Author: Colleen Elep

French programming for newcomer English language learners, or ELLs, is an area of professional learning that does not get as much attention as areas like mathematics or language arts. On the surface, it seems obvious – shouldn’t French language acquisition for newcomers be similar to that of their Canadian born peers?

The answer, of course, is far from simple. First of all, newcomer ELLs are not a monolithic group. Some ELLs will come with knowledge of the Latin alphabet, others will come with limited literacy skills in their home language, and others may be experiencing a silent phase as they adjust to learning two new languages. Many ELLs will adjust to French learning with little difficulty, and some may even pursue French learning for years to come.

Complicating the issue further are the different perspectives that educators have about teaching French to students who are also learning English. However, it is important to note that elementary ELLs should not be exempt from learning French from both a policy and equity perspective. French instruction is for all students, and if we exclude or discourage students from French learning we bar access to an important part of the curriculum.

In my last blog post on ELLs in FSL programs, I discussed the different perspectives that educators may have about students that are learning French at the same time as they are learning English. In this post, we will delve into the practical side of things. Exactly how can French teachers adapt programming for ELLs?

Get to Know Your Newcomer Students

To program effectively for ELLs it’s important to know what backgrounds they bring to the classroom. Here are a few questions you will want answered:

Is the student receiving ESL or ELD program adaptations? When a student is receiving English Literacy Development, or ELD programming, it means they have two or more years of interrupted formal schooling. Students in ELD programs will be building their foundational literacy and numeracy skills, and may require extensive scaffolding in language and literacy activities.

What is the student’s home language, or L1? This is an important question because the student may still be familiarizing themselves with the Latin alphabet, which is used in English and French.

What is the student’s position on the Steps to English Proficiency Continua (STEP)? STEP is the tool used by Ontario educators to understand the student’s language acquisition progress in English. Knowing exactly where the student is in their English language proficiency is important, especially if the educator is using English as a scaffold to teach French.

Modifying Learning Expectations from a Policy Perspective

When newcomer ELLs are in the early steps of language acquisition in English (ex. pre-STEP 1-STEP 2), they may receive modifications to the grade level curriculum to meet their needs. In French, modifications may also be made, particularly when students are in the intermediate grades.

As the Ontario Curriculum, French as a Second Language states:

“For students in the early stages of language acquisition, teachers may need to modify the curriculum expectations in some or all curriculum areas. For example, if an English language learner begins the study of French in Grade 7, it may be desirable to modify the expectations to meet the student’s level of readiness and needs. Most English language learners require accommodations for an extended period, long after they have achieved proficiency in everyday English.”

It is important to note that ESL/ELD curriculum modifications typically involve adjustments to the depth and breadth of the grade level curriculum expectation. To make French instruction equitable, and to set clear learning goals for newcomer multilingual students it is critical to understand and apply modifications when needed for the student to be successful.

Another great benefit to applying modifications properly is that it takes a lot of stress away from the workflow of the educator. All too often, I find that teachers are concerned and sometimes overwhelmed by the idea that they are tasked by teaching students with emerging language proficiency in English. Having clear goals for French language output and assessment brings clarity to how they can plan and program for the student.

How to Modify French Learning Expectations

So what exactly does a modified French learning expectation look for an emergent speaker of English?

There are a couple of tools French teachers can utilize to modify French learning goals. The first tool is the STEP Continua, which is used by educators of ELLs in Ontario to understand the student’s level of English language proficiency. Pre STEP 1 to STEP 3, or the early phase of language acquisition, is typically when students are acquiring everyday, interpersonal language skills. It is in this phase of language learning that curriculum modifications are most often made.

The second tool a French teacher might consider using is the CEFR, or the Common European Framework of Reference for Language. This tool is widely used by additional language educators in Ontario and around the world to understand the student’s level of target language proficiency. Pre A1-B1 are considered early levels of language acquisition.

Both tools are language acquisition continua that can be used as an assessment for learning tool to identify what entry points a student might have into the curriculum. Teachers can use the descriptors of language behaviours to adapt learning goals for the student to support accessible programming and equitable assessment.

Let’s explore how we can use the STEP Continua for a grade 7 emergent speaker of English (pre-STEP 1) in a core French program. We will just focus on the ESL STEP Continua to align practice with other subject areas in the Ontario curriculum. Let’s start by looking at the original curriculum expectation:

C1.1 Using Reading Comprehension Strategies: identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them before, during, and after reading to understand texts in modelled, shared, guided, and independent reading contexts.

