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An important first step in helping English language learners (ELLs) succeed is making them feel welcome in the classroom.

This will:

increase their confidence

make them feel more comfortable in the class

build a foundation for positive relationships with you and their peers.

Here's how you can get started!

The ELL student population includes students who were born in the U.S. and students who have immigrated from another country. For ELLs who have recently arrived in the U.S., they will face the challenge of learning a new language in addition to adjusting to an unfamiliar cultural setting and school system.

On a daily basis, ELLs are adjusting to new ways of saying and doing things. As their teacher, you are an important bridge to this unknown culture and school system.

In the same way that ELLs go through stages of English language learning, they may also pass through stages of cultural accommodation. These stages, however, may be less defined and more difficult to notice. Being aware of these stages may help you to better understand "unusual" actions and reactions that may just be part of adjusting to a new culture.

Euphoria: ELLs may experience an initial period of excitement about their new surroundings.

Culture shock: ELLs may then experience anger, hostility, frustration, homesickness, or resentment towards the new culture.

Acceptance: ELLs may gradually accept their different surroundings.

Assimilation/adaptation: ELLs may embrace and adapt to their surroundings and their "new" culture.

It is also common for students who are learning a new language to be 'silent' for a period of time, when they are listening to the language around them without speaking yet (much as a young child listens to language first before learning to talk). This is considered the first stage of language acquisition.

Patience and creating opportunities for small successes in speaking with you and peers can help build students' confidence. In addition, keep in mind that students' silence could also be a sign of respect for you as an authority - and not a sign of their inability or refusal to participate.

Students may also have experienced trauma or face different kinds of hardship in the U.S. You can better prepare yourself for this possibility by:

Learn more from the following:

This award-winning documentary highlights how the Dearborn, MI public school district is helping its immigrant students succeed. Learn more about this project and see related videos.

Getting to Know Students

Learn how to pronounce students' names correctly

Don't forget to smile and use positive body language!

A lot of communication happens through expressions, body language, and tone. Smiling and using positive body language can go a long way in making students feel welcome and comfortable, particularly if they are newcomers, as seen in the vignette shared by a teacher below.

Build relationships with students

Veteran teachers of ELLs always point to building relationships as the most important step in their work with ELLs. Not only does it increase engagement and support students' later academic success, it also provides invaluable information that can inform your instruction and family engagement.

In addition, it can help build bridges with students who may have particularly unique experiences, such as children in migrant farmwork families or Indigenous students.

See more ideas on how to build these relationships from the following:

Video: Showing students you care

Corpus Christi teacher Christine Price talks about the importance of showing students you care early on.

Identify students' strengths and interests

It's important to remember that ELLs bring lots of strengths, talents, and rich experiences to the classroom. Getting to know students' interests can help:

build rapport

engage students in learning

find connections with new friends.

Families are also an important source of information and are often happy to talk about the activities that their child enjoys. They may also appreciate the fact that their child's teacher is taking an interest in the child's strengths and talents. (This is especially true in special education settings.)

Teacher Omar Salem describes a student who not only sings and dances but manages her own YouTube channel and edits all of the video she posts of her performances.

Video: Using parent letters to get to know my students

Albuquerque teacher Clara Gonzales-Espinoza asks her parents to write her a letter at the beginning of each school year telling her about the child's personality, interests, strengths, and anything else they think she should know. In this interview, Clara speaks more about this strategy and its impact on her relationships with parents and students.

Ensure that students have information about activities and clubs

Make sure that students have information about extra-curricular activities, sports, and clubs related to their interests. You can also encourage them to start their own club within the school.

ELL educator Christine Rowland notes, "Many students find involvement in school clubs and teams to be extremely helpful, as they are often experts in these areas, and they can provide a space where they more easily feel they belong."

Welcoming Students' Language and Culture

Invite students' cultures into the classroom

Encourage ELLs and their families to share their culture with you and your class. Show-and-tell is a good opportunity for ELLs to bring in something representative of their culture, if they wish.

Invite students and families to:

share photographs, visuals, or meaningful artifacts such as flags or mementos

tell a popular story or folktale using words, pictures, gestures, and movements

share information about important holidays or celebrations.

