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Scroll down to see a list of 4 interview questions on our language history.

Select the questions you would like to be asked. Choose two out of the four questions listed.

Interview each other guided by your partner’s selected questions

Tip: In the classroom, you can use this partner discussion activity to support students to apply both their developing academic vocabulary knowledge and their developing content knowledge about the cycle’s big idea.  In each cycle, the interview questions feature the target words and the scenario for the interview relates to the shared text.  To promote word analysis, sometimes the target words take a different morphological form (e.g., a prefix or suffix is added).

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Question: Planning time is a problem when it comes to supporting and connecting a wide range of students.

Response: Great point—this came up often in our reflection exercise. It would be valuable to discuss it during grade-level meetings.

Along with individual and team planning time, I’d also consider dedicated co-planning time for homeroom teachers and EAL specialists. Once that’s in place, you can explore co-planning routines that strengthen Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction for diverse learners. Have you come across Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove’s work? Here is a quick snapshot of their co-planning routines.

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Alphabet Letter Sounds Video for Clear Pronunciation

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Learn correct alphabet letter sounds in this video. Perfect for teaching alphabet sounds, minimizing schwa, and improving articulation for blending skills.

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XLIS ECEA-P6 - Building Bridges Best Practices for Multilingual Learners - November 2025

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XLIS ECEA-P6 - Building Bridges Best Practices for Multilingual Learners - August 2025

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"Save the Last Word" is a structured discussion protocol in which participants listen to others' interpretations of a selected text excerpt before explaining their own perspectives, ensuring everyone in the group has a voice and building active speaking and listening skills; it is beneficial because it fosters equitable participation, encourages deeper thinking, and helps quieter individuals contribute meaningfully to group discussions.

Find a word/sentence/phrase that you think is really important.

Number off 1-4.

Person 1 shares (just the word/sentence/phrase). Everyone takes 1 minute saying what they think about the sentence that was shared.

Person 1 then has “the last word” and summarizes what everyone has said, and tells what they’re thinking now.

Repeat with everyone else in the group.

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Zooming in #2: Isolating with Sound Sorts

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Zooming in #2: Isolating with Sound Sorts

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Zooming in #3: Segmenting with Elkonin Boxes

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Zooming in #3: Segmenting with Elkonin Boxes

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Summarizes the research--focus on the phoneme level!

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Rethinking Instruction in Phonological Awareness: Focus on What Matters!

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The importance of phoneme awareness for acquiring the alphabetic principle and for learning to read has been documented since the 1970s, gaining broad recognition when the National Reading Panel Report was published in 2000. Since then, instruction to foster phonological awareness has become routinely recommended for the early grades.

However, the widespread practice in schools is to target awareness of larger phonological structures such as words, syllables, and onset-rimes before focusing on phonemes, with attention to the phoneme not occurring until well into kindergarten or first grade.

During this hour-long webinar, Dr. Susan Brady will examine studies that raise questions regarding whether following this "continuum" is necessary and/or beneficial for students. She also discusses:
- The developmental sequence of phoneme awareness
- The importance of conducting phoneme awareness activities with letter knowledge and handwriting
- The benefits of this approach for all students

Watch this webinar to deepen your understanding of how and when to teach phonemic awareness to set students up for reading success.

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The Six Shifts: Phonemic Awareness Skills Development Tools Download

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The Six Shifts: Phonemic Awareness Skills Development Tools Download

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Phonemic Awareness Activities PDF: Skills Tools

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Download phonemic awareness activities with word lists and prompts. Includes blending, segmenting, and skill progression for effective instruction.

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Upper Primary Routine #1: Marking Up Big Words

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Upper Primary Routine #1: Marking Up Big Words

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Spelling Assessment - Reminders and Tips

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XLIS PRIMARY EKC Work Session - Transdisciplinary Writing

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EKC Padlet: Language Comprehension in the Play-based EY Classroom 

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EKC Padlet: Language Comprehension in the Play-based EY Classroom 

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Language Comprehension in the Play-based EY Classroom: Summer Course 2024

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Intentionally creating spaces and opportunities that engage learners in developing their oral language and literacy knowledge.

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Teachers know that encouraging young children to talk and listen improves their ability to communicate. This book gives them a power tool aligned with the science of reading: the "Strive-for-Five" framework. These responsive conversations start with what children say and continue as the teacher listens and responds over five turns--with the goal of stretching their talking and thinking, knowledge, vocabulary, reasoning, and other skills that underpin reading success.