Next, let’s look at the STEP Continua. (STEP 1 grades 7-8, Reading)

Demonstrate understanding by responding to a highly visual text, using a combination of visuals, drawings, L1, pretaught vocabulary and gestures

Read and follow simply worded instructions with visual support

Use concepts of English print (e.g., directionality of print, English alphabet, sound/symbol patterns, and upper and lower case letters)

We can tell by this descriptor that the student would require a significant amount of scaffolds when reading at this very early step of language acquisition. This might include the option to use the home language to support comprehension, and simplified and highly visual texts.

A modification of the French expectation might be:

Identify and use reading comprehension strategies, such as translanguaging, visual cues, and using pretaught vocabulary to read teacher and student selected French language texts.

Assessment and Reporting

As per Growing Success and the Ontario FSL curriculum, when assessing ELLs in French, teachers should use the modified French curriculum expectations. When the student is being assessed according to modified learning expectations, the “ESL/ELD Box” would be checked on the provincial report card. As the Ontario FSL curriculum states,

When curriculum expectations are modified in order to meet the language-learning needs of English language learners, assessment and evaluation will be based on the documented modified expectations. Teachers will check the ESL/ELD box on the progress report card and the provincial report card only when modifications have been made to curriculum expectations to address the language needs of English language learners (the box should not be checked to indicate simply that they are participating in ESL/ELD programs or if they are only receiving accommodations).

Summing it Up

Part of making French language instruction equitable and inclusive is providing ELLs with an appropriately adapted program based on the curriculum and tools like the STEP continua. Knowing how to adapt program according to policy will ensure that the language instruction is intentional and grounded in learning expectations that provide an entry point into the French curriculum for the student.

As an specialist teacher English language learners (ELLs), I often hear a lot of comments and questions about newcomer students who are learning French for the first time – especially in grades 6-8.

Many teachers think that ELLs should be using that time to learn English, or that the students have already missed too much French instruction for them to be successful in their grade level. There also exists a belief that French learning for older elementary students is pointless, especially in grade 8: why should ELLs learn French if they can opt out of the course in grade 9?

Such comments and perspectives may negatively impact newcomer students on their French learning journeys. I remember arriving in a grade 8 classroom as a newcomer from the United States, and taking French for the first time.

While I wasn’t an English language learner, I found it nearly impossible to follow the class. Grade 9 French was so incomprehensible to me: I recall barely passing and doing the bare minimum to get the credit. While it’s hard to recall all the details of French class in grade 8, I do recall plunging into French work and lessons without any program adaptation different from my peers.

By contrast, welcoming newcomer students in French can lead to radically different outcomes, such as a deep and long-lasting interest in French language learning. I have a colleague who was a newcomer ELL to Canada in the intermediate grades, and she enjoyed French so much she went on to become a French teacher. I have also taught newcomer ELLs that excelled in French; one student even won a French language speaking competitions against his French Immersion peers.

Understanding why some newcomer ELLs excel in French and others do not can be complicated. Recently, I informally asked groups of multilingual learners how they felt about French class. Some students shared that they loved learning languages and trying out new French words, while others found French to be confusing and frustrating.

Let’s take a closer look at some research covering educator perspectives about French language learning. In part 2 of this blog, we will then consider how we can reframe French learning for ELLs to make it more inclusive and accessible.

Teacher Attitudes Toward ELLs in French Language Programs

A 2018 study on novice teacher attitudes toward exemption and exclusion from FSL programs in Canada provides interesting insight on why French teachers may think some students are better suited for French language instruction than others.

In this study, Katy Arnett and Callie Mady explore pervasive beliefs around FSL programs, including the perception that FSL study is for “academically elite” students in need of enrichment. Their research revealed an array of commonly held educator perspectives about ELLs: that French instruction was an “unnecessary burden” for ELLs who arrived in Canada at an advanced age, and that there was a need for ELLs to  “focus on English.”

Arnett and Mady’s research strongly indicate that FSL educators support the idea of exemption from French learning when there is a concern for the emotional well-being of the student, concern for grade-level achievement in English, and limited supports are offered. As one French Immersion teacher stated, “if it’s too much of a challenge and the student experiences a lack of self-confidence and it becomes to be like a barrier or like a psychological barrier for the student, then I think it will be better for him to go be in the English program. (Agnès, Year 3)” In the specific context of ELLs, the rationale for exemption typically centred on concerns about the student “navigating too much language learning, experiencing minimal success, and/or having additional challenges such as learning difficulties”.

What does Research and Policy say About ELLs in FSL Programs?

The Ministry of Education published a well-written (though often overlooked document) in 2016 called “Welcoming English Language Learners into French as a Second Language Programs. The document shares research about ELLs in FSL programs, pointing out how multilingual learners are uniquely positioned to be successful in French classrooms.

