The CAFE Book – A Review for ESL Teachers
Adapting Boushey and Moser’s Daily Five Sequel to ELL Classrooms
Nov 6, 2009
Fans of Gail Boushey and Joan Moser's The Daily Five [Stenhouse, 2006] – the book that describes the phenomenal reading workshop management system in which children manage their time by reading and writing rather than doing worksheets – will love The CAFE Book as well. However, Boushey and Moser have written a sequel that, however unintentional, could well provide a template for ESL teachers who provide differentiated instruction in inclusive and English immersion settings.
Engaging All Students in Literacy Assessment and Instruction
The Sisters, as Boushey and Moser are known among educators, have developed a research-based system for engaging all student in daily literacy assessment and instruction. CAFE is an acronym for comprehension, accuracy (figuring out new words), fluency, and expanding vocabulary.
Boushey and Moser, in The CAFE Book, describe an evolving process of moving from basals and scripted reading programs to guided reading groups to the next step in the evolution of best practices in reading instruction: multi-level strategy groups. For those who are feeling that guided reading is a good start but want specific strategies for taking their students to the next level, Boushy and Moser’s The CAFÉ Book is their guide.
Managing Differentiated Assessment During Reading Workshops
Best practices in literacy instruction begin with assessment. The CAFE Book outlines a simple and practical management system for keeping track of individual student progress.
The next question is what to do with that information once it is collected. Boushey and Moser show teachers exactly how to use assessment information to inform next steps in teaching a differentiated literacy program.
Developing Reading Strategy Groups
Boushey and Moser condense a complex reading instruction system into four key components: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary (which ties in wonderfully with writing workshops). These four components also address the unique needs of English language learners.
The CAFE Book offers a variety of strategies for achieving proficiency in each of the key literacy components, with concrete suggestions for how to teach these strategies in whole class contexts, through multi-level strategy groups, and in one-on-one reading conferences. Boushey and Moser recognize that students need to be as invested as the teacher in their literacy progress. Thus The CAFE Book, in the authors’ own words, “provides a vocabulary that teachers and students can share as they work together, set goals and document learning and growth.”
The Advantages of The CAFE Book for Classroom and ESL Teachers
The CAFE Book is practical and easy to use. Lessons are explained in detail. Management forms are provided in the appendix and on CD-ROM..
The CAFE system does not require expensive materials or extensive training. It’s not meant to replace or add to an already busy literacy curriculum. But rather, the intention is to provide a structure for what is likely already in place and for tracking growth and determining next steps in fostering reading proficiency.
While Boushey and Moser do not directly address ESL programming, the students they have worked with over the years have included English language learners. The system works for ELLs as well as for native English speakers.
The CAFE system can certainly be used as designed in bilingual classrooms. But it is an especially good match for ESL teachers who work in inclusive and immersion classrooms. Just as the classroom teacher who uses the CAFE method can feel free to move away from the guided reading group paradigm to one in which flexible, multi-level strategy groups are devised to meet the reading needs of a diverse group of students, the ESL teacher can adapt the CAFE format to construct flexible, multi-level word work and literacy-based language development groups.
With a little creative and outside-the-box thinking, The CAFE Book could well be a model for a rich literacy/language development program in ESL cluster, inclusive, and immersion classrooms.
Boushey, Gail and Moser, Joan. The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment & Instruction. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2009.
Read Understanding ESL Students Language Development and Supporting ESL Students in Inclusive Classrooms for strategies to make language comprehensible for English language learners.
 |
