Middle School English
Language Development 3
Course of Study
Adopted
Spring, 2008
Preface
The Oakland Unified School District is committed to providing a world-class
education for every student. To help ensure that language-minority students graduate
with high levels of academic English proficiency and the knowledge and skills they will
need for higher education and the world of work, the district provides a rigorous,
standards-based English language development (ELD) program that is designed to move
students rapidly and effectively into regular English language arts instruction.
Purposes
This course of study is intended to help each high school accomplish this ambitious
goal. The course of study has five purposes:
1. To ensure that students receive an ELD curriculum that is both standards-based
and developmentally appropriate;
2. To ensure that ELD instruction provides systematic onramps to state English
language arts standards;
3. To provide teachers with a tool for both the long- and short-term planning of
curriculum—including the mapping of standards onto district-approved
instructional materials for high school;
4. To support consistency of implementation across schools and classrooms;
5. To provide the basis for the selection of core and supplementary instructional
materials and the development of accompanying curriculum resources.
Course Sequence
Oakland’s secondary English language development program provides systematic
pathways to the core English language arts curriculum. All English Learners, whether
they are enrolled in a comprehensive middle school or in a small-school setting, must
receive daily ELD appropriate to English proficiency level.
ELD 3 is the third in a series of ELD courses leading to enrollment in core English,
as the chart on the following page shows:
i
English Language Development Requirement
ELA
Placement
Criteria
Description
ELD 1
(semester)
CELDT
beginning level
Two periods of
ELD daily
High Point
Basics
Met by High
Point.
ELD 2
(semester)
CELDT high
beginning level
Two periods of
ELD daily
High Point
Basics
Met by High
Point.
ELD 3
(semester)
CELDT low early
intermediate level
Two periods of
ELD daily
High Point A
Met by High
Point.
ELD 4
(semester)
CELDT high
early intermediate
to low
intermediate level
Two periods of
ELD daily
High Point B
Met by High
Point.
ELD 5
(year)
CELDT
intermediate level
One period of
ELD daily + one
period of
transitional core
English
Middle school:
High Point C
The ELA
requirement is
met by the core
English class.
Differentiated
instruction within
a core English
course
Holt
Note: If enrolled
in U.S. schools ≥
6 years, the
student may NOT
enroll in ELD
Core
English
(year)
CELDT early
advanced or
advanced but not
yet meeting
reclassification
criteria OR
CELDT
intermediate or
above and in U.S.
schools ≥ 6 years
Adopted
Program
High school:
District
curriculum
(meets the “b”
requirement)
One period of
core English
with
differentiated
instruction + a
strategic or
intensive
English elective,
as needed.
Developmentally-Appropriate Course Outcomes
Oakland’s courses of study are designed to ensure that each student receives an ELD
program that is both age- and stage-appropriate. Each course makes increasingly
challenging demands on the student. The chart on the next page provides a simple
description of what the student will be able to do at the end of each course. The
standards in each level have been carefully selected to ensure that students will be able to
achieve these outcomes.
ii
Oakland’s English Language Development Program at a Glance
ELD 1
(semester)
ELD 2
(semester)
ELD 3
(semester)
ELD 4
(semester)
ELD 5
(year)
Listening and
Speaking
Communicates in faceto-face situations,
using sentences that
are short and often
incomplete. Interacts
with classmates in
carefully-structured
activities.
Produces sentences
that are increasingly
longer, although
grammatical errors are
very frequent and
vocabulary is limited.
Communicates in a
variety of situations,
expressing a range of
wants, needs, and
intentions. Errors
remain frequent but do
not interfere with
communication.
Abstract vocabulary
begins to appear.
Participates in
situations that require
the use of more
cognitively demanding
language to understand
and express ideas.
Some grammatical
errors may persist.
Engages in classroom
activities that require
critical thinking and
sustained discussion.
Oral language shows
syntactic complexity
and elaborated use of
vocabulary. Errors are
infrequent.
Reading
Reads familiar words
and short sentences
with teacher guidance.
Reads simple text with
controlled language
and vocabulary.
Reads increasingly
longer narrative and
information text
selections. Begins to
read simple text
independently.
Reads a growing range
of more challenging
literary works and text
materials, some
beginning to approach
grade level.
Reads a full range of
grade-level text
materials fluently and
with understanding.
Tackles literary works
and informational text
independently.
Writing
Responds in writing to
highly-structured
prompts, producing
words and simple
sentences.
Writes connected
sentences to produce
short paragraphs. Uses
writing frames and
models to produce
descriptions and short
narrative.
Writes well-formed
sentences and
paragraphs to
accomplish a growing
range of academic
tasks.
Writes across a range
of academic genres,
beginning to organize
and craft text
according to purpose,
audience, and topic.
Writes across genres,
showing the ability to
organize and express
ideas. Writing shows
variety, elaboration,
distinct voice, and
consistent control of
conventions.
iii
Organization of This Course of Study
The course of study has five major sections.
Section 1 provides a general course description and basic information on course
requirements.
Section 2 identifies the standards that are to be mastered in this course as well as
essential teaching points the teacher is to address.
Section 3 identifies reading selections that are accessible to students in ELD 3.
Section 4 includes rubrics for both listening/speaking and writing.
How the courses of study were developed
In the spring, 2007, a team of experienced middle school and high school English
language development teachers examined the need for new courses of study for ELD.
The team identified program needs and called for the development of courses of study
that would promote and support—

