Time is of the essence for newcomer English Learners who enter in middle school or high school. SIPPS Plus and SIPPS Challenge can provide an efficient, engaging way to accelerate foundational reading development for older students learning to read in English. While English Learners face unique challenges in vocabulary and pronunciation, English Language Development strategies are an inherent part of the design of SIPPS. Since high frequency sight words and decodable words are carefully selected on the basis of written and spoken frequency, classroom language and vocabulary in SIPPS will be mutually reinforcing.
Learning to decode in English is complicated by the lack of one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds, especially vowels. In SIPPS, phonics and spelling strategies are taught together so that they are mutually reinforcing, which will aid in learning the logic and power of the English vowel system. In addition, fluency practice with the Dreams on Wheels decodable texts (SIPPS Plus) or the optional Hi/Lo Fluency Libraries provide secondary-level English Learners access to engaging, age-appropriate reading that will help develop fluency, increase automaticity, and build confidence. SIPPS Plus and SIPPS Challenge can both serve as a valuable part of a daily English Language Development course at the middle or high school levels.
A few tips to keep in mind as you support English Learners in SIPPS:
- Build Vocabulary: When you come to words your English Learners do not know, give a quick definition or explanatory sentence, draw a sketch, point to a picture, or act the word out.
- Build Background Knowledge: Before fluency practice, aid comprehension by previewing key vocabulary and drawing students’ attention to the context of the story. Support for this is provided in the “Reading a Selection” section in Lessons 5-55 in SIPPS Plus.
- Be sensitive to English sounds that may not be present in a student's first language. Early SIPPS lessons will help you describe and model mouth formation and sound production for difficult sounds.
Learn more in the “Supporting English Language Learners” section in the introduction of your SIPPS Teacher’s Manual (Third or Fourth Edition), or in your Implementation Handbook (Fifth Edition).