In an accessible format that contains video clips, along with classroom anecdotes and model conversations, Zucker and Cabell show why Strive-for-Five conversations are important and how teachers can use them to engage children and develop their language comprehension. As teachers use the framework to build students' knowledge, vocabulary, reasoning, and other skills that underpin reading success, they'll also see students' confidence grow as they share their individual stories, ideas, and question s.

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Strive-For-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy

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Strive-For-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy : Zucker, Tricia, Cabell, Sonia: Amazon.sg: Books

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Upper Primary Routine #2: Reading Long Words Bit by Bit

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Upper Primary Routine #2: Reading Long Words Bit by Bit

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Additional Resources for Structured Writing

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Additional Resources for Structured Writing

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We have launched the new ReadWriteThink.org and we would love to get your feedback: Give Feedback

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Upper Primary Routine #3: Writing Big Words

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Upper Primary Routine #3: Writing Big Words

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What comes before phonics? The teaching of phonics is strongly embedded in early literacy teaching in schools and early years settings. It has been shown to be an important part of becoming literate. There is, however, significant concern about the formalising of phonics teaching for very young children.

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Most Common Missing Link: Phonemic Awareness

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Most Common Missing Link: Phonemic Awareness

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Word Work: UFLI Lesson Structures for Upper Grades

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Word Work: UFLI Lesson Structures for Upper Grades

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Lesson Structure | UF Literacy Institute

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The word mapper lets you type in a word and see its individual letters and sounds. It’s great for teaching phonics!

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Valentina Gonzalez)

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Valentina Gonzalez)

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

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Phoenix children’s hospital speech therapy

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Using Pictures to Promote Language Development

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This article was originally posted on 2-25-2017 and has been updated on 9-17-2020 to include information relevant to distance learning. “A picture is worth a thousand words” or so we’ve heard.…

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Melanie Meehan)

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Melanie Meehan)

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Over the last several weeks, I have been working with EL tutors, as well as several student newcomers, pushing myself to learn quickly about language acquisition. I've always recognized the complexity and irregularity of words and sentence formation, but wow! There really is a lot to learn! Many of the strategies and resources I've been using are great for developing language skills in all learners. One strategy that I've especially found useful is the Picture Word Inductive Model, and I see value in this strategy for developing writing skills in English speaking students, as well.

I first read about the Picture Word Inductive Model in Larry Ferlazzo's book, The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching All Levels, and it made sense to me as a strategy to use for vocabulary and language development. First developed by Emily Calhoun in 1999, the PWIM uses pictures of objects, actions, or scenes to draw out words from listening and speaking vocabulary. Her ten-step process leads to the teaching of "several skills simultaneously, beginning with the mechanics of forming letters to hearing and identifying the phonetic components of language, to classifying words and sentences, through forming paragraphs and stories based on observation" ( Captured from the ASCD book description). Not a process or strategy I'd ever heard of before, I was immediately interested!

To be honest, I have not used the full ten steps. Instead, in my most simple version, here are the steps I've used within the PWIM:

1. Find a picture that is relevant to the people I'm working with.

2. Name and label the images.

3. Engage in conversation and sentence building with the images.

That being said, there are a number of ways I've extended and expanded my three steps, including and not limited to:

Using Jamboard or another digital application so that labels can be moved and manipulated

Color-coding nouns and verbs in the picture

Asking students to write sentences

Pushing students to write additional sentences and even paragraphs or stories

This is a picture of our school library that I've used on Jamboard. Students can move the labels around, learning and practicing key vocabulary words.

Expanding the activity, I've added verbs on the yellow sticky-notes, and students can practice verbalizing sentences. The color-coding of nouns and verbs helps students to understand the key differences between parts of speech.

I have left some pictures unlabeled, leaving that work to students. Picture captured from: https://www.freepikcompany.com/legal#nav-freepik-agreement

Jamboard allows me to duplicate pages, using some pages for labeling, others for vocabulary and language practice.
Writing a text of any kind requires significant cognitive work, involving memory, hand-eye coordination, strength, concentration, executive functioning, planning- and the list goes on because I haven't even gotten into imagination, comprehension, and information integration. The PWIM has allowed me to isolate single or targeted skills, providing opportunities for intentional practice. I can select pictures that are of interest to specific students, challenge them to practice letters and sounds, to verbalize and draft simple sentences, or to describe a situation. That way when students are writing their own pieces, the cognitive load may be taken up less by these practiced skills, allowing for more intellectual energy on other competing and important challenges within their writing process.

