Reading and writing, each week
one Literacy lesson and one Writing lesson, taught together at every level
Seven levels, from Grade 3 to college-tier English.
What happens in the ELA Program?
Live, one-on-one English language arts from Grade 3 through high school, with a Literacy lesson and a Writing lesson each week and Lexile estimated at Week 0 and Week 16.
Is your child 5 to 8? See Little DODO →What your child gets
Words from their roots
Latin and Greek roots, so an unfamiliar word in any subject can be worked out
By your child’s stage
Little DODO from age 5. The ELA Program from Grade 3.
Ages 5–8
Little DODO
Live, one-on-one with a dedicated early-childhood educator — phonetics, fluency, vocabulary, and the love of reading. Built book by book. Where the reader begins.
Explore Little DODO
Grade 3+· You’re here
ELA Program
Live, Navigator-led literacy and writing — read complexity, argue with evidence, write with intention. Progress measured in Lexile. A 16-week cycle, four skills every session.
The LCS System
What happens in a single session?
Every session is 50 minutes, one-to-one with your child’s Navigator, and runs The Loop: Read → Think → Speak → Write. In the common setup, a week holds one Literacy lesson and one Writing lesson. Here is one of each, from Level 2.
A Literacy lesson
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, chapters 7–8
A line read aloud twice: “He’s murdering the time! Off with his head!” Your child names who said it.
The chapters read together, then two minutes to write first thoughts about a character before talking about them.
One open question about the chapters, talked through with the Navigator.
A spoken check to close. Nothing written, nothing marked.
A Writing lesson
Clear paragraphs
Last lesson’s paragraph, read back aloud.
A model paragraph, then the three paragraphs of the Gettysburg Address, each given its own title.
Practice sentences taken apart at four levels of grammar. Many carry words your child is learning in Literacy.
The first paragraph of their own piece, which the next lesson picks up.
At home
The worksheet and the binder
Each Writing lesson and each skills lesson comes with a one-page worksheet.
The worksheets are kept in your child’s binder, so the work builds up in one place.
Some tasks are done at home, such as the vocabulary unit’s quiz.
The Navigator goes through them with your child at the next lesson.
The Journey
What happens across one 16-week cycle?
1Week 0
Entrance assessment
A placement assessment sets your child’s level and a first Lexile estimate.
2Week 4
First report and a meeting
A written report and a one-on-one meeting with the Navigator. If the placement was off, the level changes here.
Meeting with the Navigator
3Week 12
Report and a second meeting
A written report and a follow-up meeting with the Navigator.
Meeting with the Navigator
4Week 16
Exit assessment
A second Lexile estimate, a full written report, and a meeting to decide the next step.
Every week in between: in the common setup, one Literacy lesson and one Writing lesson, 50 minutes each, with the same Navigator.
How we assess →Levels and cycles
How do sessions, cycles and levels fit together?
Reading and writing are taught together at every level. Each of the seven levels, designed in the tradition of MCT, pairs its reading with its writing, so the words a child meets in one come back in the other: at Level 2, more than half the practice sentences in the Writing lessons carry vocabulary from the Literacy lessons. Lessons build into weeks, weeks into 16-week cycles, and cycles into levels.
A lesson
50 minutes, one-to-one with the Navigator, run as The Loop: Read → Think → Speak → Write. Writing and skills lessons come with a one-page worksheet; some of it is finished at home.
A week
In the common setup, one Literacy lesson (reading and vocabulary) and one Writing lesson (grammar, poetry and writing). Some children take one lesson a week, alternating the two; others take three. Missed lessons are made up.
A cycle
16 weeks, with a Lexile estimate at Week 0 and Week 16 and a written report at Weeks 4, 12 and 16.
A level
Three cycles in the common setup, sooner on a faster plan. Seven levels in all, from Grade 3 to college-tier academic English.
Calibrated against US SAT, SSAT, IB Extended Essay, Cambridge KET & PET, and North American private-school and gifted-school standards.
