Target Language Support

  • BFEF funds small group support for students who need a little extra help with reading, writing and speaking the target languages. Research suggests that this type of support is effective at closing learning gaps.

    Our international interns, teachers, and local assistants all provide this support. Each student’s teacher gives guidance on skills and assignments to work on for the sessions - mostly reading accuracy and comprehension. Students may only need several sessions to get the help they need. BFEF provides the funding for this work.

    Currently, Glendale Unified School District screens all students each fall for support and intervention in math and English Language Arts.

    Parents and guardians are strongly encouraged to read with (or to) their children (at any age) for at least 20 minutes a day, in any language, to foster literacy skills at home

What is target language support?

  • Reading Accuracy

    Grades K-2 focus on learning to read: student learn the basic units of language (phonemes), how they are written (graphemes) and how to read through texts with high-frequency words that incorporate common graphemes and phonemes. end of 3rd grade, students should be reading grade-level texts accurately. That means knowing how to pronounce words and also knowing what the words mean.

  • Reading/Writing Fluency

    Reading fluency encompasses both speed and accuracy. To gain speed and accuracy, texts often have words broken into syllables to encourage students to internalize word structure. Students will memorize word lists and have short quizzes. A student who can read quickly but who cannot summarize or understand the text is not a fluent reader. A student who understands words but who cannot reproduce them correctly is not yet fluent.

  • Reading Comprehension

    Pronouncing, reading, and writing accurately is essential to the main goal of language proficiency: students should be able to interpret and analyze grade-level texts (fiction and nonfiction). Language support tutors work with students to formulate questions about what they read, be able to summarize main ideas, and describe characters, settings, and major plot points. These skills prepare students for essays they will write in upper elementary grades and beyond.

    Students describing a text.