I am the Writing and Social Studies Coordinator in Simsbury, CT, and I love what I do. I get to write and inspire others to write! Additionally, I am the mom to four fabulous daughters and the wife of a great husband. View all posts by Melanie Meehan

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The Picture Word Inductive Model: A Strategy for Developing Vocabulary and Language

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Writing a text of any kind requires significant cognitive work, involving memory, hand-eye coordination, strength, concentration, executive functioning, planning- and the list goes on because I haven't even gotten into imagination, comprehension, and information integration. The PWIM has allowed me to isolate single or targeted skills, providing opportunities for intentional practice.

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The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following:

phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme,

labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and

grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

We have also provided printable version of the Individual Sound wall charts. You may choose to glue them into a file folder for each student or print them front/back to laminate. These may also be enlarged and printed as posters if your classroom space does not allow for the full UFLI Sound Wall displays.
Individual Sound Wall: Consonants Individual Sound Wall: Vowels

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Printable Resources | UF Literacy Institute

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The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following: phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme, labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

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The Six Shifts: Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

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The Six Shifts: Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

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Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Lesson Plan [PDF Template]

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Maximize vocabulary learning with our free explicit vocabulary instruction template. Easily integrate proven strategies into your classroom lessons today.

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Dear Readers,

We have run into some complications with the final steps of getting the Decoding Inventory for Growth (DIG) into the hands of teachers.

We are truly sorry for the delay. If you are on our mailing list, you can look for an email announcement when the DIG becomes available for purchase on our site. Otherwise, please check back in a month or so.

Thank you for your patience.

Jan and Kari

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Dear Readers, We have run into some complications with the final steps of getting the Decoding Inventory for Growth (DIG) into the hands of teachers. We are truly sorry for the delay. If you are on our mailing list, you can look for an email announcement when the DIG becomes available for purchase on our site.

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Consonant Chart: Option 2 (with added space for graphemes) (Individual)

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Consonant Chart: Option 2 (with added space for graphemes) (Individual)

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Differentiation in WHOLE group UFLI lessons

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Differentiation in WHOLE group UFLI lessons

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P1-6 (Grades K-5)

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Special Offer: Enter coupon code BOOKIT in the shopping cart page to receive free shipping within the U.S. when you order any professional book online

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

"What is the very best instruction for English learners? How do we capitalize on and further develop the linguistic knowledge and skill of this segment of society? Nonie Lesaux and Julie Harris are exceedingly well qualified to address these questions. On the cutting edge of EL instruction, their combination of research knowledge and practical experience makes for guidance that can be trusted, and implemented, in classrooms throughout the country." -- Nell Duke, Series Editor, University of Michigan

In today's linguistically diverse elementary classrooms, research suggests that a universal approach to building academic vocabulary and conceptual knowledge holds huge promise for closing the opportunity gaps among English learners. In Cultivating Knowledge, Building Language, Nonie Lesaux and Julie Harris present a knowledge-based approach to literacy instruction that supports young English learners' development of academic content and vocabulary knowledge and sets them up for reading success

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

1. What We Know About Reading Development Among English Learners

2. Understanding Oral Language for Literacy and the Special Case of Academic Language

3. The Knowledge-Building Classroom: Deep, Process-Oriented, and Interactive Learning

4. Provide Consistency by Organizing Lessons Within a Cycle

5. Develop Academic Content Knowledge by Studying Big Ideas

6. Develop Academic Vocabulary Knowledge by Studying a Small Set of Words Deeply

7. Unlock Language by Developing Word-Learning Strategies

8. Extend Learning With Language Production Projects

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Special Offer: Enter coupon code BOOKIT in the shopping cart page to receive free shipping within the U.S. when you order any professional book online Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more. "What is the very best instruction for English learners?

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Labsite Schedule

• P3 with Ms. Paige Stickelman: Prebrief @ 8:20; Lab Site @ 8:40; Debrief @ 9:10

• P4 with Mr. Henry Puttick: Prebrief @ 10:00; Lab Site @ 10:20; Debrief @ 11:00

• P1 with Ms. Iman Khan: Prebrief @ 1:00; Lab Site @ 1:20; Debrief @ 1:50

Labsite Throughline

• ECEA: Phonemic Awareness

• P1-3: UFLI

• P4-6: Vocabulary and Background Knowledge

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Labsite Schedule

• ECEA with Ms. Mim Griffin: Prebrief @ 8:20; Demo @ 8:40; Debrief @ 9:10

• P6 with Ms. Julia Fan: Prebrief @ 10:00; Demo @ 10:20; Debrief @ 11:00

• P3 with Mr. Johnny Fees: Prebrief @ 1:00; Demo @ 1:15; Debrief @ 1:45

Labsite Throughline

• ECEA: Phonemic Awareness

• P1-3: UFLI

• P4-6: Vocabulary and Background Knowledge

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Email:

annie.chang.ng@gmail.com

LinkedIn: Annie Chang Ng

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XLIS: Best Practices for Multilingual Learners