Ms. Jennifer
The Red Tide · Ch. 4
A Real Session
A real session.
The chapter is open. Ms. Jennifer reads first — Turner mumbling that Mud is a frog in his opinion, and that being enough. She stops and looks at the student. “What is Turner doing here?”
The student says he isn’t really listening. Ms. Jennifer doesn’t move on. “What else makes you say that?” The student scrolls back two paragraphs, finds the part where Mud has already shown the evidence. “He keeps saying ‘in my opinion’ — like saying it makes the thing true.”
A few pages later they hit Baldwin’s beetle. The student reads it herself this time, then laughs. “Wait — that’s what Turner did. In reverse.” She goes back and marks it. The conversation is moving faster than the chapter now.
Ms. Jennifer pulls up Petruchio. They read it aloud twice. The second time she has the student count the soft consonants — w, r, f, v, l, th. Eighteen of them in fifteen lines. “Why those sounds?” The student thinks for a beat. “Because the clothes feel soft.” “For next week — an animal from this chapter. Four lines. One sound, four times. That’s it.”
How We Measure Growth
How will you know your child is growing?
Lexile Reading Level
The same measurement system schools use across North America, so you can compare progress directly.
187
Lexile points
average gain
We don’t say your child “reads well.” We show you the number: an average gain of 187 Lexile points in a 16-week cycle, about one grade level.
What every report scores
Each written report rates your child’s skills in three groups, and shows how they did on questions below, at and above their level.
- Reading & language
- Comprehension and analysis, vocabulary and word study, grammar and sentence structure, reading aloud, and literary craft
- Writing
- The skills of your child’s level: building sentences and paragraphs at the first levels; essay structure, style, grammar and usage at the upper ones
- Oral & listening
- Following a spoken passage; reading aloud and answering in their own words
Questions parents ask
What exactly happens in a 16-week cycle?
The program runs through The Loop — Read → Think → Speak → Write — across 16 structured weeks. Each session involves live instruction with a Navigator, structured practice between sessions, and progress tracking. Your child moves through grade-level content, not simplified material.
How many sessions are there and how long is each one?
It depends on the plan you set with your Navigator. A common setup is one Literacy lesson and one Writing lesson a week, 16 of each in a 16-week cycle. Some children take one lesson a week, alternating the two streams; others take three for a faster pace. Every lesson runs 50 minutes.
What grade levels does DODO serve?
The ELA Program begins at Grade 3 and runs across seven levels to college-tier academic English — each level three 16-week cycles at the common setup. Little DODO is a separate programme for ages 5 to 8, with its own early-childhood educators. Placement comes from the diagnostic, not from your child’s school year.
Is this a group program or one-on-one?
One-on-one. Every child works with a dedicated Navigator for the full 16 weeks. Live sessions are always 1:1.
When is my child assessed — and who does the assessment?
At the start, through and at the end of the cycle. Week 0: entrance assessment before the first session, with a Lexile estimate. Weeks 4 and 12: written progress reports, read from each book’s checks and the session worksheets, with Navigator meetings at weeks 4 and 12. Week 16: exit assessment with a second Lexile estimate. The assessments are DODO’s own: your child takes them at their own pace in our online classroom, and their Navigator scores them. Within 72 hours of each Lexile estimate you receive the number, a written report in English and Chinese, and a call with the Navigator. See how we assess.
Where will my child start?
At the level the diagnostic puts them, not at the level their grade implies. The 20-minute consultation gives a first read of where their reading actually sits, and the Week 0 Lexile baseline, taken after enrollment, confirms which of the seven levels they enter. Every session runs the full Read → Think → Speak → Write sequence from the first week, whatever the level.
Diagnostic Consultation
Ready to see where your child stands?
The consultation is 20 minutes. A Navigator — not a sales call. We identify the exact gaps and show you what the first 16 weeks looks like for a student exactly like yours.
Book Your ConsultationA free consultation with a Navigator. No obligation.