When planning a guided reading lesson for emergent English language learners, the teacher must carefully assess students' language levels in both their primary language and in English to select an appropriate text. During the introduction, the teacher should ask questions about the book cover to gauge vocabulary knowledge and encourage predictions. It is important for students to connect the pictures to the text and use reading strategies like pointing to words. The teacher observes students reading individually to evaluate strategy use and provide support. Discussion questions should be open-ended and allow time for students to respond in full sentences to demonstrate their oral language skills. Follow-up activities like re-reading or writing provide practice and assessment opportunities. Teachers must evaluate if a book sufficiently challenges students while considering their language

2. What does an emergent guided reading
lesson look like?
What are the reading strategies that emergent
readers use and do they correlate to their
language level?
How can we really decide a child’s reading level
if her language is just beginning?
When are English language learners ready for
guided reading?
Are some students early or early fluent readers in
their primary language and not yet even
emergent readers in English?

3. Assess language level
and reading level to
meet students needs.
Student that can read in
their primary language is
easier to teach to read
in English.
Teacher needs to look
closely at child’s literacy
and language
development.
Most ELLs are learning to
read and speak English
at the same time, harder
for students and teacher
in designing lesson.
Building language
patterns and reading
strategies impacts
success.

4. INTRODUCTION
Guided Orientation
• look at book cover, vocabulary, connect
child’s background
• look at text and pictures , predict, ask
leading questions
Students Read By
Themselves
• out loud, teacher can hear and help with
questions
Discussion
• students share strategies used to help with
reading
Reread Text
• read to a partner learn from one another,
or read to themselves again
Students Respond to Text
• oral, written or artistic response – orreread text again

5. In order to use guided reading
effectively with emergent readers, ELLs
need to have at least early
intermediate language proficiency.
Students should be
responding with more
than one or two words or
yes/no as beginning
English speakers do.
Because of strong
picture support, some
beginning speakers with
strong reading strategies
are able to do fine.

6. Introduction
Orientation
Student
Reading
Evaluation
Follow-Up
Discussion

7. Why don’t you
just tell them the
title and tell them
what the book is
about?
What if I don’t
speak the child’s
primary
language?
Gets them
thinking what the
book could be
about
Taps into their
prior knowledge
Teacher sets the
scene
Introduction
Teacher draws
attention to
pertinent
vocabulary
through careful
questioning
Read the
author’s and
illustrator’s names

8. Orientation
• Comprehension should always be the main goal
• Students walk through the text with the teacher
• Make predictions as they look at pictures
• Touch words as they confirm their predictions
• Teacher reminds students of reading strategies they
will need to be successful in reading
• Teacher needs to make sure students know and
understand the vocabulary
• Students should naturally learn from each other in a
group
• Tends to be longer for ELLs because the group really
needs to discuss what is happening in the pictures

9. Student Reading
• Goal is for each child to ignore the others and get
lot in their own reading
• Students read aloud individually
• Teacher’s task is to observe and instruct if necessary
• Teacher takes notes on their strategy use and
language levels
• You are better able to help ELLs when you can hear
how they are reading
• Timely suggestions allow students to put that new
learning into practice immediately
• Faster readers can reread the story in order to keep
the group together

10. Discussion
• Ask a quick question to elicit a response to
the book and to establish a connection
• Critical for deepening their understanding
of the text and for assessing their
comprehension and language level
• It is important to have the children reflect
on what they read so that they can learn
this is what expert readers do

11. Follow-Up
• Reread text through buddy reading or
independent reading
• ELLs need practice reading for fluency
• Write response to the book in their reading
response journal
• For emergent readers, that usually means
drawing a picture or writing a short sentence
• Have students write variations on the repetitive
pattern of the text by changing a word or two
• Allows ELLs to practice correct sentence structure
and build vocabulary

