ELPS in Your Classroom
Practical strategies for implementation
Integrating ELPS Into Daily Instruction
Effective ELPS implementation is not about adding extra lessons or separate "language time." It is about weaving language development into the content instruction you already do. When you teach science, for example, you are simultaneously teaching the academic language of science.
The CBLI Approach
Content-Based Language Instruction (CBLI) is the recommended approach for ELPS implementation. CBLI means that language instruction happens through and within content-area teaching. Instead of teaching vocabulary in isolation, you teach it within the context of a science experiment, a math problem, or a social studies inquiry. This is required across all grade levels and content areas.
Five Steps to ELPS Integration
Follow these steps when planning any lesson:
- 1Step 1: Identify the TEKS objective - What content are you teaching?
- 2Step 2: Identify your students' proficiency levels - Check TELPAS data or your own observations
- 3Step 3: Select the relevant ELPS - Which language domain does this lesson primarily develop?
- 4Step 4: Choose appropriate scaffolds - Match the scaffolding level to your students' proficiency levels
- 5Step 5: Plan for assessment - How will you know if students met both the content and language objectives?
Linguistic Accommodations
All teachers serving emergent bilingual students must deliver linguistic accommodations during instruction to make content comprehensible. These are not the same as special education accommodations. Linguistic accommodations include: simplified language, visual supports, graphic organizers, sentence stems, word walls, native language support, extended time for processing, and collaborative grouping structures.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When implementing ELPS, avoid these common pitfalls:
- 1Treating ELPS as separate from content - ELPS should be embedded in every lesson, not taught in isolation
- 2Using the same scaffolds for all levels - A Pre-Production student needs very different support than a High Intermediate student
- 3Lowering content expectations - Scaffold the language, not the content. EB students should access grade-level content with appropriate language support
- 4Ignoring the silent period - Students at the Pre-Production level are learning even when they are not speaking. Do not force speech production before students are ready
- 5Deficit-based thinking - EB students are not "behind." They are developing an additional language while simultaneously learning academic content, which is a remarkable cognitive achievement
Using This App for ELPS Implementation
This app is designed to support your ELPS implementation. Use the Reference Mode to look up standards, scaffolds, and sentence stems for any proficiency level and domain combination. Use the Teaching Assistant to generate strategy cards, AI lesson plans, and tutoring sessions that are automatically aligned with ELPS and TEKS. The AI chatbot can answer your questions about ELPS best practices in real time.