Implementation of a well-articulated, standards-based sequence of courses that
moves English Learners rapidly and effectively into the mainstream English
language arts program;

Consistency of implementation of instructional services across schools and
classrooms;

High levels of accountability at the classroom, school, and district levels.
The focus group also generated “blueprints” for Oakland’s courses of study, agreeing
that courses of study should—

Promote greater rigor in ELD courses;

Be primarily standards-based, not materials-driven;

Provide systematic onramps to state ELA standards;

Provide a practical planning tool for teachers.
The teacher team worked during the summer and fall to draft courses of study for
each ELD course. They examined state ELD and ELA standards, selecting and/or
identifying specific ELD standards that students should master at each level as well as
specific language or language-related skills that should be taught.
iv
Team members included—
M-L Davidson – Teacher, Oakland Technical High School
Paula Schiff – Teacher, Fremont Federation of Small Schools
Vicki Silkiss – Teacher, Oakland Technical High School
Vlada Teper – Teacher, Castlemont Business and Information Technology High School
Sarah Breed – ELA Coach
Cheryl Hayward – District Coach, Secondary EL Programs
Jenn Lutzenberg – ELA Coach
Lubia Sanchez – Middle School EL Programs Coach
Heather Tugwell – High School EL Programs Coach
Elizabeth Macias – Secondary EL Programs Coordinator
Tom Bye - Consultant
How this course of study should be used
Sections 1 – 5 of this course of study provide an array of planning tools for the
teacher.
Section 1 provides a general course description and identifies materials that are to be
used in the course.
Section 2 identifies the standards that are to be mastered in this course as well as
essential teaching points the teacher is to address. Section 2 provides a simple overall
description of what the students should be able to do by the end of ELD 3. Standards are
organized into six domains:
Listening and speaking
Reading: word analysis skills, fluency, and vocabulary
Reading comprehension
Literary response and analysis
Writing strategies and applications
Writing conventions
Within each domain, specific standards appropriate for mastery in ELD 3 are identified.
To the right of each set of standards, essential teaching points or expectations are
identified that the teacher is to present in order to help students master the standards.
v
SECTION 1: COURSE DESCRIPTION
Name of course:
English Language
Development 3
Course code:
First Hour: T6041A
2nd Hour: T6051A
Department:
English
Grade levels:
6-8
Course length:
One semester
Credits:
5
Prerequisites:
Low early intermediate level proficiency on the California English
Language Development Test
Teacher
certification:
ELD 3 teachers must hold state CLAD authorization or the
equivalent.
1. Course Description
ELD 3 is a one-semester, two-period course for middle school English Learners that
develops listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The course is the third course in
a sequence of courses designed to move students who are new to English into regular
English language arts instruction within a three-year period. Successful completion of
the requirements of this course will enable the student to move on to ELD 4.
Students who enroll mid-semester may not have the time or exposure needed to
master the course standards, and they may therefore repeat the course the next semester.
A student should not repeat this course more than once unless the site has determined that
the course represents an appropriate catch-up intervention.
2. Course Goals
ELD 3 provides students with instruction in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Course content enables students to master high early-intermediate ELD standards.
Students continue to develop basic interpersonal communication skills in this course as
well as foundational skills that promote the development of academic language and
literacy.
By the end of ELD 3, students will be able to—

