Abilities Evidenced by Student of Concern

Abilities Evidenced by Student of Concern

Directions:
Complete the document by highlighting bullets in the left column that the student does consistently. Unhighlighted bullets indicate areas in need of targeted support, as they may reflect instructional gaps (i.e. mobility, attendance, different instructional programs) or the need for more explicit instruction in that domain of English language development (i.e. reading, writing).

Student performance can be identified through teacher/parent observations, student work samples, and formal interactions between student and educator (e.g., classroom teacher, ESL teacher, intervention teacher, SpEd teacher, para).

Student’s Name: / Grade: / Teacher: / Date:

Level 1— Beginning:Emphasize receptive skills with listening comprehension, choosing, matching, drawing, labeling and miming activities.

Listening:
●Listens and begins to respond by using nonverbal gestures; may begin to put words together
●Displays limited comprehension
●Internalizes significant pieces of information
●Understands an oral direction only in the context of nonverbal cues
Reading:
●Observes/listens to stories, shared reading, songs, and poems
Speaking:
●Participates through physical actions
●Responds to greetings, introductions, farewell
●Answers questions about self only with yes or no
●Responds with one or two word responses
●Communicates basic personal needs, such as need to use the restroom, with gestures and actions
●Initiates conversations by pointing and using single words
●Exhibits no or very limited use of full sentences—very limited fluency
●Uses the primary language to express when an English direction is not understood
Writing:
●Writes isolated words or one- to three-word phrases with illustrations
●Does not yet apply conventions or grammar or word order (writing or speaking) / Instructional Tips:
●Establish a climate in which students are free to take risks and are supported in their attempts at using English
●Immerse students in the genre/content they are studying, using content as an opportunity for vocabulary and schema building
●Provide comprehensible input/abundant context clues using visuals, realia, manipulatives, gestures, etc.
●Model all expected behavior
●Maintain a consistent daily schedule with regular routines to facilitate comprehension
●Encourage student to join in group songs, chants, recitations, etc.
●Assist in developing phonemic awareness skills
●Encourage student to participate in role-playing activities
●Check comprehension frequently
●Use questioning strategies eliciting one or two words such as:
Yes/No Questions:
Descriptive: Is this a ______?
Predictable: Will her aunt come home?
Generalizations: Does the sun ever shine at night?
Referential: Do you like the story?
Either/Or Questions:
Is this a _____ or a _____?
Do you like ______or ______?
“Wh” Questions:
What color is the_____?
When did you get here?
Who ate_____?

Level 2—Early Intermediate: Emphasize expressive skills using listening, naming, and categorizing activities which encourage students to use the vocabulary that they already understand.

Listening:
●Displays some comprehension of spoken English
●Responds appropriately to warnings such as, “Run!” or “Slow down!”
●Imitates a classmate’s response to a teacher’s question or direction
●Expresses enjoyment and humor through verbal and nonverbal means
●Follows simple two-step oral directions when supported by nonverbal cues
Reading:
●Joins in a group response or shared reading, repeating refrain at the appropriate time
●Begins to comprehend stories, shared reading, songs, and poems
●Recites favorite rhymes, songs, chants, and poems
●Identifies letters of the English alphabet by name
●May dramatize stories using appropriate gestures
Speaking:
●Begins speaking in phrases and short sentences, using basic words (e.g., “I go home now.”)
●Answers questions about self with 1-2 words
●Makes many errors of grammar and syntax as they experiment with language; errors often obscure meaning
●Offers and responds to greetings, introductions, and farewells
●Expresses needs and preferences with errors in routine language expressions (e.g., “Can I go bathroom?”)
●Gives and asks permission
●Indicates interests, opinions, or preferences using simple words
●Asks someone the meaning of a word through verbal and nonverbal means
Writing:
●Begins to express their own personality and personal thoughts in writing
●Writing is a loose collection of sentences or words that reveal limited mastery of English word order
●Uses approximate spelling of words
●Errors often obscure meaning / Instructional Tips:
●Establish a climate in which students are free to take risks and are supported in their attempts at using English
●Immerse students in the genre/content they are studying, using content as an opportunity for vocabulary and schema building
●Continue providing comprehensible input and contextualizing instruction
●Ask questions requiring more than a “yes/no” response
●Provide sentence frames to extend student responses
●Ask more referential questions:
What do you think about___?
What else might happen?
●Provide opportunities for students to engage in social and academic conversations
●Model grammatically correct responses while augmenting student’s language:
Student: “Him runned fast.”
Teacher: “Yes, he ran fast.”
●Utilize research-based instructional supports and strategies designed for ELLs (i.e. SIOP, GLAD, etc.)

Adapted from:Washington State ELP Standards and Walter, Teresa (2004). The How-To Handbook: Teaching English Language Learners. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Level 3—Intermediate: Using sentence frames, emphasize more complete language forms such as comparing and contrasting, definitions, descriptions, and retelling (stories, legends, fables, etc.).

