Program information

Developer and contact

Developed by Diane August, Maria S. Carlo, Barry McLaughlin, and Catherine Snow, and now published by Brookes Publishing. Address: Customer Service Department, Brookes Publishing Co., P. O. Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624. Email: custserv@brookespublishing.com. Web: http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/lively-6342/index.htm. Telephone: (800) 638-3775. ³

Scope of use

Developed between 1997 and 2000, VIP has been implemented in California, Virginia, and Massachusetts. The curriculum is designed for English language learners and native English speakers. Information is not available on the number or demographics of students, schools, or districts using this intervention.

Teaching

VIP is a 15-week program that includes vocabulary activities and related lessons. The program stresses targeted words from a weekly reading assignment. On Mondays English language learner students are given the weekly reading assignment in their native language to preview before it is introduced in English on the following day. On Tuesdays the teacher leads whole-group lessons to review the text and define the target vocabulary. On Wednesdays teachers divide the students into heterogeneous language groups to complete two cloze⁴ activities. On Thursdays teachers again divide the students into small groups to complete word association, synonym/antonym, and semantic feature analysis activities. Then, each Friday, teachers lead activities that cover a range of topics including analysis of root words and knowledge of multiple meanings of words. The curriculum includes detailed lesson plans, quasi-scripted lesson guides, overhead transparencies, worksheets, homework assignments, and all necessary reading assignment texts.

Cost

The cost of the system is $39.95 for each of three volumes of the curriculum for students in grades 4, 5, and 6 (one volume for each grade), or $99 for the full set.