This paper addresses the implications, for ELLs, of the new standard's requirement that students be able to read and understand complex, informationally dense texts. The authors discuss the types of supports that learners need in order to work with complex texts. They also provide a sample of what academic discourse involves, using an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail. They demonstrate how English learners can be provided with strategies for accessing complex texts, such as closely examining one sentence at a time. The authors argue that instruction must go beyond vocabulary and should begin with an examination of our beliefs about language, literacy and learning.

This resource was created as part of the CESA #1 EL OER Project to help EL students access social studies curriculum and/or texts related to Wisconsin history (fur trade and early settlement). The first page can be used as a vocabulary reference during the unit. Students can use this page to help understand text about this unit or to write related sentences. The matching activity can be used to introduce/pre-teach vocabulary, or it could also be used as an assessment tool (for level 1 & 2 ELs) to see if students understand vocabulary related to Wisconsin and this time period.

Colorín Colorado is the premier national website serving educators and families of English language learners (ELLs) in Grades PreK-12. Colorín Colorado has been providing free research-based information, activities, and advice to parents, schools, and communities around the country for more than a decade.

Learn more about our mission to serve ELLs as well as the team that makes Colorín Colorado possible below.

Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

The name "Colorín Colorado" comes from a playful phrase that is often said at the end of stories in Spanish-speaking countries: "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado!" or "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha terminado!" (Colorín Colorado, the story has ended!) There's no equivalent in English, but the phrase is similar to "The End" or "...and they lived happily ever after," or "That's all, folks!"

The saying brings back happy childhood memories of storytelling and reading for generations of people from many different countries. Making people smile about reading seemed like a perfect way to introduce our project.

eComma is a social reading tool teachers can install in their Learning Management System (LMS). It allows students and teachers to read and annotate texts together, pooling their knowledge and perspectives for a deeper understanding and analysis of what they are reading. The eComma website linked here explains how to explain the tool in an LMS and has a user guide and case studies with ideas for how to use it in a class.