Crystal Demma

ENL Textbook Evaluation

Interchange 3rd Edition:

English Language Learners (ELLs) have the same potential for academic success as any

other English speaking student; however, ELLs have different learning needs to succeed in our

English-based school system. Teachers have a duty to meet those needs with varying teaching

methods and resources. ELLs should receive textbooks that are targeted to improving their needs

and growing their strengths. All resources should be aligned to New York State Learning

Standards.

Learning standards are important to base lessons and resources from. The textbook,

Interchange 3rd Edition, is aligned to the Engage New York Bilingual Standards. For example,

one of the grade-three reading standards states, “Common Core Grade 3 Standard (RI.3.4):

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text

relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.” I believe Interchange meets this because the student

edition provides a vocabulary section with images and many other supports. The images help the

student connect to the vocabulary words and make comprehensible input. According to Stephen

Krashen, acquiring a language requires making connections and not blankly repeating words

(Krashen).

Interchange 3rd Edition is a valuable resource for ELL students and teachers. I liked this

book because the student can have their own physical copy and it could be displayed on a Smart

Board as well. There are listening sections for the students to practice with and answer questions.

According to Suzanne Irujo, listening is a key component of language acquisition. According to,

“How to Choose a Good ESL textbook,” a sufficient textbook should include listening, speaking,
pronunciation, reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary.” Interchange has all of these

components. The student edition has many opportunities for students to practice their literacy

skills. Interchange is available to play through a Smart Board and the students can listen to key

vocabulary or dialogue. The textbook also provides dialogue for the students to practice in

groups. Group work allows collaboration to take place which helps build student learning. “How

to Choose a Good ESL textbook” states, “Texts in a leveled sequence for pre-beginning to high-

intermediate or advanced level that integrate listening, speaking, reading and writing in each unit

are called core textbooks or basal series.” I would consider the Interchange a core textbook

because it has all of these components. Also, Interchange has ancillaries such as: Teacher’s

Edition, Audio Book, Multimedia, and Lab Program.

Interchange incorporates many of the checklist components. I gave it a 16/20 for its

content. From what I can decipher the resource does an excellent job representing the

information topically. The sections are organized under headings such as: listening, conversation,

word power, grammar, pronunciation, reading, and writing. I took off points for worldview. I did

not see any readings that deepened their worldview or made them think about their own beliefs.

I gave Interchange an excellent score on their overall vocabulary and grammar from the

checklist. After introducing new vocabulary or grammar the text follows with a section to apply

the new rules or words. According to Beatrice Mikulecky’s article, “Teaching Reading in a

Second Language,” ELLs should be taught with a concept driven method nicknamed, “The Top-

Down Model.” Interchange does try to engage the students’ prior knowledge using diagrams,

audio, etc. to elicit their background knowledge.

Interchange also scored well for its exercises and activities section. The text does an

excellent job creating interactive activity for students to practice new vocabulary in their
speaking. Following the section of learning the new vocabulary, there is a section for dialogue

that incorporates the new words. However, they lost points on, “Does the text make

comprehension easier by addressing one new concept at a time instead of multiple new

concepts?” At times the text is focused on one concept, but other times it is a little jumpy and

may confused the ELL students.

Interchange has an excellent appearance. The images are clear and students can use them

to help them comprehend. The pages are not cluttered so the students can make sense of them

and make comprehensible input. The text is interesting and is relatable to students’ lives. Some

of the sections are about family members, sports, school schedules, and routines.

The Teacher’s Manual of Interchange has excellent features. The manual lays out clear

objectives for each section. It also provides steps and strategies for the teacher to follow for

instruction. There are “Tip” boxes to help the teacher use the text more effectively and correct

answers for exercises.

The Teacher’s Manual gives suggestions for teachers to elicit background knowledge. It

provides open-ended and productive questions. Interchange is excellent on giving teachers

examples for previewing, skim, scan, summarize, and find main idea. Under the reading section

it states, “Tell them to skim the article to check their predictions. Explain that skim means ‘to

read quickly to find the main ideas.’” Interchange definitely hits excellent on many of the

Teacher’s manual checklist. The text includes quizzes to assess the students’ skills they have

acquired.