Looking beyond the classroom

Imagine that you are walking into your school for the first time as a parent.

What do you see on the walls?

If your first language weren't English, would you see signs in your language?

Would you see flags, maps, or books representing your home country?

Would you see your child's work on display in the hallway?

If you think more could be done to make families feel welcome, consider:

sharing some ideas with colleagues or administrators and taking small steps that you can point to as successes

looking for opportunities to celebrate all families and their languages, customs, and cultures, whether in the classroom or at a school-wide event

keeping a lookout for a special part of their lives that other families might appreciate getting to know.

See more ideas in the following:

Video: What happened when the students realized the Yemeni flag wasn't on stage

ELD Specialist Diana Alqadhi tells the story of some students who realized that the Yemeni flag was not featured prominently enough on stage before a school show.

Invite students' languages into the classroom

Label classroom objects to allow ELLs to better understand their immediate surroundings. These labels will also assist you when explaining or giving directions, and it gives peers an additional opportunity to learn some words in their classmates' language.

Start with everyday items, such as "door/puerta," "book/libro," and "chair/silla."

You may wish to ask students who can write in their first language or family members to help you with this project.

You can also invite students to teach the class some words from their home language.

Learn more about the resources available in students' home languages

Students benefit from support in their home language - what Dr. Fred Genesee calls their " most valuable resource." You have may have access to learning material in students' languages, or you may be able to find resources that support those languages.

Language access for multilingual families

In addition, it's critical to understand what language access resources you have available through your school and district, particularly for communication with families. Keep in mind that all families have a legal right to information in their home language. Family liaisons, interpreters, ESL teachers, or administrators may have more information about what language access resources are available in your district.

Video: What Do School Districts Need to Know About Language Access?

This helpful overview about what language access means for school districts is a great introduction to the requirements, best practices, and funding streams related to language access in public education. This interview features Dr. Jennifer Love, the Supervisor of Language Access and Engagement in Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland.

Video: Language Access for Multilingual Families

What does appropriate language access mean for multilingual families? This interview also features Dr. Jennifer Love.

Ensure your students see themselves reflected in the classroom

Ask yourself if students can see representations of their culture, race, gender, and other aspects of identity reflected in your:

classroom materials and library

lesson plans and activities

classroom visuals (both in-person and virtual).

In addition:

Success in the Classroom

Encourage your students

Some ELLs may not answer voluntarily in class or ask for your help even if they need it. ELLs may smile and nod, but this does not necessarily mean that they understand. Offer one-on-one support and encouragement as much as possible. For convenience, it may be helpful to seat ELLs near your desk.

Assign a buddy

Identify a classmate who will make a good buddy for new students - someone who is friendly, patient, and a good communicator to be a buddy. This student can make sure that the new student understands what he or she is supposed to do during class activities. It is helpful if the peer partner knows the ELL's first language, but not necessary. However, remember to never use another student as an interpreter in any situation.

Learn more about ways to increase peer interaction and collaboration in these related strategies.

Ask the class how they can help welcome new students

Ask students to brainstorm ways to help ELLs in particular. You may wish to make a list of ideas on how to welcome new students at the beginning of the year so that students have these strategies in mind if a student comes with little advance notice.

Be vigilant about health issues, dietary concerns, and allergies

Students may have specific health issues or dietary restrictions due to health, cultural, or religious reasons. Be sure that you learn all essential information you need to know about student health and diet from parents or guardians. For ELLs, be sure to confirm and clarify this information with the help of interpreters.

If you learn information about a student that would be helpful for other staff to know, particularly regarding health or food allergies, talk with administrators about how to keep the child safe. In addition, be sensitive to cultural or religious norms, such as fasting for religious reasons.

Keep an eye out for signs of culture shock

Moving to a new country and leaving a familiar life, relatives, friends, and language behind can be traumatic for children in the best of circumstances. Those challenges are compounded if children have experienced trauma, violence, or upheaval. Learn more about how culture shock can impact students in the classroom and affect student behavior so that you recognize signs if newcomers act out.

