BCIRC (Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition): Teaching Reading and Language Skills to English Language Learners

BCIRC (Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition) is a program that targets the development of language and reading skills in English for English language learners. BCIRC combines strategies from CIRC (Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition) with other transitional and English as a Second Language strategies to facilitate student cooperative learning discussions and discourse. The program includes 15 activities that occur before, during, and after reading, such as using BCIRC materials to develop vocabulary, making predictions of a story's content based on its title, and reading with a partner followed by silent reading. Teachers in the BCIRC program receive extensive staff development on how to use a constructivist framework to facilitate student cooperative learning discussions and discourse.