Half Hollow Hills Central School District

English as a New Language

Curriculum:
English as a New Language
Stand Alone 6-8
Board of Education
Eric Geringswald, President
Betty DeSabato, Vice President
Diana Acampora, Trustee
Stephanie Gurin, Trustee
David Kaston, Trustee
Adam Kleinberg, Trustee
Paul Peller, MD, Trustee
Central Administrators
Mrs. Kelly Fallon-Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Patrick Harrigan-Deputy Superintendent
Mrs. Mary Rettaliata-Assistant Superintendent, Elementary Education
Mr. John OFarrell-Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education
Mrs. Anne Marie Marrone CAliendo-Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Facilities
English as a New Language Curriculum Committee
Lori Campbell- Coordinator of World Language & ENL
Teacher Consultants:
Courtney Metelitz
Y. Melissa Benslama
2016
Philosophy

The Half Hollow Hills School District is committed to providing its students with an
intensive ENL program which supports content area and NEw York State Learning
Standards. This program focuses on the development of overall communicative and
linguistic competence in comprehension, listening, speaking, reading and writing
English.
English as a New Language (ENL)
Course: ENL

Length of Program: 40 weeks

This program is designed for students that qualify for English as a New Language who
are classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP). These students are from a home
where a language other than English is spoken, and score below proficiency on the
NYSITELL (New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners). Upon
completion of each school year, students will take the NYSESLAT (New York State
English as a Second Language Assessment Test) to measure their English Language Arts
Proficiency. The ENL Core Curriculum is divided into five levels of instruction referred
to as: Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding, & Commanding. Students are
assessed upon entry to the district and placed at the appropriate level of instruction. The
program includes a list of instructional goals which are presented in the following
categories: phonology, syntax, vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing and cultural
awareness. Lesson plans are designed being mindful of the whole language approach to
language instruction, by incorporating oral and written language skills into activities
that encourage social interaction and are personally meaningful to students. It is the
belief that all students come to the classroom with preexisting knowledge that
contributes to the learning process, whether this be linguistic or lived experiences. Every
effort is made to discover and exploit this knowledge by surveying students strengths
and experiences in order to develop their English abilities. Our goals are that students
will be able to work independently through the use of visual aids, hands on activities,
small group instruction and adaptation of content. Students will develop communicative
proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing as outlined in our learning
standards for ENL.
New York State Standards for ENL
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STANDARD 1: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for information &
understanding.
STANDARD 2: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for literary
response, enjoyment and expression.
STANDARD 3: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for critical analysis
& evaluation.
STANDARD 4: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for classroom &
social interaction.
STANDARD 5: Students will demonstrate cross-cultural knowledge and understanding.

New York State English Proficiency Levels

Beginning in 2015-2016 school year, New York State identified English Language
Learners at 5 levels of proficiency, which roughly correlate to the former levels:
Entering (Beginner)--The student has great dependence on supports and
structures to advance his/her academic language skills and has yet to meet the
linguistic demands necessary to demonstrate English Language proficiency in a
variety of academic contexts within this grade level.
Emerging (Low Intermediate)--The student has some dependence on
supports and structure to advance his/her academic language skills and has yet to
meet the linguistic demands necessary to demonstrate English language
proficiency in a variety of academic contexts within this grade level.
Transitioning (High Intermediate)--The student shows some
independence in advancing his/her academic language skills, but has yet to meet
the linguistic demands necessary to demonstrate English proficiency in a variety
of academic contexts within this grade level.
Expanding (Advanced)--The student shows great independence in
advancing his/her academic language skills and is approaching the linguistic
demands necessary to demonstrate English language proficiency in a variety of
academic contexts within this grade level.
Commanding (Proficient)--This student has attained a near-native level of proficiency
in academic language skills and demonstrates proficiency in a variety of academic
contexts within the grade level.

Unit 1: Narratives
Focus: Societal Pressure/Conflicts
Unit 1:
Common Core Standards
Reading Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6
Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content and style of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7
Integrate and evaluate content
presented
in diverse media and formats,
including
visually and quantitatively, as well as
in
words.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8
Delineate and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance
and sufficiency of the evidence
Language Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how
language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or
style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful
word parts,
and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
Writing Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
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effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Learning Targets

Vocabulary

I can Write a letter based on the main

Scapegoat- narrative- character
character in my reading to her friend back development- annotation- Conflict-plot
home in Barbados.
I can explain how societal fear or stress,
led to her conflict and her and Hannahs
trial.
I can use my understanding of setting,
character, plot development, and conflict
to demonstrate our units themethe
fear-scapegoat connection.