Encourage students to take ownership of the classroom culture

Ask students to answer the following questions through drawings or written responses.

How can I be a good classmate to others?

What are examples of unkind or disrespectful behavior in the classroom?

To support ELLs in their discussions of these questions:

Encourage students who speak the same language to discuss their ideas in groups.

Provide scaffolded materials such as graphic organizers, sentence stems, and sentence frames.

Use a picture book to talk about different kinds of behavior with students.

Create a shared set of classroom expectations together

Return to your earlier discussion of what a respectful classroom looks like.

Brainstorm ideas on possible class rules based on that discussion.

Streamline the list of class guidelines or rules.

Add any rules or guidelines that are missing.

In order to establish appropriate consequences for disrespectful behavior, you may wish to come up with ideas with the class or determine those consequences yourself.

Post the final list classroom rules in the classroom.

Translate the rules into ELLs' native languages so that they can keep the list handy and share it at home.

To see an example of this proces in action, take a look at ELL expert Carol Salva's process for developing a community contract each year.

Help your ELLs understand expectations for the classroom

ELLs may need some extra support in understanding expectations for classroom behavior. Helping them understand these expectations can avoid misunderstandings, discipline problems, and feelings of low self-esteem.

At the same time, it's important to remember that students bridging two cultures may need guidance which behaviors are appropriate in which setting (such as eye contact, physical proximity, etc.). If you have questions, talk with a cultural liaison in the school to learn more about appropriate responses and ideas for helping students navigate a new culture. You can also learn more about cultural norms of your students, particularly related to schooling, to help inform your approach.

Here are a few strategies that you can use in class:

Use visuals like pictures, symbols, and reward systems to communicate your expectations in a positive and direct manner.

Physically model language to ELLs in classroom routines and instructional activities. ELLs will need to see you or their peers model behavior when you want them to sit down, walk to the bulletin board, work with a partner, copy a word, etc.

Be consistent and fair with all students. Once ELLs clearly understand what is expected, hold them equally accountable for their behavior.

Post a daily schedule. Even if ELLs do not yet understand all of the words that you speak, it is possible for them to understand the structure of each day. Whether through chalkboard art or images on Velcro, you can post the daily schedule each morning. By writing down times and having pictures next to words like lunch, wash hands, math, and field trip, ELLs can have a general sense of the upcoming day.

Finally, remember ELLs can make unintentional "mistakes" as they are trying hard to adjust to a new cultural setting. They are constantly transferring what they know as acceptable behaviors from their own culture to the U.S. classroom and school. Be patient as ELLs learn English and adjust - and remember that you will learn a lot from this experience too!

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How to Create a Welcoming Classroom Environment for ELLs

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An important first step in helping English language learners (ELLs) succeed is making them feel welcome in the classroom. This will: increase their confidence make them feel more comfortable in the class build a foundation for positive relationships with you and their peers. Here's how you can get started!

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Lots of great strategies with visuals too!

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How to teach vocabulary to ELLs can be one of the biggest concerns for teachers that are new to working with English Language Learners. How do you teach a lesson when some of your students are unfamiliar with the words that you are using. Which words are the most important one in a story? Which words are worth the time it will take to find visuals or preteach them? Here are some strategies to help you support your ELL's vocabulary development.

Teach Vocabulary Words in Context

There will be exceptions, but in general, students learn new words faster and retain them longer if they are taught in the context of a story or lesson. There are many words and concepts that are not easy to visualize. Teaching these ideas in the context of a story or the students own writing will help them understand how the words or phrases work.

Thinking back to some of my own foreign language lessons, I remember how difficult it was to learn the long lists of vocabulary words we were supposed to memorize. I didn't have any real context to use the words and quickly forgot them. I lived in Jordan after college. During my daily activities, I had to navigate the city buses, purchase food, and talk with other women. Most of the words that I still remember in Arabic have to do with directions or cooking. I had a real reason to learn these words.

There are many strategies for teaching academic language. One way that I helped my students practice academic vocabulary words was to use the words in the context of sentences with everyday topics. This not only helps students focus on the new vocabulary words, but also gives them the context of a sentence to help build meaning.

