Strategies for Providing
Differentiated Reading
Activities in Multilevel Adult
ESOL Classes
Robin Lovrien Schwarz, M Sp Ed: LD; Ph D
Consultant in Adult ESOL and Learning Difficulties
THREE TYPES OF
MULTILEVEL CLASSES
1. One class, one program
Must encompass
• All ages
• All levels of
– Education
– English
– Reading
• All needs for English
THREE TYPES OF
MULTILEVEL CLASSES
2. The so-called “leveled” class
• Students place in by moving up or by
testing in---supposedly all one level, BUT
– Because of placement criterion-- usually
speaking-- class will have mixture of
• Education backgrounds/literacy skills
• English skills
• Reading skills
THREE TYPES OF
MULTILEVEL CLASSES
3. ABE classes having ELLs/non-native
English speakers
ELLs may place in because they “topped
out” of BEST test or other testing;
ELLs always at a terrible disadvantage
because of the BICS/CALP discrepancy
(Oral skills far surpass reading skills-- a
normal language acquisition pattern)
A SINGLE LESSON, NO MATTER HOW
WELL DESIGNED, LED BY ONE
TEACHER IN FRONT OF SUCH A
MIXTURE CANNOT POSSIBLY MEET
THE NEEDS OF ALL STUDENTS.
DIFFERENTIATE
DIFFERENTIATE
DIFFFERENTIATE
READING NEEDS
• VOCABULARY
• PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
• FLUENCY (VISUAL FLUENCY)
• GRAMMAR
Three Approaches to
Differentiation
1. Divide and conquer-- breaking the class up
into groups of similar proficiency levels
2. Individual learning folders --students work
on individual learning plans
3. Learning centers-students choose among
a variety of activities to focus on reading skills
For ALL approaches…
• Shift thinking to
– Multi-level planning instead of single plan
– More student-directed learning, less direct
teaching from you
• Abandon the view:“It’ll be good for the
advanced ones to review and the very low
ones will pick up something.” It is justification
for not differentiating….
• Constantly build in ways for students to selfcheck, work independently of you.
For ALL approaches…
• Avoid using more proficient
students as tutors
• Focus on goal of moving reading
skills ahead, not just keeping
students busy
• Be ready to tweak and adjust as
you and students learn how to learn
differently
APPROACH 1:
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
– SUBDIVIDE YOUR CLASS INTO
GROUPS OF SIMILAR READING
ABILITY/LITERACY LEVEL.
– HOW MANY WILL THAT BE?
• AT LEAST LOW, INTERMEDIATE, HIGH
(RELATIVE TO YOUR GROUP)
• POSSIBLY AN ARCH-BEGINNER GROUP-THOSE WE ADDRESSED IN THE FIRST
WEBINAR WHO HAVE NO PRIOR LITERACY
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO DO
THEN, CONSIDER YOUR SPACE, MATERIALS
– How/where can you group students?
• Add surfaces with large sheets of foam board
• Use walls (wall pockets) for some activities
• Separate groups as much as possible
– What materials have you got at your
disposal? (I.e materials that are already
differentiated or a variety of things to use, or only one
basic text book?)
Leveled Reading Groups:
• Can do more or less the same topic at
different levels of difficulty
– Good for classes with clear, mandated curriculum
– Reduces the planning
– Should have different skill goals, similar content goals:
understanding the topic/reading
• Each group can have its own routine --good
for ABE or higher ESL--work on most-needed
skills-- e.g. extensive reading, vocabulary building,
learning to read sentences with more complex grammar
Leveled Reading Groups:
• Students within a group can
– Work all together, pairs or alone on a reading or
activity--maximizes English use, too!
– Self-check if you have made sure they can AND they
know how and why
• If you have only one student at a level, make
sure s/he gets to interact with others in games,
or pair dictations, etc. once in a while.
• You can do direct teaching with each group-especially low-skilled learners--because others
are self-directed.
Approach 2: Individual
Learning Folders
• Good for small class--up to 10 or 12 at most
• When fully implemented, each student has
a folder with individualized work.
• You may need to start out with
some activities that are the
same for all to introduce the
idea of finding work in the folder.
Learning Folders
• Folders can include
– Work for students to do individually (higher
level students can be encouraged to find
reading activities they want to have in their
folders)
– Directions for doing something with a pair or
group: play Go Fish to practice long and short
vowels, work with a partner to complete a
strip story, do specific exercises on a
computer reading program
Learning Folders
• Folders can be highly responsive to
individual student needs
– A student who needs to work on jobrelated vocabulary
– Another who expresses a preference
for doing grammar
– One who is very challenged in decoding
and needs lots of very basic practice.
Learning Folders
• Very low literate students will find
folders difficult at first.
– Be sure to give lots of guidance
– Include familiar activities and content at first
– Have another student or students demonstrate
and explain if necessary and possible
– Use time you will have because others are
usefully engaged to work with these lowest
students individually and in groups. Help them
learn activities they can continue on their own.
