What curriculum should I be using with my ELLs?

In this episode, Beth uncovers the reasons behind common curriculum pitfalls, from rigid one-size-fits-all approaches to the challenge of time constraints. She lays out a blueprint for an effective ESL curriculum with 8 key features to look for, including clear goals, comprehensive skill development, and adaptable flexibility. Last, she shares a practical four-step framework that guides you through assessing and adapting the curriculum you already have.

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Hey, there. Welcome to another episode of the Equipping ELLs

podcast. It is the start of a new school year. And the excitement

is in the air. There's nothing like the back to school time.

Where. Just new pencils and new crayons and new backpacks and the

excitement of starting with a new group of students. I just love

all those things. So here on the equipping Analysts Podcast, we

are here to get you set up and ready for a super successful year.

Today, we're going to be talking about. Four Reasons Your esl

curriculum. Might not be working for you. And then we're going to

go into eight things that make up a good esl curriculum. And then

I'm going to break it down at the end for some practical tactical

steps forward. Whether you have a curriculum that's been given to

you from your district or you're creating your own, I'm going to

help you take the next steps forward to really create something

that works for you and your students this year. So let's dive in.

Now, the first place to start is, I want to know, do you have your

own curriculum that you've been given to use. In my situations, I

worked as an ascell teacher and as a mainstream classroom teacher.

With a large number of esl students, all different language

levels. And I was never given curriculum to support them. I was

given training on strategies and those types of things that was

very helpful for. Scaffolding the content activities that we were

doing inside the mainstream in the homeroom classroom, but. When I

was specifically working with newcomers, I was not given any

materials to use, and I was coming up with stuff on my own as a

new teacher and totally did not know what I was doing. And it was

very stressful. So if that is you, I have been there. If you're in

a situation where your school has purchased a curriculum that

you're using, I would love to know if you are using one that you

really enjoy that's working for you or not. I see a lot of

opinions all over the place. Of whether. This type of curriculum

works, or this one works for. Their ell students. And really, it

comes down to four things of why it might not be a good fit for

you. So if you're in the place where you're like, my school is not

giving me anything. I have no idea what to do going forward. You

actually might be in a better place because you have the freedom

to really create something that's going to work for your students.

So let's dive in into what that looks like. Well, let's start with

four reasons why your curriculum might not be working for you and

your students. The first reason. Is because you are using a

mandated curriculum that is trying to teach ells as a one size

fits all. And anybody who's worked with English language learners

for any amount of time knows that teaching allows is not one size

fits all, even if you're working with the same grade level of

students. The same language level of students. You're going to see

that there can be some very big differences of what the needs are

of those students. And so when you have a curriculum that is

mandated that you have to use and it's trying to. Just think that

this is going to be the fix for the students because it's

something that's created for multilingual learners. You're going

to quickly see that that might not be what's happening in your

classroom, and you might come away feeling more frustrated because

yes, you've been giving a. Curriculum to use but you're spending a

lot more time trying to supplement the curriculum with other

things and searching for other things to use. And you're feeling

really stuck because you're forced to use this curriculum because

your district spent a lot of money on this curriculum and. It's

really not a good fit for the students you're working for. Maybe

it works for one of your groups, but it's very hard to create. I

have never found something that is a one size fits all. For

English Language learners. And so that's where. The first mistake

might be or the first area that it just is not working because

teaching ll is not one size fits all. Another reason that your

curriculum might not be working is because. It was not created.

With the specific needs of our multilingual learners. I hear this

a lot. I hear these big companies, these big corporations. Are

taking. Their basal programs, or whatever the term is now that you

use for District wide curriculum. And they're adding, in these

little ways to say, oh, this is now for created for English

Language learners. And really the essence of it is not. Maybe they

suggest here use a visual here or use a sentence stem here. Okay.