According to the document, “English language learners do as well as, or outperform, English-speaking students in FSL”, and are often more motivated to learn French than their English speaking Canadian born peers. And yet, studies in Ontario show that newcomers were often excluded from enrolling in FSL classes in secondary school.

The document also states that French educators are well suited to teach ELLs, since they are highly familiar with language acquisition processes. Language acquisition is a process that is relatively similar across different languages, with beginner learners typically starting their journey by acquiring vocabulary through oral communication practice. Because most students in English speaking schools would be relatively new to French, the pedagogy used in an FSL classroom is extremely adaptable for emergent English speakers.

Perhaps most importantly, the ministry document emphasizes that French instruction is for all students. When ELLs feel that they do not belong in a French classroom, or are excluded from French learning, a barrier is created between the student and what should be a highly accessible learning pathway. In other words, equity is at stake when ELLs are discouraged from French.

Reflecting on the Research

Having worked in ESL/ELD support for many years, these perspectives are rather familiar to me. I have no doubt that educators are trying to do what they feel is best for the student. It is also worth noting that in most schools French speaking or FSL qualified support teachers are the exception rather than the rule.

I think it is also worth noting that educators generally don’t consider exemptions from any other subject, which makes me wonder why we view French so differently from other subjects like Social Studies, Art, or Physical Education. As Arnett and Mady suggest, such perspectives may be grounded in a “monolingual bias supported by the English dominant Canadian context in which language learning apart from English is viewed as a luxury rather than commonplace”. In other words, it may be useful to challenge the assumption that French is learning pursuit designed solely for English speakers that already experience success in schools.

In my own conversations with other educators, I have found that what helps are practical strategies for teaching ELLs and examples of program modifications for emergent language speakers. In part 2 of this blog, we will take a deeper dive into what such program adaptations might look like.

Resources:

Transforming FSL:

https://transformingfsl.ca/en/

https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/eei/article/view/7760

It is no secret that the new Language curriculum in Ontario places a strong focus on the development of foundational literacy skills. In response to the new curriculum and the Right to Read report, elementary schools across Ontario have been engaged in utilizing resources, such as the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) Foundations, that focus on the explicit development of decoding skills. These resources work by teaching students the different letters and letter combinations that make different sounds in English. In most cases, they would be used from grades 1-3, when children are in the throes of learning how to read.

Given the effectiveness of such resources, many educators of multilingual learners have started to use the same strategies as part of ELD (English Literacy Development) programs. Students that receive ELD program adaptations have 2 or more years of interrupted schooling for reasons such as crisis or political conflict. Because many students in ELD programs have not had the opportunity to develop literacy skills in their home language, resources that teach decoding would seem to be ideal.

But are such resources appropriate for emergent speakers of English in ELD programs? Aren’t they primarily designed for students that already speak English?

Like so many other things in life, the only way to find the answer is to experiment, explore, and of course make mistakes along the way. I was pleased to discover with so many colleagues in different schools that teaching foundational decoding skills to students in ELD programs does work – but it is important to keep some important factors in mind.

Here are some key takeaways I have gathered from using foundational literacy resources to teach students in ELD programs.

Provide Opportunities for Newcomer Students to Build an Oral Foundation in English

If you are using decoding resources with newcomer students in ELD programs, be mindful of the cognitive load they have of learning to read in English while also learning the language. Decoding resources focus on sound and letter combinations, not communication and comprehension.  A lot of resources that teach decoding skills presume that the student is already familiar with the sounds and words of English.

Newcomer students are still in the process of building their speaking and listening skills in English, and need time to orient themselves in their new learning environment and develop social communication skills through play and interaction with other students. They should have exposure to the sounds of English and opportunities to build an oral foundation at the same time, if not before, they start learning English sounds and alphabetic code.

Adjust the Pace of Instruction as Needed

When working through a program like UFLI Foundations it can be tempting to move quickly to stay within the suggested time frames. With ELLs, you will want to be flexible and provide additional time for students to build vocabulary as they experiment with reading new words. Have a laptop or tablet with search engine at the ready for a quick visual dictionary. Ask students if there are words they do not know yet, and take the time to show them the meaning and practice using them in sentences. Again, be mindful of how different the cognitive load will be for early speakers of English, and stop the lesson early if it seems appropriate.

Use Decodables Strategically

When you use decodable books with ELLs, be sure to use ones that are illustrated for meaning-making. Some decodables on the internet are text only, which limits opportunities for vocabulary acquisition. The experience of reading even a decodable text can also be brought to life when the content reflects information or experiences that are familiar to newcomer students. I read a decodable with a newcomer student in an ELD program recently and she was excited to see pictures of seagulls. It turned out that when she first moved to Canada she went to Lake Simcoe with her family and watched seagulls at the beach. Connecting that experience to the book made the reading much more enjoyable and meaningful for her.