Learning Folders
• Keep up with students’ needs and
desires by placing new work in the
folders
• Develop a system for correction--have
as many self-correcting activities as
possible
• Keep folders in a handy crate or drawer
where students can access them
Approach 3:
Learning Centers
• Centers can be any activity that focuses or
extends any aspect of reading that students can do
in pairs or small groups or alone.
• Widely used in K-8, very effective in adult ESL
• Extremely well-suited to truly multilevel class
(Type 1, where students of all levels must be in the
same class)
– Another truth: specific skills vary in students: high
oral, low literate; weak oral, high literate, etc.
Learning Centers
• Centers allow the broadest range of differentiation:
– Skill, focus, content, type of learning
• Centers are the most student focused: students
mostly choose for themselves which center and
content to interact with
• Centers promote a high level of independence in
learning:
– Activities are ALWAYS self-checking so students can move at
their own pace and intensity.
– Students should choose for themselves which
centers they will use.
Learning Centers
Differentiating with a center with one skill focus
and many levels of difficulty Center focus:
RHYMING:
V. Low-- match rhyming pictures
Low--match easy words that rhyme in
concentration game
Intermediate-- Go Fish with Rhyming words that
are spelled differently
Advanced---find pairs of oddly spelled rhymes:
comb/home; laughed/raft; was/does
Learning Centers
• Differentiating in a center with one type of
activity:
Go Fish
– V. low: pictures (photos) of objects (to learn to
recognize pictures and associate words with
pictures); pictures that start with same sound
– Intermediate: Any topic: food Go Fish, Jobs, or
phonics (e.g. long vowels with different spellings)
– Advanced: Cause and effect Go Fish; advanced
grammar; synonyms or antonyms: word families
(suggest, suggestion, suggestive, suggestible)
Learning Centers
• To differentiate levels, color code or indicate
with a symbol:
= easy
= medium (intermediate)
= hard
• Levels will be relative to your group or class
• NOTE!! A student can choose an activity at
ANY level-- again, more student focused than the other
two approaches, where choice of level is more difficult or
less obvious.
Learning Centers
• Students MUST be familiar with the activities or
games (to be able to focus on content or skill being
targeted)
– Content and level of difficulty can then change without
distressing students
Example: Bingo (everyone knows it)-easy bingo= pictures, words, numbers;
intermediate= answers to questions; two parts of verbs
hard bingo= forms of words (hear verb, find noun form), or complex
grammar (object pronouns), inferences in picture
TEACH each type of activity or game before using in center
Learning Centers
• Focusing on a topic: Reading about a season:
WINTER
– Easy: matching words to pictures;sorting pictures by first
sound (snow, sled, scarf)
– Intermediate: Strip story about winter; spelling words
about winter, putting words into correct sentence order
– Hard: Reading about winter and answering questions;
Go Fish about Winter (4 sports, 4 kinds of clothing, 4
kinds of work, 4 ways scenery looks different, lots of
reading!)
Using Learning Centers
• If you use centers:
– Be sure to use them most of the time for the
learning to be effective
– BUT move into them gradually-- students are
suspicious unless they see they are learning
– Be sure the activities are fully self-checking
– Have enough centers so no more than four
students are at each one
– Rotate centers to prevent boredom, and keep
increasing challenges at them
– Help students learn to keep track of reading
progress
Other Advantages of Folders
and Centers
• Students have something to do when they
arrive-- no waiting for class to start
• Easy to absorb new students-- centers are
easy to be part of; folders can have generic
work to start and for you to begin informal
evaluation
• Students can work at their own pace-- no
waiting for you to check.
• YOU can use centers to measure learning-use the activity as a test when the student
indicates he or she is ready to be tested.
For ALL of these
Approaches: Remember…
• To have a group or activities that include
ALL levels of students in the class
• To introduce the idea of the new class
slowly and carefully to students
• To help students see the advantages of a
differentiated class--some will want you
to run the class as a unit no matter what.
Remember…
• To include technology whenever you can:
– Use computers for
• reading programs as centers for practice and learning
• more advanced students to answer questions about
readings, or to write about readings
• for students to find information about a topic they like or
need to know about,
or to learn about using online
dictionaries.
– Use tablets if you have them for: phonics practice,
spelling practice (instead of erasable boards)
– Use Smart Boards if you can--put lessons on that
are interactive
For best results….
• Use a wide variety of activities and materials
for students to master reading skills
– Manipulatives & realia (games, sorting, wall pocket
activities;)
– Listening (computer, tablets, CD players, Ipods/MP3
players)
– Variety of text and activity books, materials--raid yard
sales, thrift stores, you neighbors’ kids’ outgrown
materials, craft stores, the drug store!!
A VERY Quick overview of
these three approaches
• Differentiation is the goal
– To assure that students are working at the most
appropriate level on their reading
– To honor those who are at high levels and should
be able to move more quickly in their learning
– To support those who are at very low levels and
need lots of time and practice to master skills.
– To allow those with mixed level skills to strengthen
ALL skills in different ways without embarrassment
or frustration