(This post contains affiliate links. That means that I make a small commission if you purchase the book below but it's at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach, by Anna Uhl Chamot and J. Michael O’Malley, is an oldie but goodie. Based on cognitive theory, CALLA is an approach to teaching the English language that emphasizes teaching learning strategies to students and focuses on providing instruction to enable ELLs to learn academic content and vocabulary in English.
![]() |
Book cover, first edition; source: The ESL Nexus |
I especially like the third section because it goes into detail regarding the teaching of science, math, social studies, and language arts. Despite being published long before the Common Core State Standards were written, the information presented in The CALLA Handbook is still very useful. The chapters in this section discuss what is hard for ELLs about each content subject, what the language demands of each one are, and how to use CALLA in these classes.
Each chapter ends with a model CALLA instructional unit, which is very helpful.
The CALLA website has more information for anyone who would like to learn more about this approach. An updated edition was published in 2009 with information based on new research about teaching ELLs.
You can read my other reviews of books that are useful for educators working with ELLs here, here, here, and here.