Leverage Your Students’ Oral Foundation in the First Language

Like any other language, English may have sounds that do not exist in others. English also has sounds that can be heard in other languages. For example, Spanish speakers have a rolling “r” sound that is not used in English, but both languages have a “d” sound. When practicing phonemes with newcomer multilingual learners, check to see if the same sound exists in their home language by asking the student or checking a resource like mylanguages.org. Some students may need additional practice saying sounds that are new to them.

Literacy is Empowering at Any Age

Many students in ELD programs tend to be older students (grade 3 and up). Students in the intermediate grades can feel self-conscious reading books that are designed for much younger learners, or learning concepts they perceive to be inappropriate for their age. A tutorial (one-to-one) or small group support model is much more conducive to teaching foundational literacy skills to older students. Furthermore, there are some publishers like Saddleback that have decodable texts that are designed for older learners. If you do not have these books at your school, consider using decodable texts with a non-fiction theme.

In my board we have many success stories of intermediate aged students in ELD programs learning decoding skills that have shared how impactful the instruction has been. These students similarly express the joy and excitement of being able to read a word “without looking at the pictures,” or feeling confident about spelling.

Summing it Up

Teaching English decoding skills through foundational literacy programs is a powerful way to accelerate learning for students in ELD programs. However, it is important to be flexible in your approach and to understand that their learning experience will be significantly different from their peers.

Finally, always keep in mind that students, particularly those in ELD programs, bring a variety of background experiences before entering the classroom. Newcomer students that have experienced separation, political conflict, extraordinary stress, and other traumatic situations may need to focus on other areas of orientation and development to be available for learning. Be in touch with settlement workers and staff that can help connect students to resources to support their social and emotional needs.

Program adaptation for emergent speakers of English in the elementary grades has a lot of challenges. Educators have to adapt their classroom programming to make content comprehensible, set appropriate goals for language output, while also providing opportunities for the student to learn English.

This is where the Language Experience Approach, or LEA, comes in. LEA will not be a new strategy to many experienced teachers – it has been practiced for years in classrooms. It is a fantastic strategy for teaching literacy skills to English language learners (ELLs). Though you can find explanations all over the internet, Denise Nessel and Carol Dixon’s 2008 book “Using the Language Experience Approach with English Language Learners” remains a quintessential resource on the subject.

LEA combines experiential learning, oral communication, writing, and reading skills in fairly straightforward and textbook-free lessons. While many iterations of LEA exist, the central principle, as the Nessel and Dixon state, is to use the “student’s own vocabulary, language patterns, and background of experiences to create reading texts”.

At the core of LEA is building English vocabulary (or any target language you are teaching) through experiential learning. Through experiences, students naturally start connecting the words they hear with meaning. The experience can be something as simple as a classroom activity; as an educator, your role is to enrich that experience by explicitly teaching related words and their meaning.

For example, you might label items in the classroom, while also making a point of referencing those words during the day. When giving instructions to to students, explain the meaning of the action words as much as possible through movement and facial expression. The early learners of English in the classroom might receive flashcards with frequently used nouns, and be provided with opportunities to say those words in simple statements with common word patterns that have been modelled by the teacher.

There are a number of ways you can utilize LEA, but in this blog, I will focus on using LEA using sentence strips. This would be a great way to provide focused instruction to ELLs while other students are engaged in their own writing or drawing.

The Process

Start using LEA by taking students through an experience – it can be a day outdoors, an afternoon of playing games, or even exploring a picture or video if that is what you have done. The activity that follows is best used with ELLs that have acquired a basic oral foundation and can communicate using simple sentences (Ex. STEP 2).

When the experience is over, there are a number of different starting points you can work from. For early learners of English or primary students, you can start by having the class illustrate what they have experienced, whether it was playing a game or visiting a zoo. Students that are already writing sentences may choose to write about their drawing if they feel comfortable doing so.

While the class is drawing, start with one student and ask them to say a sentence about the experience or what they have drawn. Scribe the sentence exactly as the student says it. It’s important to use the student’s exact language so they will recognize their words when they reread their own writing, and they will also feel encouraged in creating dictated accounts.

If you want to gently encourage a revision, you might ask questions to help the student adapt their statement on their own. But you will want to make sure that the student has stated the words you scribe – avoid changing the text or they may not recognize the vocabulary or language pattern.

For example:

Teacher: What happened during the basketball game? Tell me one thing.

Student: I got a basket and scored a point.

Teacher: Oh, so you shot the ball in the basket and scored a point?

