Watertown Public Schools

30 Common Street, Watertown MA 02472

English / Second Language

Watertown Public Schools > Departments > ESL

Standards-Based Student Learning Outcomes for the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program

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Listening

Beginning Level

  • Understands basic social vocabulary.
  • Understands basic academic vocabulary.
  • Understands classroom conversations.
  • Follows simple directions.
  • Identifies the beginning, middle and ending of a story that is heard.
  • Identifies the main events of a story that is heard.

Intermediate Level

  • Understands content questions and information.
  • Understands basic synonyms and antonyms.
  • Understands specific information in an academic context.
  • Understands main ideas and details of a story that is heard.
  • Uses background knowledge to understand subject matter.
  • Understands social interactions.
  • Understands common idiomatic expressions.

Advanced level

  • Understands grade-level subject matter vocabulary.
  • Understands an extended academic discussion.
  • Follows multi-step directions.
  • Understands complex sentence structures in a classroom conversation.
  • Understands the attitude of a speaker.

Speaking

Beginning Level

  • Uses basic social vocabulary.
  • Uses basic academic vocabulary.
  • Asks questions about a familiar topic.
  • Answers questions about a familiar topic.
  • Expresses personal needs.
  • Retells events about a story.
  • Compares and contrasts information.
  • Describes people, places and things using some detail.
  • Uses basic grammar patterns.

Intermediate Level

  • Participates in a classroom discussion.
  • Expresses thoughts and opinions on a classroom topic.
  • Summarizes a story orally.
  • Retells the beginning, middle and ending of a story.
  • Identifies similarities and differences in an academic content area.
  • Uses synonyms and antonyms.
  • Uses common idiomatic expressions.
  • Gives an oral presentation on an academic topic.
  • Explains how a problem was solved.

Advanced level

  • Participates in an extended academic discussion.
  • Rephrases ideas to express meaning.
  • Engages in a classroom performance or an oral presentation with understanding of audience and purpose.
  • Participates in an extended interpersonal interaction.
  • Summarizes academic information that is heard or read.
  • Uses culturally appropriate language with peers and adults.
  • Explains fully how a problem was solved.

Reading

Beginning Level

  • Recognizes the correspondence between letters and sounds.
  • Recognizes the English alphabet.
  • Recognizes the basic features of a text.
  • Uses pictures and vocabulary to understand the meaning of a text.
  • Predicts information in a text.
  • Identifies literary elements.
  • Categorizes information using graphic organizers.
  • Recognizes characteristics of various literary genres.

Intermediate Level

  • Uses background knowledge to understand a text.
  • Uses knowledge of grammar to understand a text.
  • Reads to obtain factual information.
  • Understands graphs and charts.
  • Identifies the main ideas and details in a text.
  • Understands an author’s goals and purposes.
  • Uses word analysis and context to discover meaning of unknown words.
  • Gathers information from multiple sources for an academic assignment.

Advanced level

  • Identifies characters, settings and events in a story.
  • Uses learning strategies to read.
  • Draws conclusions from a text.
  • Understands an author’s purposes for writing a story or text.
  • Compares points of view in a story.
  • Reads a variety of texts fluently.
  • Supports individual interpretations of different literary genres.
  • Summarizes information that is read

Writing

Beginning Level

  • Draws and/or writes about a personal experience.
  • Draws and/or writes about an academic topic.
  • Revises writing to improve a written assignment.
  • Incorporates new vocabulary, detail and variety in writing.
  • Uses selected mechanics in writing.
  • Uses reference materials for a writing task.
  • Writes a complete sentence.

Intermediate Level

  • Writes a story with a beginning, middle and ending.
  • Uses knowledge of mechanics, punctuation and spelling in writing.
  • Expands use of vocabulary to add detail in writing.
  • Identifies purpose and audience for a writing task.
  • Writes a paragraph with topic sentence and supporting details.

Advanced level

  • Writes events in sequential order in a story.
  • Uses standard grammar and writing conventions.
  • Revises, edits and publishes a story.
  • Generates a coherent grade-level piece of writing.
  • Expresses a point of view in writing.
  • Engages in research from multiple sources for an academic writing task.