Modalities

Activities

Reading

Close reading- Leveled comprehension

Qs- understanding-inferring- concluding
authors message in writing his work

MAIN TEXT
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth
Speare (novel) 850L
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
"Why We Fear the Unknown" by Jeffery
Winters (Psychology Today article)
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
by Rod Serling (grade-level anthology
drama)
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut,
Jr. (anthology-short story)
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
(anthology-short Story)
Choices Nikki Giovanni (poetry)
The Road Not Taken Robert Frost
Identity Julio Noboa Polanco
Discovery Education Video 32 min.
The Salem Witch Trials (history and 5
theories + the politics)

Writing

Developing written responses to leveled

comprehension Qs
Annotating the text for better
understanding
Interacting in close reading w the text
from multiple angles

Grammar

Parts of speech revisited

Compound sentences

Miscellaneous

Setting accounts and navigating them:

I C, Google.
Classroom routines in different subjects
Honoring teachers expectations
Back to School Night: importance of
attendance and purpose of it.

NYSESLAT PREP: Fridays:

Focus on Speaking

Speaking
Listening
Reading
Writing

End of performance Task

Summative/Formative

Write a letter from Kit to a friend back

home in Barbados. In your letter, explain
how societal fear or stress, led to her
conflict and her and Hannahs trial. Use
your understanding of setting, character,
plot development, and conflict to
demonstrate our unit themethe fearscapegoat connection
ELL Modification: write a letter to their
friend in their native country. Taking into
consideration the work they read, explain
how societal fear led them to conflict and
fear .

UNIT2:
Focus: Analyzing Authors purpose
and literary Criticism

Common Core Standards

Reading Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.5 Analyze the
structure of texts, including how specific
sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions
of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene,
or stanza) relate to each other and the
whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6
Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content and style of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7
Integrate and evaluate content presented
Language Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of
conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in
diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use
of evidence and rhetoric.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting
evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization,
development,
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and
communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or
appropriate.
Writing Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.

Learning Targets

Vocabulary

I can understand the author's purpose in

writing his work
I can infer that the author is defending an
idea/concept
I can fathom that the author through his
work is trying to change the injustice/
plight of his society for the best

Purpose- analysis- work- societal plightauthor's craft-allusion- biblical- literarymythological- mythology-denotationassociationconnotation

Modalities

Activities

Reading

Reading a novel to reflect beyond the

obvious ideas

Writing

Selecting accurate evidence to build

strong examples to use in essays.
Annotating and connotating a text
Writing a logical/strong response to a
prompt

Grammar

Complex- compound sentences

Simple sentences- parts of speech
Synonyms- antonyms

Miscellaneous

Mastering the content areas classroom

routines
Using different resources such as
dictionaries and thesauri to define words
literally and in context

NYSESLAT PREP: Fridays

Listening

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth

Speare- 850L,
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut,
Jr. 750L
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury 910L
"Why We Fear the Unknown" by Jeffery
Winters, 1070
Christmas Day in the Workhouse by
George R. Sims (poem)
"America by Whitman (poem)
I Too by Hughes (poem)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Triangle Factory fire resources (from 7
th
grade Collections textbook)
From Novel for Students The Conversion
of Scrooge: A Defense of That Good Mans
Motivation by W.E. Morris (pp 84-88)
The Christmas Carol and the Economic
Man by Edgar Johnson. (pp 88-92)
Discovery Education Video: Famous
Authors: Charles Dickens 1812-1870
Segments: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 The Victorian Web

Speaking
Reading
Writing
End of the Unit Performance
Task

Literary Essay logically constructed with

tier three vocabulary
Using the works of Hughes and Dickens,
write an essay explaining how the authors
use their writing to express criticism of
society in an effort to make a positive
change.
Modification for ELLS:
Using one literary work to explain how
the author through his writing is trying to
change the world/his society for the best.

