Vocabulary Improvement Program for English Language Learners and Their Classmates, 5th Grade

Research studies have shown that students' vocabulary knowledge strongly correlates with their success in reading comprehension. Now teachers can give fourth, fifth, and sixth graders the crucial vocabulary practice they need with this three-volume curriculum — proven equally effective for English-language learners (ELLs) and students whose first language is English. This program uses innovative approaches to help students build a "toolbox" of skills that let them decipher the meanings of unfamiliar words with confidence.

Ideal for use in classrooms that include both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking ELLs, this curriculum combines teacher-directed instruction with cooperative group learning (proven effective for teaching heterogeneous groups of students) and individual activities for reinforcement. For each grade, teachers get an age-appropriate, 18-week curriculum that takes just 30 minutes a day. Each curriculum consists of eight regular lessons that take two weeks each and are built around a section of a story or novel, and two review lessons that take one week each and use new activities to reinforce what students have learned. All readings are reproduced in the books, so there's no need to purchase additional material.

In the fifth-grade volume, teachers get

• a step-by-step Teacher's Guide to walk them through each lesson
  
  
• a range of fun and innovative activities, from peer interviews and "word webs" to old favorites like fill-in-the-blanks and sentence writing
  
  
• cooperative group work that pairs ELLs with native English speakers
  
  
• vocabulary words defined in English and Spanish to aid Spanish speakers
  
  
• activities that use a child's first language to bolster vocabulary and text comprehension
  
  
• "teacher tips" that give creative suggestions for engaging children with language
  
  
• photocopiable pages of in-class work, homework activities, and assessments

With this proven program, both English-language learners and native English speakers will expand their knowledge of vocabulary words — and learn how to generalize the strategies they learn when they encounter new words outside the classroom.

Diane August, Ph.D., is an independent consultant as well as a senior research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. At the Center for Applied Linguistics, she directs a large, federally funded study investigating the development of literacy in English language learners. She is also the Staff Director for the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth. As an educational consultant, Dr. August has worked in the areas of literacy, program improvement, evaluation and testing, and federal and state education policy. She has been a senior program officer at the National Academy of Sciences and Study Director for the Committee on Developing a Research Agenda on the Education of Limited English Proficient and Bilingual Students. Dr. August worked for 10 years as a public school teacher and school administrator in California. Subsequently, she served as Legislative Assistant in the area of education for a United States Congressman from California, worked as a grants officer for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and served as Director of Education for the Children's Defense Fund. In 1981, she received her doctorate in education from Stanford University, and in 1982, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology, also at Stanford.

Maria Carlo, Ph.D., is a psychologist studying bilingualism in children and adults. Her research focuses on the cognitive processes that underlie reading in a second language and on understanding the differences in the reading processes of bilinguals and monolinguals. She is Co-principal Investigator on a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)-funded project that investigates the transfer of reading skills from Spanish to English among primary school children. This research seeks to understand the role played by the native language in the development of second-language literacy. Dr. Carlo has written articles and book chapters on the role of mother-tongue literacy in the second-language literacy, and on the literacy assessment of bilingual learners. She received her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Teresa Lively, M.S., has had a lifelong appreciation for the power and magic of words. This regard for words extended into her love of the Spanish language that developed during the 2 years she resided in Mexico as a child and again as a teenager. She can recall her struggles when first confronted with a new language and how these difficulties precluded communication with peers and completion of her schoolwork. She remembers equally well the satisfaction she experienced as her ability to understand and communicate increased. As part of this natural progression, during a 14-year bilingual teaching career, Ms. Lively realized that children's academic success is greatly influenced by the breadth and depth of their vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, in her classroom she emphasized learning the meanings of new words while encouraging both native English speakers and English language learners to develop a curiosity and appreciation for vocabulary. Ms. Lively resides on the California coast. She enjoys spending time with her husband, who supports her passions and keeps her laughing, two wonderful grown children, and loyal friends who encourage her life journey. She is currently completing a doctoral program in clinical psychology.

Dr. Snow is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received her doctorate in psychology from McGill University and worked for several years in the linguistics department of the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include children's language development as influenced by interaction with adults in home and preschool settings, literacy development as related to language skills and as influenced by home and school factors, and issues related to the acquisition of English oral and literacy