Teach About Context Clues

It is impossible to preteach all the new words an ELL will encounter as he/she is reading. Start teaching students how to use clues that are in sentences and books to help them learn new words. Simply making students aware that context clues exist, and then pointing them out as you are reading, is a powerful strategy to teach vocabulary to ELLs.

I also came up with sets of task cards with simple sentences for students to practice using context clues.

Use Visuals

It is much easier to show a picture or use realia (a real object) when teaching new vocabulary. This helps students make connections and picture what you are trying to explain. When students are writing, it can be helpful to have visuals available to help them with spelling and vocabulary. I created a set of illustrated vocabulary folders that I would use with my ELLs. Learn how I set up the Vocabulary Folders HERE.

Play Vocabulary Games

Sometimes it is necessary to teach a list of vocabulary words. When this is the case a vocabulary game is a great way to help students remember them. They are having fun as they play the game and do not always realize that they are practicing vocabulary at the same time. I have collected a list of games to use to help ELLs practice vocabulary and must have games for ELLs.

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Teaching Vocabulary to ELLs - A World of Language Learners

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How to teach vocabulary to ELLs can be one of the biggest concerns for teachers that are new to working with English Language Learners. How do you teach a lesson when some of your students are unfamiliar with the words that you are using. Which words are the most important one in a story?

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Colorin' Colorado: Tips for Vocabulary Building Gr 4-12

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Colorin' Colorado: Tips for Vocabulary Building Gr 4-12

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Introduction

Research shows that vocabulary development is one of the most important skills students need to acquire to become English-proficient. Here are some strategies to help you get started! These strategies are geared towards grades 4-12 but can be adapted for younger students.

Related resources

Vocabulary Strategies for Educators

Teach vocabulary in an explicit, systematic way

Download these tips!

These tips are available as a one-page handout to download and print.

Choose the vocabulary that your students most need to know in order to support their reading development and content area learning. Plan for repeated exposures to ensure mastery. When introducing new vocabulary be sure to provide student-friendly definitions for words important to the task at hand.

Teach vocabulary thematically

Organize vocabulary around a common theme, and choose reading materials that reinforce that vocabulary in context.

Teach vocabulary by focusing on common root words and affixes to expand word knowledge

Learning about roots, prefixes, and suffixes is a great way to reinforce and expand ELLs' understanding of English words. Breaking the words down into smaller pieces makes unfamiliar words more comprehensible.

Capitalize on cognates

Teach students to make the connection between words that are the same or similar in English and in their primary language, also called cognates. This is an easy way to improve both vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Preview, preview, preview!

Before reading, pre-teach essential vocabulary and preview the content. "Walk" through the book or chapter, looking at the pictures and demonstrating how the previewed vocabulary is used in context since vocabulary is learned best through meaningful associations.

Teach and build academic vocabulary

English language learners need continued instruction in academic vocabulary as they encounter new subjects and new ideas at the high school level. Work with colleagues to identify and teach the vocabulary that ELLs need in order to be successful readers and learners in each of their other classes.

Teach vocabulary specific to content

A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. Teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests.

Ensure that your students learn the following dimensions of new words:

The ability to define a word

The ability to recognize when to use that word

Knowledge of its multiple meanings

The ability to decode and spell that word

Content-specific words include words such as 'photosynthesis', 'revolution', 'metaphor', and words with multiple meanings such as 'party', 'mouse', 'table', etc.

Teach signal words and directional words in order to build a student's academic vocabulary

Help ELLs learn how to recognize, understand, and use signal and directional words.

Signal words are sometimes called "transition" words and "signal" relationships between clauses. They include cause and effect words ("therefore" and "because"), comparison and contrast words ("despite" and "while", and time sequence words ("then and "before").

Directional words describe a language function students need to perform, such as "explain", "compare", "inform", "contrast", "persuade," "justify", etc.

Note: In J. Michael O'Malley & Lorraine Valdez Pierce's book, A uthentic Assessment for English Language Learners, the academic and social language functions are laid out in a clear chart.

Differentiate between different kinds of academic vocabulary and usage

Help ELLs understand how to recognize and when to use different kinds of academic vocabulary (content-specific words, signal words, etc.) by making clear and specific distinctions between the different kinds of academic words students need to know for a specific topic.