Listening:
●Displays a fundamental comprehension of social interaction
●Follows two- to four-step oral directions
●Actively listens in discussion groups without necessarily participating
Reading:
●Demonstrates phonemic-awareness skills (e.g., sound-symbol relationships, rhyming, etc.)
●Demonstrates emerging decoding skills (e.g., CVC words)
●Participates in shared reading
●Displays increasing comprehension of text
●Makes predictions with support (i.e., sentence starter)
●Sequences sentence strips after reading familiar text
Speaking:
●Sentences are mostly simple yet complete with some variation in structure
●Uses phrases to answer questions about self
●Communicates in the past or present tense
●Occasionally uses familiar academic language
●Expresses more complex thoughts, relying heavily on familiar phrases or vocabulary
●Exhibits a command of conversational English and engages in conversations that require more complex sentences
●Responds to academic questions with basic answers; occasional communication breakdown may occur
●Elicits information and asks basic clarification questions, including the meaning of a word
●With original phrases, indicates interests, opinions, or preference (expect imprecise vocabulary & grammatical errors)
●Works successfully with a partner; attempts to rephrase when communication breakdown occurs
●Defines, compares, and classifies objects using phrases
●Contributes to collaborative class work
Writing:
●Writing may include loosely connected sentences but there is evidence of emerging fluency
●Writing demonstrates an audience beyond self
●Writing conveys complex meaning and detail using simple form; may lack sufficient elaboration
●Makes frequent spelling errors. However, usually spells commonly used words correctly
●Exhibits increasing command of basic writing conventions (e.g., capitalization and periods) / Instructional Tips:
●Establish a climate in which students are free to take risks and are supported in their attempts at increasingly higher forms of English
●Immerse students in the genre/content they are studying, using content as an opportunity for vocabulary and schema building
●Continue to use strategies from earlier stages (i.e., SIOP, GLAD, etc.)
●Model standard language structures
●Challenge students with sentence starters/frames just above their current language level
●Ask questions eliciting phrase/sentence responses
●Expand student responses through modeling and extending conversations:
Tell me more about _____?
I understand, keep going.
Why do you think____?
●Avoid overt error correction, but model standard usage and continue to provide instruction on language conventions
●Provide frequent shared, modeled, and independent writing experiences
●View every content lesson as a language lesson, looking for language development opportunities (stop and check for vocabulary comprehension, point out verb tense changes, etc.)
●Engage students in increasingly longer and deeper conversations using academic language

Adapted from:Washington State ELP Standards and Walter, Teresa (2004). The How-To Handbook: Teaching English Language Learners. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Level 4—Early Advanced: Use existing skills and sentence frames to produce responses that require creativity, critical thinking skills, and complex sentence structures.

Listening:
●Displays full comprehension of social interaction
●Interprets inferred meaning as expressed by intonation, rhythm, and stress
●Follows complex oral directions
Reading:
●Relies heavily on context and prior knowledge to obtain meaning from print
●Improved decoding of complex sentences
●Displays full comprehension of text
●Sequences parts of a story (beginning, middle, end)
●Retells stories in complete sentences
●Makes predictions
●Approaching grade-level standards in reading
Speaking:
●Answers questions about self and family clearly and completely
●Communicates effectively in most formal and informal settings
●Sustains conversations and responds with complex sentences
●Speech and grammatical errors still occur but rarely interfere with communication
●Generally fluent but still acquiring irregular and more complex words and sentence structures
●Self-corrects occasional communication difficulties through successful rephrasing
●Responds to academic questions with complete answers
●Works successfully with a partner
●Begins to participate in discussion groups
●Defines, compares, and classifies objects using sentences
●Generates relevant questions after listening to information
●Rephrases, explains, revises, and expands information to check comprehension; asks complex clarification questions
Writing:
●Writing usually demonstrates understanding of audience
●Writing demonstrates evidence of purposeful organization and elaboration of central idea, incident, or problem
●Approaching grade-level standards in writing / Instructional Tips:
●Establish a climate in which students are free to take risks and are supported in their attempts at increasingly higher forms of English
●Continue to engage student in research-based instructional supports and strategies designed for ELLs (i.e. SIOP, GLAD, etc.)
●Model and teach increasingly complex English language structures and academic language using frames
●Immerse students in the genre/content they are studying, using content as an opportunity for vocabulary and schema building
●Support students through complex, grade-level reading and writing

Adapted from:Washington State ELP Standards and Walter, Teresa (2004). The How-To Handbook: Teaching English Language Learners. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Level 5—Advanced: Continue reading and writing assignments with increased focus on evaluation and analysis. Use sentence or paragraph starters as needed.

Listening:
●Demonstrates a command of idiomatic expressions, colloquialisms, and different registers
●Displays full comprehension of social interaction and academic discussion
●Possesses the depth of language necessary to meet grade-level standards in all subject areas
Reading:
●Comprehends general and implied meaning including figurative and idiomatic language
●Displays comprehension of multiple layers of meaning within text
●Reading is near grade-level standard
●Predicts and checks conclusions
Speaking:
●Has full command of conversational English and utilizes language related to academic tasks approximating that of native speakers of English
●Converses using appropriate discourse and varied grammatical structures and vocabulary
●Pronunciation, intonation, grammar and word order approximates that of a native speaker of English
●Has few, if any, communication difficulties
●Participates fully in discussion groups, though academic language may still be developing
●Recounts events using sequence words in connected narrative
●Defines, compares, and classifies objects, using developing academic language
●Generates relevant questions after listening to information using developing academic language
●Rephrases, explains, revises, and expands information to check comprehension, using developing academic language
Writing:
●Writing conventions, organization, and purpose, are near grade-level standard / Instructional Tips:
●Establish a climate in which students are free to take risks and are supported in their attempts at increasingly higher forms of English
●Continue supporting targeted instruction according to specific students’ needs
●Provide opportunities for further language enhancement and refinement
●Continue with complex and varied literacy tasks
●Continue to maintain high expectations for students and shelter instruction commensurate with these expectations

Adapted from:Washington State ELP Standards and Walter, Teresa (2004). The How-To Handbook: Teaching English Language Learners. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.