12. Evaluate whether the
book was appropriate:
goal is to challenge
readers to read more
difficult texts at their
instructional level
Evaluate student’s use of
reading strategies:
tracking, finding words
they knew in the text,
using pictures to gain
meaning, using
graphophonics, and
making predictions
Expect language
outcomes to match their
language level but still
validate their successful
reading of these
emergent texts.
Determine what minilessons should be
planned to support
language and literacy
development
Evaluation

13. Beginning speakers
are not ready to
benefit from
guided reading
lessons
When considering a
guided reading lesson
with emergent readers
in a bilingual
classroom, is essential
to identify their
language level as well
as their reading levels
in L1 and L2.
Often, it seems that student´s have
large discrepancies between perceive
reading levels in Spanish and English.
because teachers do not look
carefully to children´s strategy use
and language levels.
Reading strategies
transfer form the
primary language
to English. Fluent L1
reader will have
easier time
transferring
strategies.
When language proficiency in L2 is
really low, students need direct
language instruction – new academic
vocabulary, new sound-symbol
connections – before starting to read in
English.

14. PLANNING
Before delivering a guided reading
lesson, teachers must assess their
students’ use of reading strategies and
language patterns, in order to select
the best reading material.

15. During the introduction, the teacher
should ask questions about the
cover photograph to assess children
vocabulary that will be used in the text.
It is important let students figure out for
themselves the title of the book.
It is important to tap into
children’s background
knowledge and
experiences. And encourage
them to make connections.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction part of the lesson
helps emergent readers realize the
importance of predicting what
the book may be about by using the
cover picture and then looking at the
title to see if it matches the predictions.
In an emergent text the title page is
designed to help readers learn more
about the story before they even start
reading it. Teachers need to capitalize in
on these picture clues and have
children make predictions that will help
them read the story.

16. ORIENTATION
STUDENT READING
STUDENT READING
Help students recognize
repetitive sentence
patterns.
Teachers seats back, listens
and observes students
reading.
Ask questions to remind
pictures and text
complement each other.
Look for students checking
students predictions, selfcorrect and other
emergent reader strategies.
If text is below their reading
level, it would be hard to
identify students’
language levels and
reading strategies
knowledge

17. DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
It is a time to learn more about
the oral language levels. Ask
higher thinking level questions
(WHY?, HOW?)pushes students
to produce more language
and develop thinking abilities.
It is important for teachers to
allow enough time for ELL
students to process and
answer a question. Students
need to feel comfortable.
Teachers should ask questions in
different ways, and give different
word clues.
Teachers should listen carefully to
ELLs responses, because maybe
there doing more connections
that we think.

18. Follow - up
Usually, the follow
ups are re
readings,
independently or
with a buddy…
… but sometimes
a text was below
students’ reading
level that a writing
response may be
appropriate.

19. EVALUATION
During an evaluation,
teacher must identify
which reading
strategies transfer
from L1 to L2. Teachers
should be aware that
sometimes children
language output does
not compare with their
reading level.
Questioning
techniques are
critical in
influencing the
types of
responses
children give.
Knowing the skills
and strategies that are
used at each
developmental stage
of speaking and
reading, and
comparing children´s
output with those, is
essential. (Tables 2.1 -2.13
and Apenndixes A3-A7.)

20. Texts with support - Pictures and text match exactly,
readers rely on clues for meaning.
•Teacher guides students to correspond text with picture.
•Readers should point and touch words.
Books should have repetitive patterns and be
predictable and connect to readers experience.
•Readers can use their background experience to predict ending.
•Vocabulary and life experience that are familiar to reader.
Match concept of book with concept development
level of reader – their understanding of what is
happening in the story.
•If reader knows concept and vocabulary in L1 they can learn the
English equivalent.

21. Guided walk
through the text,
repeat words that
match pictures.
Students learn
high-frequency
Words.
Students develop
new vocabulary.
Best way to
integrate oral
English language
development.
Students learn
about book
handling skills.
Students learn
progression of
story lines.
Students learn
rhythms of English
language
patterns