UNIT 3:
FOCUS: Understanding How the Individual Voice Can Impact Both the
World and Oneself?
Common Core Standards
Reading Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6
Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content and style of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7
Integrate and evaluate content presented
in diverse media and formats, including
visually and quantitatively, as well as in
words.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8
Delineate and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the
relevance and sufficiency of the evidence

Language Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2.a Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives (e.g., It
was a fascinating, enjoyable movie but not He wore an old[,] green shirt).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2.b Spell correctly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4.d Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning
of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a
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dictionary)

Writing Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Learning Targets
I can effectively conduct a research about
a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Vocabulary

Nobel- Peace- Prize- demonstrateanalyze-synthesize-speak out- advocate

for-memoir-narrative-informative

I can synthesize information

from a variety of sources.
I can demonstrate my understanding of
this individuals impact on and
contribution to the world.

MODALITIES
Reading
MAIN TEXTS
I am Malala Young Readers Version
(830L)

ACTIVITIES
Reading a biography with different
strategies- close reading and comparative
texts/literature

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
RF Kennedy Center for Justice & Human
Rights Website
PBS Frontline: Children of the Taliban
(journalist interviews school girls in Swat
- same area as Malala --and young boys
recently recruited by Taliban):
http://video.pbs.org/video/1134781691/
first ten minutes especially (55 min total)
Various clips from pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/halfsky/
watch-this-videos/
Half the Sky documentary promo 2:40
(doesnt look like Pakistan is explored in
the full film)
http://www.amazon.com/Half-SkyOppression-OpportunityWorldwide/dp/B008NNY98U/ref=pd_si
10

m_14_4?
ie=UTF8&refRID=18Q8P1T1NHWHXYB
25DVA
Possible independent reads for students:
The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary
Person Can Create Extraordinary Change
by Adam Braun
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into
Opportunity for Women Worldwide by
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rf
u08GyibwcMhEB_tpqKsi64u7RVmzNID
QL8WCRqw-s/edit?usp=sharing

Writing

Analyzing a biography-understanding the

purpose of the text- Inferring implication
to engaged writing/actions in changing
the society's wrong doings and
synthesizing the persons work and its
impact on the world.

Grammar

Complex sentences and parts of speech

review

Miscellaneous

Navigating the campus digitally and in

real life

NYSESLAT PREP: Fridays

Writing
Reading
Listening
Speaking

END OF UNIT
PERFORMANCE TASK

Make a presentation about a Nobel Prize

Winner following the researching process
of reliable sources and producing
academic work

UNIT 4:

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Focus: How can conflict shape and develop characters in a

literary work?
Common Core standards
Reading Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Language Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4.a Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or

paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of
a word or phrase.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4.b Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes
and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4.c Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g.,
dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation
of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech.

Writing Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and
publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Learning Targets

Vocabulary

I can understand the purpose and result

of conflicts of all sorts in the development
of characters in a literary work.

Argumentative writing-claim-thesisevidence
coming of age novels-

I can compare two authors and their work

relating and treating the same theme.
I can present a clear well-constructed
essay with strong evidence from literary
texts.
I can argue presenting both sides of the
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claim and taking a stand for or against it

with proper evidence and logical thinking.

MODALITIES
Reading
MAIN TEXTS: The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer by Mark Twain (novel) (970L)
OR
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred
Taylor (920L)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing
People & Events: Sharecropping in
Mississippi, PBS.org
Jim Crow, amistadresource.org
The Great Depression,
amistadresource.org
The ADHD Ventures of Tom Sawyer,
by Anne Applebaum
"Advice to Youth" by Mark Twain
(satirical speech)
Comparing Media: Covering Issues in the
News from Collections page 19-30

ACTIVITIES
Close reading-interpreting part of a text in
relation to a whole.
Understanding- interpreting- inferring a
central theme-message.
Referring back to the text with specific,
strong evidence when explaining my point
of view orally or in writing.
Analyzing beyond the text themes,
concepts, life lessons through the
interconnection of characters- plot and
writing style.
ELL Modifications: exploring similar
authors in native texts.

Writing

Argumenting based on evidence from the

literary text I am studying.
Forming solid, clear thesis with strong
arguments.

Grammar

Tier three vocabulary- academic wordingcompound-complex sentences.

Miscellaneous

Use of online and paper version of

dictionaries
Getting all the courses routines down and
running

NYSESLAT PREP: Fridays

Speaking
Listening
Reading
Writing

13

END OF THE UNIT

PERFORMANCE TASK

Writing an argumentative essay with

logical structure, a strong claim, effective
evidence.
Presenting the two sides of the
arguments for and against the claim.
Modification for struggling ELLs:
Pick one side of the claim and present
clear evidence and flowing argumentation

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