THE BEST OF

Course Crafters, Inc. has specialized in the English language learner (ELL) market—the fastest-growing segment of K-12 education—since 1993. In 2002, Course Crafters began to publish what became one of the leading and most well-respected e-newsletters on the ELL field: The ELL Outlook™. Now, the very best articles from over five years of this publication (2002-2007) have been compiled into one practical, informative volume.

The book represents a broad survey of articles addressing the most important issues facing ELL educators, PreK-12.

The over 200 pages of materials include over 35 practical articles that turn ELL research into usable, practical information and put a spotlight on programs that exemplify "best practices" in ELL teaching. This book will provide background, insight, and practical guidance in the ELL field for all publishers, educators, consultants, and anyone working in the ELL field.

Here is a small sampling of the rich content of this volume, and what it can offer:

What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners?

This popular article from The ELL Outlook™ by Dr. Suzanne Irujo synthesizes research, instructional best practices, and the author's decades of ESL/bilingual teaching experience. It provides practical information and recommendations about teaching reading to ELLs, what happens as a result of what teachers do in their classrooms, and why it happens. (Many universities and trainers are using this article for ELL professional development.)

Using Adapted Texts in ELL Classrooms

Texts in English are often adapted to make them more readable or comprehensible. Methods for text adaptation, and some of the benefits and drawbacks of adapted text, are discussed in this article. Additionally, questions for determining which students adapted texts should be used with, why adapted texts should be used, how they should be used, and when they should be used are explored.

Putting It All Together: Integrating Academic Math Language into Math Teaching

The need to integrate the teaching of academic language with the teaching of content is now widely recognized. This article presents a model for doing that in mathematics teaching. The model combines pre-teaching with integrating the academic language of math into the regular math lesson, and suggests ways of implementing the model.

Teaching the Academic Language of Textbooks: A Preliminary Framework for Performing a Textual Analysis

Why are textbooks so difficult for ELLs to understand? What specific language should ELLs be taught to succeed in mainstream academic classrooms? This article provides a simple framework for analyzing the academic language in textbooks, along with specific examples of what language that should be taught for ELLs in a third grade science textbook.

The Language Assessment Conundrum: What Tests Claim to Assess and What Teachers Need to Know

What do English language proficiency tests assess? How can English language proficiency tests help when deciding about appropriate instruction for ELLs? This article by Dr. Natalie Kuhlman is divided into several sections: legal mandates that require language testing; the most commonly used language proficiency tests; what information language assessments provide to teachers; the realities of reclassification for ELLs; and practical suggestions for what teachers can do.

What Teachers Need to Know, and Be Able to Do, About Norm-Referenced Tests

This article presents some of the background knowledge necessary to understand standardized, norm-referenced tests, and offers some contrasting opinions on how these tests should—or shouldn't—alter classroom instruction for ELLs. It concludes with some practical advice from the author, Dr. Natalie Kuhlman, for teachers and publishers on how ELLs should be prepared for norm-referenced testing.

Test Preparation for English Language Learners: Pros and Cons

When deciding to offer test preparation for ELLs, various questions arise. Is good instruction the best test preparation? Do ELLs need an introduction to the formats common in standardized tests and the language of tests to accurately demonstrate what they know? In this article by Dr. Suzanne Irujo, pros and cons of test preparation for ELLs, along with a potential solution to the test prep question, are offered.

Driving the Lesson Home: Teaching ELLs in Rural and Low-Incidence Regions

70 percent of ELLs are enrolled in only 10 percent of the country's public elementary schools, leaving the remainder widely distributed in low-incidence schools. In low-incidence districts and schools that have previously enrolled very few or no ELLs, there are often limited resources for educating ELLs and teachers who are unprepared for educating these students. This article explores the successes and setbacks of educators in rural districts with a low-incidence ELL population, in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Nebraska.

ELL Reform Efforts in San Diego: A Conversation with Nonie Lesaux

In their article, "Addressing Variability and Vulnerability: Promoting Academic Achievement of English Learners in San Diego," Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Nonie K. Lesaux and her grad student, Amy C. Crosson, praise many of the reforms undertaken in San Diego, particularly at the elementary school level; but they argue that much work needs to be done in the middle and high schools. Dr. Lesaux elaborates in this interview with The ELL Outlook™.

Teacher Diary #2: A Chronicle of a First-Time ELL Teacher

This is the second in a series of articles that chronicle the challenges of a new ELL teacher. Now, two and a half months into the school year, Ms. Gallo's classroom has grown, along with her understanding of the challenges faced by ELL teachers across the United States. In this article, this new ELL teacher shares her experiences using Rigby's On Our Way to English ESL program with her first-grade ELLs.

All of the articles included in this book focus on presenting ELL best practices in a demonstrable, practical, and immediately usable manner. Many of the articles cite additional resources, including websites, books, and other articles for learning more about the topic.

To see the complete Table of Contents, click here.

**Educators: Provide your complete school information and answer a brief questionnaire about your ELL needs and receive a 50% discount. To learn more please e-mail Lise Ragan.