I would use Interchange in my classroom during Literacy block. I would create centers

and have students rotate after 20 minutes. I would use Interchange as a center with a teacher

guiding the students. A Smart Board would be integrated into the lesson because the program has
an audio component and listening is a crucial component for ELLs L2 development. For the

dialogue sections I would reinforce the vocabulary taught in the book with my own pictures and

have the students write down the words in their own personal glossaries. Then I would move on

to the dialogue. I would assign partners for the students. When the group rotated, the dialogue

partners would practice. For those who need to be challenged I would have them add a few of

their own lines. They could add their own props and make it fun! At the end of the week instead

of making rotations we would present our dialogues to our small groups. I would not have them

present to the class, because I would not want to make my students anxious with speaking

another language. According to the article, “Second Language Writing and Research” by

Johanne Myles, teachers should build upon what students know through strategic instruction,

collaborative opportunities, and active participation. Interchange’s dialogue sections are a great

strategy to use for instruction, collaboration, and active participation. I would use this book in

every ELL or bilingual classroom that are intermediate levels.

Pearson Elevate Science K-5:

The Elevate Science textbook is an effective resource for ELLs learning science. This

textbook is heavily aligned to state standards. The Elevate Science program believes inquiry

should be supported and used as an outlet for learning science. According to the NYS Science

Learning Standards, “STANDARD 1 Key Idea 1: Analysis, Inquiry, The central purpose of

scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena and design in a continuing,

creative process.” The book also is a Common Core Program. It could be used to cover bilingual

standards, “Common Core Grade 4 Standard (RI.4.1): Refer to details and examples in a text

when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.” The
text requires the students read and answer questions. The students must use evidence in the text

to help them with the problem.

I selected this book because STEM is a crucial part of our workforce, and it incorporates

ELL components to help them understand at the same level of a native English speaker. I liked

that this textbook was inclusive and did not leave ELLs “behind.” It also encompasses a lot of

my own personal teaching philosophies such as: project-based learning, hands-on activities,

collaboration, learning through inquiry, building on prior knowledge, and creating problems for

children to solve. I feel as though Elevate Science teaches the child a well-rounded lesson that

has a goal for the child to reach deep understanding, opposed to rote memorization. Also, the

program comes in English and Spanish for students at the beginner level of English who speak

Spanish for their L1. It has technology integrated into the program and can be viewed and

interacted with on a tablet or interactive board. It also has ELL interventions and resources.

Elevate Science is a science content textbook, but it develops literacy and math skills as

well. According to the article, “How to Choose a Good ESL Textbook,” Elevate Science is a

content-based text. Elevate Science presents their topics in an organized manner by lessons. Each

lesson has interactive activities, vocabulary, writing opportunities, critical thinking activities, and

application questions and plans. The lessons are about science content, but they relate it to the

child’s life.

Vocabulary words are represented in a multitude of ways. The new words are introduced

in a special box at the beginning of the lesson as well as in an introductory video, next they are

highlighted in the reading, then they are applied in questions. The program also comes with

leveled readers so students could read content books at a reading level more appropriate to them.
 I was extremely impressed with the amount of interactive activities in this book. In each

lesson there are several hands-on components. There are bigger projects and quick little projects

just to support understanding. This text uses Top-Down models as well as Bottom-Up strategies.

It builds on prior-knowledge with the activities, but it also explicitly teaches new vocabulary.

Each lesson is separated by topic to make it more comprehensible to students. Each activity

elicits problem-solving and real world application. It tells the students the issues and relies on

them to create a solution. This starts at a simplistic level and grows into more complex and real

problems our country deals with, where the students have to apply the knowledge they just

learned and their own critical thinking skills.

Elevate Science has teaching materials. These materials provide scaffolded questions to

enhance student learning. There are ELL supports and outlines of what to focus on for each level

from emergent to bridging readers. The program does an exemplary job with supplementary

exercise and materials. The program has uses audio, visual materials that can be viewed on a

tablet or interactive board. They even provide materials for the classroom that matches to each

lesson.

