As part of Title III Initiatives, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Emergent Bilingual Support Division assisted Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in planning a series of virtual information sessions that provide valuable information to parents and families of Emergent Bilingual students.
The second video of the T3 Engagement Series, titled “Empowering Families Through Helpful Resources” focused on family engagement.
English Learner Support Project Manager Sharon Santo, TEA Project Specialist Alba Avila and TEA Federal/State Engagement and Projects Manager Rickey Santellana discussed the family literacy services, activities and training needed to improve the English language skills of parents and families.
The presentation was held in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and Urdu. The recording can be found under the recordings tab on the TXEL website. PDF of the presentation in English and Spanish
TXEL Site/Telpas Practice Presented by Sharon Santo
Practice Test Site for TELPAS and STAAR
The practice test site for the TELPAS and STAAR assessments has resources for parents to work with their child at home in preparation for the TELPAS, which is the test given to all emergent bilingual students, and the STAAR, which tests the content areas of math, reading, science and social studies.
Parents should have their child focus on the TELPAS practice sets titled “2022 TELPAS Reading & Writing” and “2018 TELPAS Reading”.
TELPAS Practice Set Questions
The TELPAS assessment consists of speaking and writing questions. When responding to both speaking and writing questions, students should demonstrate their ability to add details by expanding their responses to answer the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Speaking questions may expose students to a picture and require them to provide detailed descriptions of what is taking place in the image.
Writing questions may require students to observe a chart or a graph and describe the information shown in the chart or graph in written form. Students will also be required to respond to revision and editing questions.
TXEL.org Resources
Students in kindergarten and 1st grade do not participate in the TELPAS test. Starfall is a recommended resource for younger students to meet the required level of reading and language skills.
ReadWriteThink:Comic Creator is a recommended resource to help students in grades 3-5 improve their writing and typing skills.
K-12 Educational Resources is a resource for students of all grade levels, including middle and high school, who are part of a migratory family. It offers practice lessons and activities in reading, writing and math in both English and Spanish.
Biliteracy Practices at Home Presented by Alba Avila
To help their child develop their English language skills, parents should continue practicing their home language with their child.
The English development of emergent bilingual students is tested through the TELPAS, which tests students’ reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. TELPAS is not an academic achievement test. It only assesses a student’s English language skills.
Ways to practice the skill of listening at home include playing the game of “I spy” for younger children and doing a listening and drawing activity for older children.
To practice the skill of speaking at home, parents of younger children can have their children give them directions during activities, such as driving. Parents of older children can ask their students to share memories with them.
To practice the skills of reading, parents of younger children can spend time reading together with their child. Parents of older children can assign them to shop for groceries or home goods online to help them connect images with language.
To practice the skills of writing at home, parents of younger students can have their child continue their favorite show, film or video by writing what happens next. Parents of older children can challenge their students to replace a simple word in their sentences with a word that is not used frequently.
Save the date for the final virtual information session of the T3 series:
Community Resources
5:30 p.m. | Thursday, April 25, 2024
This Community Engagement event focuses on bringing together families of English learners, immigrant families, and providing valuable resources offered by the community.
Register here for this upcoming virtual information session.