communicate in a variety of situations both inside and outside the classroom;

understand and participate in well-scaffolded lessons and activities that begin to
show cognitive difficulty and require the use of common abstract vocabulary;

interact with peers in a variety of situations, producing sentences that show some
complexity;
1

read longer text with controlled language, including narrative and informational
materials;

write well-formed sentences and paragraphs to accomplish a variety of academic
writing tasks.
3. Approved Instructional Materials
CORE PROGRAM
The following program is adopted for use in ELD 3:
High Point A (Hampton-Brown)
SUPPLEMENTAL
MATERIALS
Listening and speaking
Programs or materials approved for use in ELD 3 to
address each standards domain include:
To be determined for each domain
Reading fluency: word
analysis skills and
vocabulary
Reading comprehension
Writing strategies and
applications
Writing conventions
2
SECTION 2: STANDARDS AND ESSENTIAL TEACHING POINTS
By the end of ELD 3—
In social situations, the student communicates in a variety of situations, inside and outside the classroom,
expressing a range of needs, wants, and intentions. Sentences are increasingly longer and more complex. Students
engage in sustained conversation with peers. Grammatical errors are less frequent and do not usually interfere with
communication. The use of abstract vocabulary begins to emerge. (e.g., fair, peace, respect).
In the classroom, the student understands and participates in more cognitively demanding lessons and activities that
are well-scaffolded.
The student reads familiar words, sentences, and simple text with controlled vocabulary, including longer
narratives and informational text materials—sometimes independently.
The student begins to write well-formed sentences and paragraphs to accomplish a growing variety of academic
writing tasks. S/he organizes and connects ideas to produce pieces that may include short informational reports
and multi-paragraph compositions using writing frames and models.
3
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Structures

Produce sentences that show
increasing length, emerging syntactic
complexity, and use of appropriate
vocabulary.

Listen to an oral presentation about a
topic, then restate the information to
show understanding.

Plan and conduct an interview.

Prepare and deliver short oral
presentations (e.g., simple
informational report, simple story).

Participate in social conversations
with peers and adults on familiar
topics, asking and answering
questions and soliciting information.
Functions
Subject-verb agreement
Past progressive (e.g., I was
watching TV … )
Negative sentences
Verbs taking the progressive
v. those that do not (e.g., I
am walking v. I dislike
math …)
Because clauses
While clauses
Since clauses
Movement prepositions
(towards, through, etc.)
Adverbs of manner (e.g., by
hand, with a pen)
Comparative and superlative
Relative clauses
Negative pronouns (no one,
nobody, neither one)
Relationship between
adjectives and adverbs
More complex if clauses
4
Communicative:
Requesting confirmation: tag
questions (You like pizza,
don’t you?)
Agreeing and disagreeing
Expressing certainty (must,
have to)
Expressing obligation (must,
have to, ought to)
Prohibiting (may not, must
not)
Academic:
Analyzing (describing main
idea, parts, or features of
information)
Hypothesizing (describing
what might happen if … )
Vocabulary and Concepts
Group nouns (a crowd of
people)
Unit nouns (a slice of bread)
Expressing amount or
quantity (all, many, much,
a few, some, a little, etc.)
Time-when adverbials
(yesterday, last night, in
the morning, two days
ago, etc.)
Expressing degree (very,
quite, fairly, not at all)
READING: WORD ANALYSIS, FLUENCY, AND VOCABULARY
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Phonics and
Word Analysis


Read short related paragraphs with
teacher guidance.
Apply knowledge of words and word
parts to begin to read fluently.

Segment multisyllabic words into
smaller words, affixes, and syllables.

Use knowledge of word parts and word
relationships to figure out the meaning
of new words.

Read simple passages aloud with
appropriate pacing and expression.