Student: Yeah, I shot the ball in the basket and scored a point.

Teacher: How should I write that down?

Student: I shot the ball in the basket and scored a point.

Teacher: (writes the sentence exactly as the student has said it).

Once you have scribed the student’s sentence in their notebook or journal, take a long strip of paper and write the sentence on that strip using a marker. Cut each word on the strip.

Then, ask the student to put the words back in the correct order using the sentence that has been scribed for them. Ask the student to read the sentence back to you. Repeat twice. Once the student has mastered the sentence, you can ask them to read the sentence to a friend or partner.

Then, you can move onto the next student! You might use sentence strips again, or provide more advanced feedback to students who are already independently writing.

As an ESL/ELD resource teacher in my board, some of the best professional learning I get to do involves collaborating with educators in similar roles across the province through the ESL/ELD Resource Group of Ontario (ERGO). Recently, one of our members generously organized a two after school sessions with Canadian educator and consultant, Hannah Beach. She provided two sessions titled “The Power of Play” and “What’s Behind the Behaviour?”, each with a focus on multilingual learners.

Being an educator with a primary focus on ESL/ELD programming, I was immediately intrigued. It is no secret that schools in Ontario schools today face unique mental health challenges that have developed from a confluence of factors: pandemic lockdowns, rapidly changing technology, social media, and a seemingly constant barrage of world events with significant impacts on local communities. A recent article from People for Education shared that an astounding 91% of schools across Ontario report needing student mental health supports for COVID-19 recovery. A 2023 survey from ETFO indicated that violence in schools has become pervasive, with 77% of teachers sharing they had personally experienced violence or had witnessed violence against another staff member.

When it came to addressing the issue of increasingly challenging student behaviour in school, Beach’s sessions did not disappoint. She spoke about the detrimental impact of technology on the students build relationships with peers and teachers. She addressed the increasing disconnection kids have with the adults in their lives. She pointed out how the lack of spontaneous play have taken away opportunities for children to “digest” and process the world around them. In such a world, it is not uncommon for students to “bottle up” their emotions, and may be disrespectful, disruptive, or act aggressively as a means of coping. Multilingual students may experience an additional layer of frustration, especially as they grapple to express themselves to their peers and teachers.

Beach’s presentations resonated with me so strongly I purchased her book, “Reclaiming Our Students”, immediately. Published in 2020 and co-authored with Tamara Neufeld Strijack, Hannah Beach’s book is incredibly insightful and relevant for educators and families. Focusing on emotional health, safety, and inclusion from an educator perspective, providing strategies and scenarios that many teachers will likely find familiar.

Though I probably cannot come even close to summarizing the learning that emerged from those sessions and her book, I think Beach’s writing and insights are so valuable and critical right now. In many of the experiences I have had supporting schools over the last year, I have been perplexed by so many troubling incidents involving students: aggression toward teachers, peers, and even administrators; preoccupation with social media apps on smartphones; groups of students frequently leaving their classrooms to wander hallways.

While there is likely no panacea for all the issues that educators face every day, thinking critically about modern culture and the mental health of students is an excellent place to start. I am grateful I had the opportunity to listen to Hannah Beach’s presentations, and explore her writing as a starting point for myself.

If you have an opportunity to hear her speak in your board, or can get her book into your school’s professional library, I highly recommend it.

One thing I have always loved about being an educator is that we have two “new year’s”: one in September when the year starts, and one in January when the year changes. Travel is a luxury that I feel so fortunate to enjoy during those moments: it is the perfect time to reset my thinking and refocus on the time ahead.

In the last year, the desert has been a special place for me to reconnect with nature and think critically about how we learn about the world. Learning about the environment from two very different cultural approaches has helped me to build a greater appreciation for different ways of knowing and seeing the world.

Learning the Sonoran Desert

I had the privilege of spending time in Arizona last January, and came a cross a place called the White Tank library. This place had an entire wall of back windows that faced a sprawling nature reserve. In the same building beside the library was a nature centre and bookstore. The bookstore had dozens of books for kids and adults themed on desert flora and fauna, particularly the notorious javelina (totally worth Googling if you have never heard of this animal!). There were desert spiders, snakes, and other creatures on display for people to look at, and guides on site to give information about them.

The trails at the back of the building were well manicured, with information signs throughout the walk explaining the different variety of cacti. Even if you didn’t feel like reading, the site was absolutely spectacular to look at. The trails looked well cared for, and loved by the locals we saw in technical fitness gear running and hiking through the grounds.

The library and all of its resources resonated with me because it aligned with my personal experience of learning – books, guides, and clearly defined trails that I could navigate easily. Immediately I imagined how great it would be to take students here, and how easy it was to connect science and literacy learning.

