Instructional Materials
Many school districts report difficulty finding high-quality instructional materials for English learners at varying levels of proficiency that still holds high expectations for students. This is an especially true for newly arrived immigrant students and for SLIFE students.
Below we have highlighted free curricular materials created by a number of districts and teachers across the country.
Curriculum for SIFE Equity
The Curriculum for SIFE Equity is designed for an ELD 1 class of secondary newcomer learners who are below a fourth grade reading level in their home language. This pilot project includes a 13 week introductory unit with lesson plans, texts, teacher slides, and student materials; a year-long scope and sequence; and a suite of reusable differentiated activities for content classes.
Curriculum for Sife Equity, The SIFE Equity Project, Oakland Unified School District, CalNEW Program
TRANSLATE Curriculum
The TRANSLATE Curriculum leverages the linguistic assets of adolescent multilingual English language learners (ELLs) while ensuring that the literacy skills found in the Science of Reading are in place for Entering & Emerging ELLs in the secondary grades. The Foundation Unit is complete, offering a full set of materials for early reading skills, and additional units will be made available in 2026.
TRANSLATE Curriculum Drive, New York City Public Schools
Elementary Survival Basics
San Diego’s Refugee School Impact Curriculum is designed for elementary newcomers in grades 2-5. It contains twenty-two slide decks, each one with a lesson built for three days of instruction. The curriculum and its lessons focus on basic literacy and numeracy, functional “survival” English phrases, and basic vocabulary along a variety of themes.
RSI Elementary Curriculum, San Diego Unified School District
Immigrant Education History Lessons
This free fifteen lesson series explores the pivotal moments, landmark cases, and competing philosophies that have shaped immigrant education in America. Comprehensive lesson plans include high-quality teacher decks, student activities, and primary sources such as speeches, legal documents, maps, poems, and political cartoons. Lessons 1-2 day and geared towards 8-12th grade classrooms.
Making Americans: A US History Lesson Series, Re-Imagining Migration, written by 2023 MA history teacher of the year Jessica Lander
Secondary Content Unit Bank
These content units were developed by teachers and ELD professionals for use with secondary newcomers. They cover Algebra, Geometry, Physics, English Language Arts, and Ethnic Studies. Units address grade-level academic material with additional focus on language development and support for intermediate English learners.
Newcomer Content Unit Bank, Internationals Network, Oakland Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District