrics from popular songs and perhaps even play them in class. In terms of improving comprehension, I like to bring in short articles about current issues, or subject matter that is engaging. I like to front-load vocabulary for and with the students and provide visual context for what we might be reading. I ask a lot of who, what, why, where, and how questions depending on the nature of the content. I employ strategies for unpacking the main ideas and the use of details in the text as well. 

Reading assessments may also take the form of reading fluency tests for time and accuracy, and prosidy/intonation

Yes and no.  When teaching an English language skill, it is essential that students be able to then apply their understanding of that skill without using a translation tool. Translation in this context does not teach the student how to use that skill.  

One approach you may take is to ask students if this English skill exists in their L1. Use this strategy to identify the similarities and differences between their first language and English. For example, prepositions exist in both Spanish and English. Then have your students write down a list of prepositions in their L1. Finally, introduce these prepositions and their use in English. In this case, you are tapping their background knowledge to make the connections. Simply using translations does not show them how to use prepositions. 

On the other hand, if you are trying to build context about a topic or subject in a reading passage, you can encourage students to translate the passage first. However, the goal is always for them to successfully read the passage in English.  

Lastly, the other area where using translation is appropriate is if the English instruction for a task is unclear.