A Jaunt in the Sahara

On another desert trip last summer, I went on a short tour of a small section of the Sahara in Egypt. Desolate, mountainous, and nearly unbearably hot, this desert contrasted starkly with Arizona’s Sonoran landscape. A wild and bumpy jeep ride took us about 30 minutes into the desert.

The excursion took us to a desert village largely set up for tourists. According to the guide, the locals quite understandably did not like tourists peering into their homes, so they separated their homes from the area that foreigners could explore. Constructed of simple, open air buildings and a space where tourists could ride camels led by local residents, the whole experience of the place beautifully showcased the arid, mountainous landscape.

We looked into a small mosque, watched a young girl demonstrate bread making, and drank hot tea. A small hut featured local animals such as lizards and bugs. A rocky climb up a hill gave a view of the actual village homes in the distance. Completely unmarked, it was a struggle to climb until we became accustomed to climbing the steep and rather unstable ground.

And while the rustic tourist site bore zero resemblance to the modern, well-funded Arizona library and trails, it struck me how two completely different cultures had created similar  experiences for people to learn about the desert environment.

The Takeaway

There are so many ways to experience and learn from the outdoors. Why should we limit ourselves, and the students we teach, to a single perspective?

It is wonderful and enriching to have books, exhibits, panoramic windows, and guides to help us navigate nature. It is also equally great without all of these things, and learn from observing the way that people sustainably maximize the resources they have access to.

Outdoor education has come a long way in Canada. More and more, schools are embracing Indigenous ways of knowing, particularly when it comes to stewardship and wildlife protection. Books like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass have offered powerful, Indigenous perspectives on the natural world and scientific learning.

It is an exciting time to embrace the different ways we can understand nature. In a time when stories of forest fires and climate change have become part of the daily news cycle, alternative ways of learning are more critical than ever.

Initial assessment is an area of public education that doesn’t get a lot of attention, and yet it is a critical step in the journey of newcomer students in Ontario. In this post, I hope to help educators become more familiar with his important process.

What is Initial Assessment?

Initial assessment is the intake process that occurs when students enter Ontario schools from outside of the province. The process of initial assessment has been established by the Ministry of Education in several documents, and Ontario educators can find these resources in the EDU resources area of Brightspace.

During the initial assessment process, newcomer families are interviewed by school or board staff to gather information about the child, and any background information relevant to their schooling. For example, if a child has a diagnosis or assessment related to special education, the family could share these documents so the appropriate supports may be put in place.

Educators then work with students to complete an initial oral communication, literacy, and mathematics assessment. The information gathered at this assessment is used to place students on the Initial Assessment STEP Continua, which offers the educator team at the student’s school a snapshot of their English language proficiency. A summary of core numeracy skills are also documented as an assessment for teaching resource.

Why is the Initial Assessment Process so Important?

The initial assessment process is important for a variety of reasons. Let’s take a closer look at these reasons next.

Initial Assessment Supports Student Transitions

Starting a new school in a new country or province can be one of the most life changing experiences for children and their families. The initial assessment process provides schools and boards with an opportunity to welcome families, share valuable information about the Ontario education system, and help them to feel more at ease in a new environment.

Through the initial assessment process, families also have a space to share their child’s interests, strengths, areas of need, and any cultural or background information that can inform placement and programming. We will explore the value of receiving student background information next.

Background Information Helps Educators and Families Plan Programming and Student Pathways

Newcomer students arrive in schools with a variety of background experiences that can have significant impacts on their learning and overall well-being. They may have been through traumatic experiences, family separation, or long periods of interrupted schooling. They may be coming from under resourced schools and regions, private schools, international schools, or home schooling.

Having information about the previous schooling experiences of newcomer students and the journey they have been on prior to arriving in Ontario helps educators and families to collaborate and plan educational pathways for students. For example, the teaching team at the receiving school may offer ELD (English Literacy Development) program adaptations to help build the student’s foundational numeracy and literacy. Referrals to community services may also be made, which helps families to settle into a new environment.

Initial Assessment Helps to Put Appropriate Program Supports in Place

A fulsome initial assessment process helps to ensure that students receive the right program accommodations or modifications. You might think of initial assessment as a quick snapshot of a new student, which gives you a sense of what to expect when they enter the classroom. Beyond placing students on the Steps to English Proficiency (STEP) continua, the assessment can help educators to broadly understand where they might need more support or additional scaffolding.

For example, many multilingual students arrive in Ontario schools with different levels of literacy in their home languages. Having an understanding of what they can do in terms of written or spoken output indicate which skills the student will transfer into English over time. If the  assessment shows the student is an emergent speaker of English, then the educator can modify learning expectations accordingly.