Teach students how to use context clues to discover word meaning

Show students how to determine more meaning based on the rest of the sentence or surrounding paragraphs.

Give students multiple opportunities to work with vocabulary

This includes connecting vocabulary to personal experience, allowing students to use their primary language to make associations, using cognates, practicing speaking, reading and writing, using artwork to represent words, in addition to techniques such as Total Physical Response (TPR), which allows students to show what they know by acting it out.

Teach students to actively engage with vocabulary as they read

Underlining, highlighting, making notes, and listing unknown vocabulary words are just a few strategies that foster comprehension by helping ELLs actively engage with text.

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Tips for Educators of ELLs: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12

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Research shows that vocabulary development is one of the most important skills students need to acquire to become English-proficient. Here are some strategies to help you get started! These strategies are geared towards grades 4-12 but can be adapted for younger students. These tips are available as a one-page handout to download and print.

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TCAPS EL Accommodations Elementary Level 1 & 2

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TCAPS EL Accommodations Elementary Level, Grades Jr. K-5th

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TCAPS EL Accommodations Elementary Level, Grades Jr. K-5th

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To Translate or Not - That is the Question

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To Translate or Not - That is the Question

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Great resource from Beth Voucher, Inspiring Young Learners

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Translation Guide: What's the Right Balance?

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Translation Guide: What's the Right Balance?

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Supporting Multilingual Learners (MLs) through translation is essential when you're a content teacher who has a newcomer or emergent multilingual student in your class. Having translation resources in place makes content instantly accessible (for those who have primary language literacy). This is a strong step into providing MLs content that is comprehensible. I will forever be a proponent of translation and translanguaging in the classroom! As those students advance in English learning, however, let's consider... While full translation of content into the primary language of MLs is certainly a valuable approach at times, is reliance on it 100% of the time what's best for the students? If not, many teachers then wonder: "What strategies CAN we turn to for making instruction accessible?" If you're supporting multilingual learners and are asking, "What's the right balance between all translation and no translation?", this blog may help you gain some new understandings, and hopefully some helpful next steps.

Multilingual Learners Definition

First, a brief multilingual learners definition, to clarify this terminology, in case you are unfamiliar. Multilingual learners (MLs) are our students who are exposed to, communicate in, and/or are developing fluency in two or more languages.

Although the term English learners may fall under the umbrella of Multilingual Learners, many entities and institutions have adopted the use of ML. This is largely because ML provides a more assets-affirming designation. It recognizes the value of developing communication skills in multiple languages, and celebrates multilingualism in the school setting.

Terminology used in various contexts is flexible, but for this blog I will use the term multilingual learners.

Equity and Student Rights: Getting on the Same Page

We should proceed with a consensus regarding student rights and teacher responsibilities. Supporting multilingual learners is in the interest of every stakeholder, as an increasing percentage of our student populations are MLs. It is the responsibility of every educator to know, understand, and tailor instruction for the MLs they work with. Federal law states that MLs must be given access to the full range of educational activities, as well as instruction for English language development. (See Civil Rights Act of 1964, Lau vs. Nichols case of 1974, and the Dear Colleague Letter of 2015.)

For those providing gen. ed. instruction, this means we must present instruction that our MLs can access and engage in, through scaffolding, accommodations, and yes, translation.

The Translation Temptation

I cannot go without acknowledging that content teachers have a LOT on their plates. Many of my colleagues have the best of intentions and long to do more to support their ML students. Lack of time, training, or collaborative planning leaves them reaching for the closest instructional levers to pull to meet all learners' needs. Often, this means that the most differentiation they can provide is full translation of content. Google Translate gets a good workout, and MLs can work their way through learning activities. The temptation for teachers is to continue in the easy rhythms of translation, resting in the knowledge that the students can potentially access everything. Easy-peasy, right?

But what if continued reliance on translation is actually hampering MLs' progress? Will the ML students' time with a language specialist be sufficient for English development...or might content teachers also wear the hat of "language coach?"

