Question 1

What's the difference between Diphthongs, Blends, and Digraphs?

Accepted Answer

Diphthongs, Blends & Digraphs

I had no idea what these were when I first began teaching phonics.

Not that I needed to know what these terms meant in order to teach phonics well, but it did help when it came to sorting out the different combinations in my head as I was teaching them.

Here are the basic differences between Diphthongs, Blends, and Digraphs:

Blends - Consonant Blends include letter combinations like st, pr, and nk. You can hear the individual sounds even as you are blending them.
Digraphs - Digraphs include letter combinations like oo and ew. They only make one single sound when blended together.
Diphthongs - Diphthongs include letter combinations like ai and oa. They make one sound that morphs into a second sound when blended together. (For example, "ai" sounds like "aaaeeee" if you say it really slowly, like a long a morphing into a long e sound 😁 .)

Question 2

What are graphic organizers and how do I use them?

Accepted Answer

Graphic organizers usually include boxes for writing information and pictures to help students organize information they read from a text. Below is a picture of a historical timeline which is a perfect example of a graphic organizer to help students organize important dates from a historical text.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/ZMOnaK5ADk/ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg (ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg)

Graphic organizers are incredibly helpful tools for organizing information, regardless of whether students are English learners or not.

For our English learners who are attempting to access grade-level materials, they can be crucial.

In the ESL Curriculum Membership, you can find a growing library of graphic organizers you can use to scaffold learning for your English learners.

Click Here to Check Out the Graphic Organizers

Question 3

How do I filter or search a table when I have created a lot of records?

Accepted Answer

You can use the Search bar above the table on the page to search for records by typing.

Or you can click on the Table Filters dropdown in the sidebar to filter only the records you want to view.

Question 4

Can I use the materials for teaching online?

Accepted Answer

Resource Formats

**There are 3 formats for most of the resources inside the ESL Curriculum Membership:

PDFs,
Powerpoint,
NearPod.

There are a number of ways you can use the materials from the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum online with your students. The article below includes tutorials and tips for online teachers.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/BgJY9jNo30/Teach%20Online%20with%20the%20Kid-Inspired%20ESL%20Curriculum.png (Teach Online with the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum.png)

How to Use the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum for Online Teaching ->

Here are a few specific tutorials for how to use the materials with popular platforms:

Access to the Curriculum

To get access to the curriculum and download resources, you can choose from one of the following memberships:

Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership Click Here ->

Includes the entire curriculum and all supplementary teaching resources.

Independent Teachers Membership Click Here ->

Includes the entire **Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership **
Promotional materials for the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum (Not available in the basic ESL Curriculum Membership)
Training courses on topics such as finding students, desigining your site, marketing, giving assessments, & more
Your own website, payment processing, scheduling, course-building software
Community of other teachers going independent

Your license:

Teachers can use the curriculum as long as they maintain an active subscription to the membership and are only using it with students they personally teach live and in-person whether it's online or offline. If the curriculum is being used on a freelance platform, like Outschool, for example, please leave a link to the Kid-Inspired website as a reference.

Teachers are not allowed to:

Re-package the curriculum in any way
Build a Self-Paced, Resellable Program Out Of It
Resell the Curriculum
Share the Curriculum with Others They Are Not Personally Teaching
Use Resources, Images, Text, or Logos from Kid-Inspired Classroom in Promotional Materials (The Independent Teachers Membership includes pre-prepared promotional materials teachers are licensed to use as long as they maintain an active membership)

Question 5

How do I score or grade the Kid-Inspired ESL Placement Assessment?

Accepted Answer

There have been a number of teachers who have asked about how to score the Kid-Inspired ESL Placement Assessment.

If you're a member of the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership, there is a mini-course on how to use the assessment. There are also instructions included with the assessment itself. Here are a couple of thoughts though that may be helpful:

There is a little ruler of numbers at the top of each section of the assessment tracking sheet. These little rulers correspond to the questions in that section.

Kid-Inspired ESL Assessment Ruler

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/rzMPxE64kp/ESL-Assessment-Ruler.png (Kid-Inspired ESL Assessment Ruler)

You take the number from here that the student received and write it at the bottom in the Score area.

ESL Assessment Final Scoring Box

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/YyOtvfPTUc/ESL-Assessment-Grading-Box.png (ESL Assessment Final Scoring Box)

Once you have numbers for each area in this score box, you average them together for an overall level (add up listening/speaking, reading, writing, grammar and divide by 4).

If you're a member...

You can get the member copy of the assessment here.
You can find loads of other resources to get organized with the curriculum here.
You can find the Kid-Inspired Placement Assessment Mini Course here.

If you're not a member...

Question 6

How do I EDIT Assessment or Form results I've already added?

Accepted Answer

You can easily edit results from ASSESSMENTS or from FORMS.

To edit fields visible in the table, just double click on the field.

To edit fields that aren't visible in the table:

Question 7

How should I group my students?

Accepted Answer

You can organize students any way you like, but you don't generally need to group students by any of the data you add on a student's profile—i.e. grade level, background flags, etc.—since you will be able to sort students by these fields at any time. You may want to consider organizing students by class or by goal or by content teacher. This allows you to view results, chart graphs, schedule forms, etc. specifically for that group of students.

Question 8

What are Monitoring Forms?

Accepted Answer

Monitoring Forms are commonly required by most schools in the United States for ELLs who are either in the ELL program or have exited it. Very often Former ELLs need to have monitoring forms completed about them by their content teachers for a period of up to 2 years after they have exited the program.

The Monitoring Forms included with the Kid-Inspired ELL Management Portal are there to help simplify this process for ELL teachers. For ELL teachers who need this functionality, you can invite colleagues, assign them to groups, and then schedule monitoring forms to be sent to those colleagues. Those colleagues can log into the platform and fill out the forms for the students in the group you assigned them. You can view all of the results as well as print reports.

Kid-Inspired Classroom is not responsible for state compliance though so be sure to know and understand the laws in your area in order to make sure you are complying by them.

Question 9

What grade levels is the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum appropriate for?

Accepted Answer

If you teach K-7, you will find engaging, effective teaching materials for your students.

Since every teacher's situation is different, there are a variety of ways for you to find what you need inside of the membership.

You can read more about finding materials by following this link.

You can sign up for the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership here.

Question 10

How do I manage schools on my account?

Accepted Answer

You need at least one school for your account. Schools help teachers who have to manage ELLs across multiple school buildings to keep things organized. (If you are an independent teacher, you can create your own school and call it whatever you want.)

To view all your schools, just go to schools in the menu or click the link below.View All Schools ->

To add a school, just click the Add a School button on the schools page or the link in the menu.Add a School Now ->

To delete a school, just click the Add a School button on the schools page or the link in the menu.Add a School Now ->

To Edit a School Name or Delete a School:

Click on the row for that school in the Schools table.
A little black popup will appear with the options to Edit or Delete.
Be careful deleting a school since there is no way to get it back. Students and other data are not removed when deleting a school.

How can I help?

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