Who Administers the Initial Assessment in Elementary Schools?

In Ontario, the initial assessment process can be administered by any teacher. Some boards have educators in an assessor role, others have an itinerant that visit schools, and in other boards a school support teacher may administer it.

Classroom teachers may also do an initial assessment, or place the student after they have had time to gather sufficient observations of the student’s language and literacy behaviours.

Where Can I Learn More About Initial Assessment in My School Board?

Every school board has developed their own processes for initial assessment, and may have their own resources for completing the task. To learn more about the initial assessment process in your board, reach out to the ESL/ELD support staff in your board or school.

The majority of my career has been in a middle school environment, where teaching letter combinations and sounds was not common. And so as a longtime elementary educator, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that for much of my career, I knew very little about teaching reading. My entire teacher’s college experience focused on the junior and intermediate grades, where reading instruction was not emphasized. My own son learned reading with very little work on my part, other than reading him stories or bringing him to the library.

With the publication of the Right to Read report (2022), it became clear that I could no longer avoid learning about the critical work so many primary and early years educators do every day. Getting started, however, was nothing short of intimidating. Foundational literacy concepts like phonemic awareness, graphemes, phonics, and digraphs were pretty much a foreign language to me. I had no idea where to begin – there seemed to be hundreds of books, resources, podcasts, and websites on the topic.

Thankfully, I have the knowledge and expertise of colleagues who are not only experienced in teaching reading, but teaching it in an engaging and culturally responsive way. Devon Clarke, a very talented PETL educator who is on our board’s Central Literacy Team, graciously invited me to attend the sessions he had developed with the literacy team for elementary educators.

Here are a few key takeaways I have gathered so far – I hope they resonate with anyone on a similar journey of learning this year!

We Can’t Forget The “Four Roles of the Literate Learner”

When I started learning about the Right to Read report, my impression was that educators would be teaching a lot of decoding skills in the classroom. The “Four Roles of the Literate Learner” – a concept introduced by Freebody and Luke back in the 1990s – still provides educators with a great model of literacy learning that particularly rings true in “science of reading” focused pedagogy. The idea that as readers, we are not only code-breakers, but meaning makers, text users, and text analyzers, is a good reminder that reading is a multifaceted process. This particularly important for English language learners, who not only need to decode English text but comprehend what they are learning to read as well.

Foundational Literacy Approaches are Not Just for Younger Elementary Students

Older elementary students also benefit from learning strong decoding skills: many may have gaps in their foundational reading skills that may have gone undetected. In one of the presentations, Devon shared a pilot project he worked on with middle school teachers. Together, they implemented the resource Catch Up Your Code with several grade 8 classes. Catch Up Your Code essentially focuses on helping older developing readers to recognize and connect the ways different letter combinations can make the same sounds, strengthening students’ reading and spelling skills.

The teachers gathered before and after data and other observations about the challenges and strengths of the resource. Overall, nearly every grade 8 student improved in an area of their decoding skills. Entering secondary school, these students will be much better prepared to succeed in their courses.

There is No Such thing as a “Be all, End all” Reading Resource

While resources like Catch Up to Code, or other reading programs can help students to make gains in their decoding skills, it is useful to keep in mind that no one resource is a “be all, end all” tool. In addition to resources that help students to decode words and sentences, students should also explore literature and texts that are culturally responsive and rich in meaning. This point was reinforced in the sessions I attended as the literacy team shared books that were identity-affirming and powerful in their approach to storytelling.

Ontario Educators are on a Learning Journey Together

Learning new and innovative approaches to teaching literacy takes time and teamwork. When it comes to learning about new resources and strategies, I find it most useful to hear the perspectives of educators that have actually used different literacy resources and can describe first hand what the successes and pitfalls are. Having colleagues to check my own understanding of the readings I am working on, and the expertise of experienced literacy teachers and speech language pathologists is also important on this journey of “reimagining” reading. This is why it is so important for boards to release teachers for professional learning: if literacy is a human right, then educators must have access to the time and resources it takes to make the vision of the “Right to Read” a reality.

Outdoor education is an area of pedagogy I have evaded for much of my career. I always found the concept of outdoor learning to be way outside of my comfort zone: ropes courses, orienteering, food cycle games, and getting close and personal with flora and fauna are things I preferred to leave to the experts. In my mind, I had done my due diligence by organizing trips to the board nature centre once a year or welcoming a science and nature expert to speak to the classes I taught. On nice days, I might take students outside to read or work on a dance project, pick up trash as part of an environmental initiative, or take a neighbourhood walk down the local bike paths.

