This research asks: What strategies work best for teaching vocabulary to English language learners? A systematic, direct, explicit approach was used by a reading intervention instructor to teach word recognition skills, teacher-selected vocabulary, and student-selected academic words to elementary students who were at various stages of learning English. The instructor provided a sheltered classroom and sought to motivate students to become involved with each other socially. The systematic, direct, explicit instruction involved the use of scripted lesson plans that covered calendar words, affixes, and strategies to use when unfamiliar words are encountered during contextual reading. Contextual reading included the use of library books and websites that provided information students needed to complete a multicultural quilt. Students were assessed using the following reading tests: the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), Johns Individual Reading Inventory (IRI), and the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). This research indicates that students who were consistently involved in this research were successful in building their bank of academic and social vocabulary. Students also became knowledgeable in the use of strategies to recognize unfamiliar words. Since the conclusion of this paper, two of the students involved in the original study are currently reading at grade level according to the Johns IRI and DIBELS. The other student no longer attends this school.