Yes. Those are very helpful for ell learners, but it's not taking

the core of what's being taught. And. It's not being created in a

way that's really meeting the diverse needs of our ell students. I

see this really specifically with reading programs. And just the

lack of visual support. When working with phonic skills. The lack

of cultural relevance when working with decodable books. Those

types of things shows me that. They are not created with our

diverse populations in mind, and it's still being created for

students who have grown up in an English speaking house and are

coming into the school with years of that vocabulary already. And

not with students who are coming in and learning English at the

same time as they're trying to learn to read. So that's a red flag

to me of things of why your curriculum might not be working

because. They might add in. Some Ways or here's an additional

booklet that might work for your multilingual learners. But

overall, it's not really a whole student approach to what our ell

students need. Another reason that your curriculum might not be

working for you is because it's trying to cover. Too much to fit

into the schedule that you have and the time that you have with

your students. This is something I've struggled with as well. And

inside equipping. Als. As we work with teachers who are working

with. A wide variety K through twelve. They have a ton of

different. We have students who have 25 students on their

caseload. And we have students, our teachers who have over 75

students on their caseload. And we have some teachers who have an

hour a day with newcomers. And we have others who have maybe three

half hour periods a week. So the schedule of an esl teacher is

very different across the country, across districts, even within

schools. And so it's very hard to create a curriculum that is

going to fit for each teacher's schedule. And so when you're given

a curriculum. Especially like the district mandated ones who

provide so many resources, which is great. But sometimes it feels

like. There's just not going to be enough time to fit all of this

in and to do it well and to do it with the validity that is needed

for this program to work. Can you relate to that? Have you been

there even with just when I was teaching in the homeroom

classroom, I mean. There were so many tools provided with the math

curriculum. For example. It just wasn't possible to get through

and to do all that was given. And so then, as a teacher, we felt

like we're not doing enough. We need to do more. We need to go

faster. We need to try to fit more in. And that's not what our

students need, either. And so taking a look at what your schedule

looks like, that can be really hard to fit in all the different

pieces of some of these curriculums that they want you to do. In

order to. Make it. To the level of expectation of what they're

doing for the success that they say they're going to have. But you

really have to have the time to do that, which I know it's hard.

That's really hard to fit your groups in to give them the time

that they need. And we know that in the school. It's not always

happening, what it says on paper. Due to. I know some of you are

pulled as subs. I know that with testing, you're not getting the

time that you're supposed to have with your students. So at the

end of the day, you're losing so many different teaching moments

that those types of programs that are very scripted that need to

have all of the pieces done in order. To really see the success of

it. Those curriculums don't work for many of you because it just

doesn't fit into your schedule. And then. The last reason that

your curriculum might not be working for you is because it isn't

flexible with what your students need. So this kind of comes back

to our one size fits all when you're teaching ells, one of the

qualities and traits of a good esl teacher is that you are

flexible. You are seeing and you are constantly observing and

you're seeing where your students are at and what they need from

you because. You could have this year, maybe last year, you taught

a group of third grade level. Three students. And this you're

going to teach a group of third grade level three students. And it

could be completely different on the type of support they need.

Maybe they need more listening skills. Maybe this group is really

struggling in their listening comprehension. Or maybe they have a

great listening comprehension. But they're really struggling. In

their reading comprehension. Or maybe they're really struggling in

their academic vocabulary. But maybe the group last year really

developed their academic vocabulary. So they were really strong in

that each group is going to be different. And so you need a

curriculum that's going to be flexible with that. You need to have

the understanding to be able to observe and see where your

students are at. And then change your plans based on that. You

need to have a good way to check in and assess. You can see wow,

these students are really strong. In their listening domain. But

when it comes to speaking. They're still really struggling with

that. So I'm going to emphasize. Speaking during my lessons. But a

lot of times the curriculum isn't doing that. It's saying, follow

this. Start here. Do this. Move on and keep going. And that is not

what our multilingual learners need. So let's talk about what

makes a good esl curriculum. What are some qualities that you

should be looking for so that you know, you're providing your

students with something that works. The first thing is you should

have a curriculum that has clear and measurable goals. So this

might be a curriculum that has your language objectives, your

content objectives, whether that's wida and Common Core or

whatever that looks like in your school, you need to have

measurable and clear goals, both for you and for your students.