My reluctance to taking outdoor education learning really seriously largely stemmed from the idea that I didn’t consider myself to be, well, “outdoorsy.” When I thought about outdoor educators, or outdoorsy people in general, I had always pictured someone who went camping, cottaging, white water rafting, canoeing, or doing big hiking trips in places like Algonquin Park.

The idea I had of an “outdoor” person was quite mistakenly based on things I had seen in the media: adventurers clad in flannel and boots that could pitch a camp in minutes or walk for miles with a canoe on their head. Funny enough, I had probably acquired lots of these ideas working in a hiking store as a teenager, endlessly looking at product catalogues and selling customers on the promise of very expensive hiking boots. All of these ideas, I realize now, were based on Western norms focused on upholding specific stereotypes about who belongs in the outdoors: typically white, male, and able-bodied.

It took me many years to realize that I am, indeed, an outdoorsy person. But to get there, I really needed to challenge my own assumptions of what it means to enjoy and engage with nature. And as an educator, I needed to get a better perspective on what it actually means to learn outdoors.

Here are some of the lessons I needed to learn to unleash my inner outdoor educator.

You Don’t Need to Love Camping to Be “Outdoorsy”

I truly believe that camping is one of the most wonderful ways to enjoy nature. Sleeping under the stars, setting up tents and fires, practicing self sufficiency, and braving the elements are exciting and rich experiences.

My personal preference, however, is to avoid camping. I don’t like setting up tents, the smell of fire on my hair and clothes, or cooking creative meals. I went camping with friends once, and ended up staying awake all night in my car wanting to go home.

I am perfectly happy enjoying the forest without sleeping in it. If I never learn how to pitch a tent, I’m OK with that too! I’ll stick with my provincial park day pass and go home at night.

The Outdoors Aren’t Only in Wilderness and Rural Areas

For the longest time, I believed that to be outdoors I needed to be somewhere rural, or in a large park of some sort. It came to me that such an understanding was limited and narrow. Indeed, organizations like Nature Canada have pointed out that urban outdoor spaces are often perceived to be inferior to wilderness landscapes – and nothing could be further from the truth!

The outdoors are everywhere, in city streets and alleys and even strip malls. Buildings, sidewalks, storefronts, school tarmacs, fields, and playgrounds are all part of outdoor life. Greenery grows through concrete cracks, wind blows through buildings, and ecosystems thrive in drain ponds and even soccer fields. Flocks of geese halt traffic and vegetable gardens can thrive on sunny balconies.

Key takeaway: we can connect with the outdoors from wherever we are!

People that Live in Cities Are not Nature Deficient

I’ve noticed that when the topic of outdoor conversations comes up around work, there tends to be an assumption that many students “lack access” or are “deprived” of outdoor time. Nature centres are positioned as a unique opportunity for kids, particularly in urban centres, to finally engage with outdoor living.

While I agree that there are wilderness or rural areas in Ontario that many urban residents do not access regularly due to economic, linguistic and cultural barriers, it doesn’t mean that there is something deficient or “missing” from their lives.

Everyone Has a Connection with Nature, But Connection Can Happen in Different Ways

Everyone has a connection with nature, but how we connect can vary along lines of preference, culture, or personal history. I recall being tasked to organize a “Canadian” fall activity for my visiting mother in law from Eastern Europe. Immediately, I suggested apple picking: what could be more Canadian and fall-festive than picking fresh fruit outside at a local farm?

Aghast, my partner dismissed my apple-picking plan immediately. “My mom is not going to enjoy doing manual labour on her vacation.” Apple picking, it turns out, is not a recreational activity in all places.

Nature and the way we experience it is deeply entwined with our cultural beliefs and assumptions. We don’t often see diversity in Canadian outdoor narratives, but visit a place like Algonquin Park or Point Pelee and it’s not hard to see that there are so many groups and individuals of different cultural backgrounds and ages enjoying the outdoors in their own way. Some prefer to enjoy the outdoors gathering with family through a big, elaborate picnic on the beach; others spend days camping in the backcountry. Whether it is running, walking, sitting, socializing, creating art, hiking, or simply visiting a lookout point, we all have different ways of appreciating nature and the outdoors.

Embracing Your Outdoor Self

If you have ever felt like me – that being an outdoor educator is a role best left for others – remember that, as teachers, we are all in a position to teach outside. Being outdoors helps us to live in the moment a bit more, and enjoy the feeling of fresh air and sunshine. By embracing the many ways people, including students and their families, can experience the outdoors in Canada, we can develop a more inclusive approach to outdoor learning.

Interested in reading more about inclusion in the outdoors in Ontario? Take a look at the report “Race and Nature in the City,” by Jacqueline L. Scott and Ambika Tenneti.