The Words Came Down!: English Language Learners Read, Write, and Talk Across the Curriculum, K-2 / Emelie Parker, Tess Pardini

As teachers everywhere find more and more students with limited English in their classes, many are asking: “How can I include ELL students in every aspect of the day?”

Beginning with designing a classroom that welcomes students and creates appropriate conditions for learning, Emelie Parker and Tess Pardini go on to detail a workshop format for reading, writing and content-area studies.

The workshop structure allows teachers to differentiate instruction to include all students, and affords students ample opportunities to collaborate with others as they learn to speak, read, write, and comprehend while also engaging in active learning of the curriculum. The authors provide numerous examples of ways that teachers can become proficient in knowing each child and orchestrating instruction to meet individual needs.

Throughout “The Words Came Down!” oral language is emphasized in a continuum from teacher modeling and demonstration to situations in which student-to-student communication is essential. The authors show that when children's attempts at communicating are accepted and celebrated, they will learn to communicate with each other comfortably and spontaneously whether on the playground or working on a science experiment.