Beginning English learners are at risk of being lost in a system that doesn′t know how to reach them. With more and more ELs entering U.S. schools every year, educators need to act quickly to create school- and classroom-based programs that work. Veteran educators Debbie Zacarian and Judie Haynes provide templates and tools—along with vignettes illustrating real-world challenges—to help teachers and administrators:

• Create a welcoming environment for English learners and their families who are unfamiliar with the American education system
• Reach out to students from literacy and non-literacy-oriented homes
• Engage parents to become a part of the school community
• Learn strategies for teaching beginning level ELs across the curriculum
• Develop instructional models for students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE)
• Build sensitive practices for students who have experienced trauma

The Essential Guide for Educating Beginning English Learners provides a realistic and comprehensive framework for effectively reaching and teaching this growing population.

"This book provides a wonderful look at the complexities of providing newcomers with a welcoming school environment and appropriate instruction."
—Michelle DaCosta, Bilingual Resource Teacher
Framingham Public Schools, MA

"This book gets at the heart of working with beginning ELs and helps educators gain a complete understanding of these students′ needs and the factors that influence them."
—Yvonne S. Freeman, Professor of Bilingual Education
The University of Texas at Brownsville