This is something so important to share with your students of here

is what we're working on here's. The target we're working towards.

For. Especially when it comes down to when you're working on all

four domains. It can get really overwhelming for the students when

they don't have clarity around what they're supposed to be doing.

But as soon as you begin to say, okay, today we're going to be

working on developing our listening. By hearing the story and

drawing a picture. They really now can tune into their listening

domain and strengthen it instead of if you don't tell them that,

and then they're like, okay, am I working on listening? Or should

I be reading this? What am I being tested on. And there's

confusion. So bringing clarity and measurable goals is huge for a

solid esl curriculum. The second thing is a comprehensive language

skill development. We need to have a balanced approach to develop.

All four domains. This is something I am really passionate about.

Standalone activities really are not helpful and you don't have

the time to do that. If you're doing standalone, they're going to

make slow progress. They're not going to go as fast as if you are

doing activities that are a whole balanced approach that are

combining and hitting on all four domains as much as. Possible. It

should give a variety of activities and tasks so that the learners

can practice and improve their abilities. In each area, but

through the same context and content. That makes a good ESL

curriculum. Another thing would be progression and sequencing. You

want to provide things that you're going to give your students the

foundation and then the skills to build on. And you want to have

things that are going to bring up skills that they learned

previously so that they continue to be exposed to the vocabulary,

to the grammar, that they have multiple opportunities to practice

over and over and over again throughout the. Year. That makes a

good ESL curriculum. You want to have things that are engaging. In

authentic. You want to have a curriculum that has a variety of

articles, videos, audio recordings. Realia. Real life situations

that connect with them and their upbringing, their context. Their

cultural awareness bringing that into the learning. That makes a

good ESL curriculum.

And that leads us right into the next one. And that is to have a

cultural and global awareness. Looking at the read allows you're

using. Looking at the reading passages you're using. Looking at

the topics you're discussing. A good esl curriculum is using and

bringing in the voice and the stories of the students that you're

working with. And also bringing in the voice and the stories of

others so that. You're not just helping that student feel

comfortable in your class, but you're help bringing a global

awareness. Into what you're teaching.

Another one to look for is.

Another criteria for a good esl curriculum is the Practical

Language use. The curriculum should prioritize. Opportunities to

communicate effectively in real life situations. I have shared

this so many times on this podcast, but it's worth mentioning

again. I took ten years of Santa. I have a minor in Spanish, and I

could not communicate when I moved here because they did not

prioritize the speaking part. They did not prioritize the

application. What was prioritized was conjugating all the verbs

and knowing. All of that stuff. But that doesn't help in the real

life situation. We want to be very intentional of how we're

helping our students be a part of society, to be a citizen of the

US or just of the global community and giving them an opportunity

to grow and learn and speak. That is when the English is going to

really. Be strong. If we remove this piece, then what we're doing

is going to be lost day after day. They need the application part.

A good esl curriculum should have multiple opportunities for

assessment and feedback. And this is different types of

assessments. Types, things like just formative assessments. And

checking in on group work and writing observations down and giving

them feedback, giving them rubrics to use that they can do some

self rubrics or they can do peer assessments and check ins. That

is where it really is so crucial to see the students and where

they're at is to be constantly checking in because we know when

you work with multilingual learners. You don't know where they

need more support in and it's hard sometimes, especially with

those intermediate students to see what is it that they are

struggling with, or that. They're misunderstanding. And what ways

can you help come and support that. Unless. You're continually

doing check ins and assessing and giving feedback and helping them

to take responsibility for their learning. Another good quality of

a good esl curriculum is that it is flexible and it's adaptable.

It should not be start here and go to the end of the year without

changing anything. A good curriculum should give you the time and

space where you say, you know what? My students really struggle

this week on this topic. I am going to extend it into next week

and we're going to go over it again. We're going to go over it in

a different way. We're going to use a different reading passage,

maybe one that relates to my students more. And then we're going

to talk about this topic again. Giving you that time and space

where you don't feel like I did of okay, there's so much to cover.

