Transition Lessons

Transition Lessons is a supplemental reading intervention designed for first-grade Spanish-speaking English Learners at risk of reading difficulties who are receiving bilingual reading instruction. The intervention consists of 12 units with five lessons each, delivered in small groups of students for 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week for 12 weeks (60 days total). Each lesson includes two sections: (1) decoding skills (phonemic awareness, letter sound knowledge, word and sentence reading) and (2) English language proficiency development (academic language, content vocabulary, and comprehension strategies centered on read-aloud stories). The lessons use explicit instruction, scaffolding, multiple response opportunities, and ongoing corrective feedback. A key feature is making explicit which language features transfer from Spanish to English and which do not. Teachers and instructional assistants received one day (7 hours) of training before implementation.