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?
The ELA Program is live, one-on-one English language arts for Grade 3 through high school, taught online. Each 16-week cycle pairs your child with one Navigator, runs every session as The Loop, Read → Think → Speak → Write, estimates reading in Lexile at Weeks 0 and 16, and scores writing in every progress report.
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.
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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
Writing and skills lessons each come with a one-page worksheet, kept in your child’s binder. Some tasks are done at home: the vocabulary unit’s quiz, for one, which the Navigator goes through with your child at the next lesson.
The Journey
What happens across one 16-week cycle?
1Week 0
Entrance Assessment
We start by finding out exactly where your child is — their Lexile reading level and the specific areas where they need support. No assumptions.
2Weeks 1–15
Weekly Sessions
Each week, your child works through The LCS with their Navigator — someone who knows their progress, their challenges, and what to push next. Sessions run up to 50 minutes, minimum once per week.
3Week 16
Exit Assessment + Progress Report
At the end, you see the growth as real numbers: Lexile level before and after. You receive a written progress report. Then you decide what comes next.
Lexile Growth
620Lexile start
820after 16wks
+200 Lexile points — approximately one grade level of reading growth
Typical 16-week result: 620L → 820L
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 and one Writing lesson. A plan can be lighter or faster; it is set with you, below.
A cycle
16 weeks, with a Lexile estimate at Week 0 and Week 16 and a written report at Weeks 4, 8, 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.
How a Level Works
What does a week look like?
Each of the seven levels is one complete body of work. Its two streams run side by side, so reading, skills and writing grow together rather than one at a time.
Literacy
文学精读
Reading and skills lessons: the level’s classics and vocabulary through the Latin and Greek roots of English, in the order the level sets, with reviews along the way.
Writing
写作
Grammar, poetry and writing lessons that build from the sentence and the paragraph to the full essay, at the same level as the reading.
A common setup
One Literacy lesson and one Writing lesson a week, 50 minutes each. Sixteen of each make a 16-week cycle.
Every plan is set with you. Some children take one lesson a week, alternating the two streams; others take three for a faster pace. Missed lessons are made up, so a cycle runs until its lessons are used. Your Navigator sets out the plan and its price with you at the consultation.
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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 used by schools across North America — so you can compare progress directly. Students typically advance about one grade level in reading in each 16-week cycle — an average gain of 187 Lexile points.
We don’t say your child “reads well.” We show you they moved from Lexile 620 to 820 in 16 weeks — that’s the difference between Grade 4 and Grade 6 reading territory.
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, 8 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.