I would use Elevate Science as whole-class instruction. I would introduce the lesson by

writing the vocabulary words and definitions on the board. Not only would I write the textbook’s

vocabulary, I would supplement the lesson by adding any words the ELLs would need to

understand the text. According to Suzanne Irujo, ELLs only have a fraction of words of their

native English speaking peers. She states, ELLs need explicit vocabulary instruction and they

need to see the words. According to “Strategies for Teaching Science to ELLs,” key terms

should be written down where students can view so they can connect with the sound and how it

is represented visually (Herr). Elevate Science does a spectacular job scaffolding new
information and having the students interact; however, I would supplement the book with my

own ELL supports. This could be a graphic organizer, chart, graph, or figure. These require little

knowledge of English and can help bridge the students to comprehension. I would have the

students work on the activities in a group and develop a plan to fix the problem. During the week

after the lesson is taught I will allow them to practice using the vocabulary words. This could be

in a class discussion, writing piece, flashcard drill with pictures, or building a picture glossary in

their book. This book should be used throughout the entire school including special ed., general

ed., and ELL. It can be adapted to fit various learning needs and the program provides many

supports.

Pearson Words Their Way: With English Learners

Words Their Way is aligned to Common Core ELA standards. Common Core states,

“CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills

in decoding words.” This text teaches students how to distinguish long and short vowels, decode

two-syllable words, decode words with common prefixes and suffixes, and more. I selected this

text because it is adapted for ELLs and helps develop their literacy skills. Suzanne Irujo believes

that ELLs need explicit vocabulary instruction, student interaction, pictures/diagrams, and

comprehensible input. Words Their Way includes, direct instruction of vocabulary, visual

supports, and multimodal teaching strategies.

Words Their Way is a unique resource that begins with teacher-guided lesson and

gradually moves the student to independent practice. It is represented in an organized matter by

sort. Each sort has an objective and that goal stays constant the whole way through. I am scoring

it low however, for the authentic language and window into culture. The book is designed to

explicitly teach students grammatical rules and not be a reading. However, I will score it high for
the whole vocabulary and grammar section. The rules are presented logically and the goal is

clear throughout the sort with many opportunities to practice with the teacher, with a friend, or

independently. Every sort provides multiple activities for students to apply the words. Not only

do they teach the spelling of words, it explains how it sounds and why it sounds that way.

Students must critically think to sort their words into the correct category. They must use

strategies modeled by the teacher.

Words Their Way is visually appealing. The pictures that are used for vocabulary words

are clear. If there is confusion about a picture, the teacher’s edition lists what they are supposed

to be. The only text to read in this book are the spelling/vocabulary words so I am going to have

to score it low for it being interesting to read.

The Words Their Way Teacher’s Manual seems to be very informative. Each sort takes a

week to complete. The manual gives you suggestions how to teach it, and a layout of how the

pace of the week. It has correct answers and helpful tips.

I would use this book to teach whole-class instruction. The first day I would introduce the

words using a read-aloud or a poem. We would have a discussion about the meaning of words

we heard in the story. Then I would model how to perform the sort depending on the words and

grammar. The second day the students would cut out the words from the sort. They practice

sorting the words between categories but do not glue them to the category that day. On the third

day, the teacher re-reads the poem . The students volunteer to tell you which words they heard

that were from their sort. Day four they apply the knowledge from the week in a writing sample.

The last day students sort their words and glue them into their books. I suggest that everyone use

Words Their Way, however they should use the text that is appropriate for their ability.
 The three texts, Interchange 3rd Edition, Pearson Words Their Way: With English

Learners, Pearson Elevate Science K-5, are deemed excellent for ELLs resources. They all are

organized into sections with clear objectives and have a teacher’s manual. They have unique

qualities that meet the diverse needs of ELL students.

 Appendix

Helman, L. (2012). Words their way with English learners: Word study for phonics, vocabulary,
and spelling. Boston: Pearson.

How to Choose a Good ESL Textbook. (2009). Retrieved October 23, 2018, from
file:///Users/crystaldemma/Documents/EDPN 671/Moise 620/howtochoosegoodesltextbook.pdf

Irujo, Suzanne. The ELL Outlook. "What Does Research Tell us About Teaching Reading to
English Language Learners?" Jan/Feb, 2007. Course Crafters Inc. Web.

Mikulecky, B. S. (2008). Teaching Reading in a Second Language. Retrieved

from https://longmanhomeusa.com/content/FINAL-LO RES-Mikulecky-Reading Monograph
.pdf

Miller, Z., Padilla, M. J., & Wysession, M. (2019). Elevate science. New York, NY: Pearson
Education.

Myles, Johanne. Second language writing and research: the writing process and error analysis in
student texts. Retrieved from:http://tesl-ej.org/ej22/a1.html

Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition [Advertisement]. (2010, October 15). Retrieved

September 13, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreu

Richards, J. C. (2012). Interchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.