Morphemes:
Fluency
500 most frequently used words
Adjective suffixes (-able)
Prefixes (auto-, contra-, super-, co-)
Syllabification rules
Homophones (e.g., ate / eight)
Common Greek and Latin affixes for number
(e.g., bi-, multi-), time (e.g., pre-, post-), and
direction or location (e.g., inter-, ad-, ab-)
Common content-area vocabulary
Synonyms (e.g., allow, permit; careful,
cautious; food, nourishment)
Antonyms (e.g., dull, sharp; begin, end;
grief, joy)
Words with multiple meanings (e.g., Wait
your turn in line; Write your name on the
line.)
Signal Words:
Sequence: before, after, since, later,
while, until
Use a standard dictionary to find the
meaning of unknown vocabulary.
Time: when, lately, already, yet, once,
already, during, earlier, later
5
READING: COMPREHENSION
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Recommended Reading Genres

Identify important ideas, concepts and details
in narrative, informational, and everyday text.
Multi-step instructions with no visual
support

Make basic inferences, “reading between the
lines” by identifying details that are not
explicitly stated
Poetry

Read and respond to simple literary and
informational texts in content areas to show
understanding.

Find specific facts in simple expository text,
consumer and workplace documents, and in
adapted content area text.

Verify and clarify facts found in two or more
pieces of informational text on the same topic.
Reading Strategies
Using text features to preview a
reading:


Simple leveled narrative


Pictures
Headings
Titles
Captions
Simple expository text
Workplace documents (e.g. safety
rules, school handbook etc.)
Consumer documents (e.g. travel
brochure, catalog with written
descriptions, etc.)
Adapted content area text with
scaffolding
6
Questioning
Predicting
Summarizing
Beginning to use Survey, Question,
Read, Review and Respond (SQ3R)
Identifying simple cause and effect
relationships
Identifying a controlling idea and
support
Sequencing
Using context to unlock meaning
Making connections to text: text to
self; text to text; and text to word
READING: LITERARY RESPONSE AND ANALYSIS
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Literary Genres
Literary Analysis Skills

Identify the central theme in literary works.
Poetry
Elements of story: theme

Describe a character in narrative or drama
based on his or her actions, thoughts or words.
Myths
Figurative language:

Identify the events in a story and their causes.

Use expanded vocabulary and some
descriptive words in oral responses to familiar
literature.
Realistic fiction (i.e., stories that take
place in the real world)
Biography
Compare and contrast a similar theme or topic
between two genres.
Use of language to convey meaning:
Short stories
Identify the characteristics of different literary
genres.
One act plays

Contrast tales from different cultures.
Diaries

Respond orally and in writing to literary
works.
Folk tales

personification
metaphor
simile
Historical fiction
Songs




Monologues
7




descriptive language
sounds of poetry
imagery
style
WRITING STRATEGIES AND APPLICATIONS
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Writing Types

Produce different types of sentences, including Expository
basic compound and complex sentences.


Organize ideas and information in writing to
develop an idea or topic.

Write a simple paragraph with a topic sentence
and supporting details.

Produce writing that shows an awareness of
purpose and audience.
Planning
Short Informational Report



Real-world

Writing Skills and Strategies
Multi-paragraph business letter
(e.g., complaint letter to a
company)

Taking notes and organizing
information
Developing an outline
Using appropriate graphic
organizers to plan writing
Identifying purpose and audience
Drafting

Forms and applications



Narrative

Use the writing process to produce simple
forms of academic writing.

Take notes on a given topic using information
collected from two or more sources.

Complete career-related forms and documents.

Using Word Banks
Using paragraph frames
Using simple dialogue in narrative
Short autobiographical incident
Revision





Word choice
Organization
Clarifying meaning
Extending sentences by using
adjectives and adverbs
Using a rubric to guide revision
Presenting

8
Presenting a piece of writing to
classmates
WRITTEN CONVENTIONS
Standards
Essential Teaching Points
Sentence-Level



Edit one’s own writing for conventions that
have been taught.
Edit writing for correct sentence structure and
for grammatical structures that have been
taught.
Spell known words correctly.
Using parentheses
Using commas in simple compound and
complex sentences
Word-Level
Capitalizing the titles of books, movies,
songs, etc.
Using quotation marks around the names
of articles, songs, stories, etc.
Editing for subject-verb agreement
Capitalizing the names of organizations
Editing for use of tense in a sentence and
across related sentences
9
Spelling prefixes and suffixes
10