Explicit Literacy Skills Support for Adult Language Learners
After the extended online-learning phases due to Covid-19, our teachers reported that many students needed to catch up with reading and writing much more than with speaking and listening. We decided to focus on reading for the school year 2021-22 and started a pilot project for our Foundations – CLB 2,3 classes (about 11-13 part time classes).
Reading during class time:
A primary thrust of the project was to establish a regular period of individual reading during class time. We encouraged teachers to implement independent reading time for students for 10 – 15 minutes per class. Students are able to choose from a large variety of leveled readers provided in class.
How to Establish a Community of Readers in Your Classroom:
Together with using systematic phonics in class to address common issues students face when reading, it is important to give students time to read. Giving students some time every day to read can be very powerful, by giving opportunities to practice what is taught in a safe and supportive place.
Once a routine has been established, it only becomes easier to tackle new reading strategies or explore new spelling conventions we introduce. Building a foundation and habit of reading at the beginning and allowing students to embrace an ongoing relationship with different kinds of texts helps new readers immensely. It will provide a class with the tools and the confidence to become a community of readers.
Mosaic Leveled Readers
Mosaic has created a mini-series of leveled readers with a settlement theme, for adults who are brand new readers. We have tried to keep these resources very flexible, so teachers can adjust them as they see fit for their classes. There are 2 pdf versions, for printing or for reading online, a Publisher version and PPT version of each book. As new series become available, they will also be posted below.
Food series
Level 1
Food Level 1-Food editable presentation version
Food Level 1-Food online reading version
Food Level 1-Food printing version
Level 2
Food Level 2 – What I See editable presentation version
Food Level 2 – What I See – online reading version
Food Level 2 – What I See -printing version
Level 3
Food Level 3 – What’s For Dinner – editable presentation version
Food Level 3 – What’s For Dinner – online reading version
Food Level 3 – What’s For Dinner – printing version
Level 4
Food Level 4 – Shop For Food – editable presentation version
Food Level 4 – Shop for Food – online reading version
Food Level 4 – Shop For Food – printing version
© 2022 Mosaic Newcomer Family Resource Network / CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
This is a conditional free license on print/read pdf and presentation pptx files: for individual or institutional use; non-commercial purposes only.
Tweaks to accommodate the grammatical and vocabulary needs of your class are allowable with this license, although attribution, notation of changes, a link to the original file, and an identical license are needed, if you share your version. If you change images, you are responsible for ensuring that your images are appropriately licensed and attributed.
This PowerPoint file is easily editable. Available pdf reading or printing copies of this book are not themselves editable, but you may use creative methods of your choice to do so, if desired. Note that the ISBN attaches to the original version of the printed book only, though it may form a part of the attribution in your altered versions.
Text has been created using Kimberley Geswein’s KG Primary Penmanship Alt font—-an excellent font for ELLs–at 72 pt size. This font has been licensed for the public distribution of this book and presentation. Note that for properly displaying this pptx file, you will need this font on your own computer. If you do not have it, it is available as a free download for individual use at Teachers Pay Teachers, or at various other online font sites (at your own risk).
If this is not possible for you, your computer will choose an alternate font, which may not be satisfactory. If this is the case, as a workable alternative, we recommend changing the font on all pptx text to Century Gothic, at 54pt size.
Ongoing assessment of
- Letter name and letter sound recognition -at least three times during the school year.
- Sight Words (a list of high frequency words adjusted to adult learners’ needs)
- Monitor reading progress using occasional Running Records.
Phonics
Running Records
Running records are a reading assessment done to find a good fit in reading level for students. Teachers read with students and record words read correctly, as well as errors, and reading strategies used. These records are then analyzed to determine which level of books students should read to improve their reading, and what should be the appropriate next steps in a systematic phonics approach. The books used are levelled alphabetically, and an accuracy percentage of 90-94% determines that a book is likely to be the perfect challenge for students in a classroom reading program. Running records can show what reading strategies a student uses in order to decode, as well as patterns of errors they make. They can be a guide for the phonics needs of each class and suggest which strategies to teach for decoding. Running Records will provide a ‘score’ of word reading accuracy and an analysis of the reader’s errors and self-corrections.
Running Records – The Basics 1
“This video covers the basics of doing and assessing a running record. You will see a split screen of reading and marking to see how it looks in real time and an explanation after. The explanation will include both how to mark student errors and how to understand what they mean. Running records can help you boost your students’ reading abilities by finding a direction for student learning.”