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XLIS: Best Practices for Multilingual Learners

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Canva Whiteboard: https://tinyurl.com/XLISEKCwhiteboard

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XLIS ECEA-P6 - Building Bridges: Best Practices for Multilingual Learners - August 2025

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XLIS: Transdisciplinary Writing with Language Scaffolds

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XLIS: Transdisciplinary Writing with Language Scaffolds

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XLIS PRIMARY EKC Work Session - Transdisciplinary Writing

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EKC Asynchronous Courses: Multilingual Learners

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EKC Asynchronous Courses: Multilingual Learners

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Login to Erin Kent Consulting community via email or SSO today.

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P1-6 (Grades K-5)

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Special Offer: Enter coupon code BOOKIT in the shopping cart page to receive free shipping within the U.S. when you order any professional book online

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

"What is the very best instruction for English learners? How do we capitalize on and further develop the linguistic knowledge and skill of this segment of society? Nonie Lesaux and Julie Harris are exceedingly well qualified to address these questions. On the cutting edge of EL instruction, their combination of research knowledge and practical experience makes for guidance that can be trusted, and implemented, in classrooms throughout the country." -- Nell Duke, Series Editor, University of Michigan

In today's linguistically diverse elementary classrooms, research suggests that a universal approach to building academic vocabulary and conceptual knowledge holds huge promise for closing the opportunity gaps among English learners. In Cultivating Knowledge, Building Language, Nonie Lesaux and Julie Harris present a knowledge-based approach to literacy instruction that supports young English learners' development of academic content and vocabulary knowledge and sets them up for reading success

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

1. What We Know About Reading Development Among English Learners

2. Understanding Oral Language for Literacy and the Special Case of Academic Language

3. The Knowledge-Building Classroom: Deep, Process-Oriented, and Interactive Learning

4. Provide Consistency by Organizing Lessons Within a Cycle

5. Develop Academic Content Knowledge by Studying Big Ideas

6. Develop Academic Vocabulary Knowledge by Studying a Small Set of Words Deeply

7. Unlock Language by Developing Word-Learning Strategies

8. Extend Learning With Language Production Projects

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Special Offer: Enter coupon code BOOKIT in the shopping cart page to receive free shipping within the U.S. when you order any professional book online Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more. "What is the very best instruction for English learners?

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Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners

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Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners

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https://companion.corwin.com/courses/WTTMLL

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Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds.

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ECEA-P2 (Grades PreK-1)

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Strive-for-Five Conversations | The Scholastic Teacher Store

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Teachers know that encouraging children to talk and listen improves their ability to communicate. But until now, they haven't had a way to accelerate the development of children's language skills that's aligned with the science of reading. This book gives time-strapped teachers a power tool: the

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K-G2 (Burkins & Yates, 2021); G3-5 (Cunningham, Burkins, & Yates, 2023)

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P1-6 (Grades K-5)

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The Six Shifts Where Science of Reading Meets Balanced Literacy. We provide resources, professional development, and literacy audits for busy literacy educators like you.

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Grades K-12

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The Writing Revolution - Empower teachers to help students

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By training educators in The Hochman Method©, The Writing Revolution (TWR) aims to help all students become proficient writers, readers, and critical thinkers.

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(Baker, Lesaux, Jayanthi, Dimino, Proctor, Morris, Gersten, Haymond, Kieffer, Linan-Thompson, & Newman-Gonchar, 2014)

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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Grades K-8

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This practice guide was prepared for the WWC by Instructional Research Group under contract ED-IES-12-C-0016.

The following research staff contributed to the guide: Joseph Dimino, Kelly Haymond, Russell Gersten, Madhavi Jayanthi, and Rebecca Newman-Gonchar.

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WWC | Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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This practice guide provides four recommendations that address what works for English learners during reading and content area instruction. Each recommendation includes extensive examples of activities that can be used to support students as they build the language and literacy skills needed to be successful in school.

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(Graham, Bollinger, Booth Olson, D’Aoust, MacArthur, McCutchen, & Olinghouse, 2018)

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Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

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Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

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Grades K-5

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This practice guide was prepared for the WWC by Mathematica under contract ED-07-CO-0062.