Let's go as fast as we can. We got to keep moving. It doesn't

matter if most of the students miss this topic. We got to keep

moving on. That is not helpful for our multilingual learners.

Building a strong and solid foundation is vital. And then last, a

good curriculum should provide professional development support.

You should feel confident in how. You're delivering the

curriculum, of how you're getting the curriculum set up, of what

you're doing so that you know, this is exactly what your students

are doing or a place to ask questions. If you're not sure this is

what your students need or you're seeing that they're still

struggling of some other ways to approach it. That is what makes

an effective esl curriculum. Now I know sometimes this feels hard

because you're like, okay, I have this curriculum I have to use

for my school, but. It doesn't really fit that criteria. What

should I do? Well, here are four steps to help you figure out how

you can take the curriculum you've been given, or if you don't

have a curriculum, how you can really. Kind of look at all that's

available and figure out what's going to work for you and your

students and the time that you have with them. So follow this four

step framework. First, you want to begin with assessments. Like I

said, this is crucial to checking in, seeing where students are

at. You could spend the whole year on just okay. Here's the path

we're taking. But if. You're not assessing them with frequency,

then you could be going on this path. That's not what they need.

It could be too easy for them. And you're missing out on

opportunities to really hire the expectations and push them. It

could be too hard for them. And you're leaving your students

feeling frustrated and discouraged. Day after day. So it begins

with assessments doing check ins, seeing where they're at,

starting there. Then you want to add in the foundations. You want

to build the foundation wherever they're at. If they're newcomers

or intermediates, look and identify what are the key foundations

that they need to have. That's going to be vocabulary, grammar

skills, phonic skills, syntax, pragmatics, pronunciation, all of

those things. Start there. Look at the foundations and highlight

and set those goals of what you're going to be focusing on. Then

you want to strengthen all four language domains. So finding

things where you can focus on those foundations and bring in the

domains. And spend that time. Strengthening all four as much as

possible. At all together. So in one lesson you should try to be

hitting on all four domains. And then add in supplements. So this

is where again you're going to be observing and you see okay. You

know what my students are really struggling with. This specific

area. Maybe they're really struggling with using a regular verbs

correctly. So I'm going to add in a supplement. I'm going to add

in an activity that's going to focus specifically on. This. Skill

because this is what I'm seeing that they really are struggling

with. So add in that assessment. So let me just go over here. Is

our four step framework. Begin with assessment, build a

foundation, strengthen all four domains, and add in any

supplements. If you start with that framework, you can then see

the curriculum you have and how it fits into that. And it gives

you that space to do what you want to do so you could help your

students. If you don't have a curriculum, then it helps you.

Approach anything that you're finding and put it into that to see

if that's what is going to work best for your students. Now, if

you do not have a curriculum or if you are not excited about the

curriculum you have, then equipping ells is for you. We provide

you with literally everything you need to go through this.

Framework to assess, to build the foundation, to strengthen all

four language means and to add in the supplements all in one

place. So this is why we've created this because we see that

curriculum does not fit all of our learners. You cannot just print

once and be done. You need to have a good pulse of where students

are at. And then you need to have that platform that you can go in

and find everything in one place. So you're not spending your

hours Googling and searching and piecing things together and

feeling exhausted. We want to take that off of your shoulders.

Come and join us inside equipping. Lls. And you'll have everything

all in one place. Join us before the price increases. We're adding

a ton more resources for this year. And so get in before the price

increases and grab all of those materials that you need so you can

be ready to go with a curriculum that is quality, that is.

Rigorous. And that's ready to support you and. Your. Mult. come

and join us inside and be ready. To. So if that's you if you want

this all done for you, come and join us inside equipping. Ells.

The price is increasing soon. So don't delay. We're adding a bunch

of new resources for this upcoming school year. And so get in now

so that you have all that you need to be ready to support your

multilingual learners this year. And. Spend much less time

planning for what you're going to be doing.