ELPS Supports
How to use the daily Fix It and Write routine with emergent bilingual (EB) students, aligned to the Texas English Language Proficiency Standards (19 TAC §74.4).
Start from assets. Students bring a home language, cultural knowledge, and a lifetime of stories. Fix It teaches the conventions of standard written English for school and public audiences. It is never a correction of how a family speaks.
The routine is already a language routine
Every day students listen to a sentence read aloud, speak to explain a fix, read a prompt, and write. That covers all four ELPS domains in ten minutes. The ELPS cross-curricular student expectations below are paraphrased and keyed to their numbers in §74.4(c).
| Part of the day | ELPS student expectations it practices |
|---|---|
| Fix It | 5(D) edit writing for standard grammar and usage, including subject–verb agreement, pronoun agreement, and verb tenses 5(C) spell familiar words, using English spelling patterns and rules 5(E) use increasingly complex grammatical structures 1(B) monitor language and use self-corrective techniques 3(E) share information in cooperative learning interactions |
| Monday: Plan | 1(A) use prior knowledge and experiences 1(C) use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping and drawing 3(G) express ideas and opinions |
| Tuesday: Draft | 5(B) write using newly acquired basic and grade-level vocabulary 5(G) narrate, describe, and explain with increasing specificity and detail |
| Wednesday: Revise | 5(F) write using a variety of sentence lengths, patterns, and connecting words 1(E) internalize new language by using and reusing it in speaking and writing |
| Thursday: Quick-write | 5(B), 5(G); fluency in a familiar genre |
| Friday: Edit & share | 5(D) edit for grammar and usage 3(H) narrate, describe, and explain orally 2(I) show listening comprehension by responding to a classmate's piece |
| Letter weeks, week 32 | 1(G) distinguish formal and informal English and use each when appropriate 3(I) adapt spoken language for formal and informal purposes |
Supporting each proficiency level
These are the ELPS proficiency levels used by TELPAS. A student may be at different levels in different domains, so match the support to the writing level. Every student does the same thinking; only the support changes.
| Level | What you may see in writing | Fix It support | Write support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning | Copies words and short patterned sentences; relies on drawing and the home language. | Read the sentence aloud twice and chorally. Point to each error spot ("Look here: what does a sentence start with?"). Accept a fix shown with editing marks, not words. | Draw first, then label. Give a sentence frame for the prompt and a theme word bank. Writing in the home language is fine for Monday's plan. |
| Intermediate | Writes simple sentences with high-frequency words; errors in verb forms, plurals, and word order. | Give the error count and a hint about the focus. Frame the talk: "I changed ___ to ___ because ___." | Two-part frames ("First… Then…"). Partner talk before writing. Accept invented spelling on drafts. |
| Advanced | Writes connected sentences on familiar topics; errors with complex structures. | Partners find the errors without hints, then explain the rule. Ask which fix matters most to a reader. | Ask for one connecting word and one detail. Point to the Wednesday craft move as a model. |
| Advanced high | Writes at or near grade level with occasional errors. | Ask students to write a new sentence with the same error for a partner to fix. | Full prompt with the band above as a stretch. Focus feedback on precision and audience. |
Cross-language notes for the Fix It focus
Some conventions work differently in other languages. Naming the difference helps students transfer what they know instead of treating it as a mistake.
- Capitalizing days, months, and languages (weeks 13, 22): Spanish, French, and Portuguese write lunes, octubre, español in lowercase. English capitalizes them.
- Plural nouns (weeks 5, 21): Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean usually don't mark plurals on the noun. Expect "two dog" and teach the -s as the signal English uses.
- Past tense (weeks 9, 12): Vietnamese and Chinese show time with words like yesterday, not verb endings. Point to the time word in the sentence, then to the -ed.
- Sentence fragments (week 1): Spanish can drop the subject (Fue al parque). English needs it: He went to the park.
- Adjectives (weeks 6, 23): Spanish often puts the adjective after the noun (perro grande); English puts it before (big dog).
- Question and exclamation marks (weeks 2, 10, 31): Spanish opens with ¿ and ¡. English uses only the closing mark.
- Cognates help with spelling and vocabulary in Spanish: familia/family, animal/animal, información/information. Watch for false friends such as embarazada.
Five quick wins
- Read everything aloud. The sentence, the prompt, and the fix. Listening comes before writing.
- Post a word bank for the week's theme on Monday and add to it all week.
- Pair thoughtfully. A partner who shares the home language can help with Monday's plan; an English-proficient partner can help with Friday's edit.
- Let planning happen in any language. Ideas first, English second.
- Use the band toggle. The K–2 version of the same day is a ready-made scaffold for older newcomers.
Standards: Texas Education Agency, English Language Proficiency Standards, 19 TAC §74.4. Student expectations are summarized and paraphrased for planning; they are not a substitute for the official standards. Confirm current TEA guidance before adoption.