The following research staff contributed to the guide: Cay Bradley, Virginia Knechtel, Nancy Murray, Bryce Onaran, and Cassie Pickens Jewell.

These videos were prepared by WestEd under the Doing What Works Contract (ED-PEP-11-C-0068).
All videos are based on recommendations from the WWC practice guides and are designed to complement the guides.

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teaching elementary school students to be effective writers

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WWC | Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

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This practice guide provides four recommendations for improving elementary students’ writing. Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for common roadblocks. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence. This guide is geared toward teachers, literacy coaches, and other educators who want to improve the writing of their elementary students.

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Differentiation Ideas: Guidelines for Using Manipulative Letters (See Page 3 for varying the difficulty)

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Differentiation Ideas: Guidelines for Using Manipulative Letters (See Page 3 for varying the difficulty)

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Differentiation Ideas: Variations on the Basic Procedure for Sound Boxes (Elkonin Boxes)

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Differentiation Ideas: Variations on the Basic Procedure for Sound Boxes (Elkonin Boxes)

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The discovery that the spellings in a written word match the sounds in a spoken word - in order! - is the essential "Aha!" moment when students come to understand the alphabetic principle.

It's much like Helen Keller's "Aha!" moment when she came to understand that the letters Annie Sullivan was spelling in her palm represented the water that she was simultaneously feeling. Essentially, Helen Keller had to understand how her alphabetic system worked before she could become fluent in using it.

The same is true for students learning the written code.

So, the found sounds in this particular order, when spelled with the four written sound-spellings W-A-T-ER, spell the word water, every single time. And when this particular alignment of sounds and spellings shows up, it represents H₂O and activates (excites) all I know about water. Later, the context for the word helps me narrow the meaning as I come to understand that I am reading about the water in a pool (vs. water in a glass, boiling eggs in water, a water gauge, needing to water a garden, non-potable water in an airplane, the hot water heater, and on and on.)

Hopefully, you are saying to yourself, "Wow! The human brain is amazing!" (Yes, it is!)

When, and only when, the brain does the alignment work of orthographic mapping, can a word be stored for instant, automatic retrieval. So basically, you don't need to scaffold orthographic mapping - unless you want your students to learn to read and write words automatically.

It seems obvious to us, as proficient readers, that the sounds in a word and the spellings of that word are presented in the same order when writing it. After all, we've taken this sound-spelling relationship for granted all day, every day since we first learned to read.

But because written language is a human invention, thinking about phonemes and their order within spoken words is completely unnatural for the human brain. That's because, before humans invented written language, there was absolutely no reason for the brain to think about the individual sounds within words. So, this work is very challenging for the human brain.

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Orthographic Mapping Activities to Build Confident, Fluent Readers

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Discover practical orthographic mapping activities and examples to help students move from sounding out words to reading with ease. Packed with classroom-ready tools, this post makes orthographic mapping simple, effective, and fun

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UFLI Foundations: How to Implement Day 1 Lessons

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UFLI Foundations: How to Implement Day 2 Lessons

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UFLI Foundations: Progress Monitoring and Differentiation

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XLIS EKC Annie_Primary Labsite Note Catcher

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Hand Movements for Phonological Awareness

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Six Shifts (K-2): Using Dialogic Conversations to Develop Oral Language

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Six Shifts (K-2): Using Dialogic Conversations to Develop Oral Language

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UFLI Progress Monitoring Assessment Template

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Copy of Grade 1 UFLI Progress Monitoring Spelling Assessment Master

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Small Group Planner (See also: Page 37 of UFLI Teacher Manual)

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Small Group Planner (See also: Page 37 of UFLI Teacher Manual)

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Six Shifts (K-2): Dialogic Reading Conversations: 5 Steps for Nurturing the Seeds of Language Comprehension

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Six Shifts (K-2): Dialogic Reading Conversations: 5 Steps for Nurturing the Seeds of Language Comprehension

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Tiny Conversations, Big Impact: The Power of Dialogic Reading

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Discover how to use dialogic reading conversations to boost student language, vocabulary, and comprehension—anytime, anywhere, in just five simple steps.

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Valentina Gonzalez)

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Vocabulary + Background Knowledge: Picture Word Inductive Model (Valentina Gonzalez)

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Phoenix children’s hospital speech therapy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using Pictures to Promote Language Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article was originally posted on 2-25-2017 and has been updated on 9-17-2020 to include information relevant to distance learning. “A picture is worth a thousand words” or so we’ve heard.…

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Six Shifts (K-2): Dialogic Conversations Tool

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Six Shifts (K-2): Dialogic Conversations Tool