Supporting Multilingual Learners by Nurturing Content and Language Growth

Here's the thing. We know that new language acquisition is best supported in authentic learning environments where peer interaction takes place. We know that when language learning is embedded in a relevant context (i.e. grade-level content), English development accelerates.

Our MLs spend the great majority (if not all) of their school day in the gen. ed. classroom setting.

The clear conclusion we can draw is that there are incredible opportunities before us to invite MLs into language learning alongside content learning. Integrating the two will provide incredibly impactful experiences.

Consider, too, that often the academic language coaching offered in the gen. ed. setting will be supportive of learners in the classroom.

So, if all material is being translated for students, and no effort is given to nurturing their English growth, we are depriving them of countless rich learning opportunities! The goal is to gradually shift from mostly translation to using translation to support instruction which is scaffolded and highlights academic language.

Moving Out of the Shallow End

The shallow end of a swimming pool is so nice. Our feet rest securely on the bottom, and we don't need to exert any effort to keep ourselves above water. We also will never really learn how to swim, though, until we take steps into deeper water. We get more comfortable treading water, floating, then swimming completely on our own.

After getting used to the feel of the "water," our newcomers need language coaches (both ML specialists AND their content teachers) who can intentionally guide them in learning English. If we say, "Oh, they've got their translation..." and let them stay in the shallow end...well you get the picture.

The solution, then, is to utilize translation in a measured, purposeful way, as we present scaffolded material and comprehensible input for students. Approachable, yet rigorous learning activities will both support MLs and propel them forward.

Translation is a great resource to support:

Newcomer understanding where heavy content needs to be understood

Clarification of directions given

Vocabulary growth

Connecting languages by identifying cognates

Communication with students' families

Resources Needed to Make Effective Differentiation for MLs Possible

Now obviously, supporting multilingual learners through scaffolded, comprehensible input is easier said than done. It requires knowledge of the MLs, thoughtful instructional planning, and practice.

Some resources that teachers will need in order to move beyond the 100% translation approach are:

Planning time

Teacher training on how to scaffold instruction

Collaborative structures and teacher partnerships

Knowledge of students

Understanding of English language development

Without these, teachers may find they only have energy to create a translated version of materials and be done with it. Understandably, it can be frustrating to have a sense of what needs to be done, but lack the resources to do it.

If Limited in These Resources, But Wanting to Move Past the Translation Default...

If you find yourself feeling "stuck" due to lack of the above resources, I encourage you to speak to administrators to advocate for your needs. Explain what might be possible with greater time and collaboration. Also, seek out your own professional development as you learn more about how MLs learn a new language, and how you can be that language "coach" for them. Talk to your ML Specialist, or check out the All-Access Instruction course for further learning.

If you're honestly in a place where pushing out translation for your MLs is about all you have energy for...

...First of all, thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing the best you can, with what you have. Keep doing whatever you need to do to help your students access learning. (Yes, even if that means translating everything. We would rather your students be able to understand everything and feel confident, than feel isolated, frustrated and disengaged because they understand nothing.)
And when you DO find some mental space while planning or teaching, you might ask yourself in the moment:

"What juicy English words pertain to this content, and would be really helpful for my MLs to know in the future?"

"What is the essential question, theme, or core objective/skill that I need my MLs to leave this unit with? How can I challenge them to engage with this, even if in a different way than their peers?"

"How can I support the reading of a complex text by summarizing, adding visual or video content, or making my most valuable learning points visible for all students?"

"What are some academic phrases my students might use when they write or talk about ___? Can I explicitly teach and model these?"

"How can I do my regular presentation-based teaching, but add a visual component whenever possible?"

All of these questions can get your brain thinking like a language coach. You don't have to have an ESL certification. And you don't need to do ALL the things perfectly. But language learning opportunities already abound in your classroom , if you're willing to seek them out. 🙂

Other thoughts:

Yes, especially for first-language-literate older students in classes packed with content, it is absolutely helpful to enable full translation, so that instruction and assessment can take place. As this happens, look for opportunities to highlight language in comprehensible ways for your newcomers, so that they're learning both content and language. Actively monitor and taper translation, as it's replaced with scaffolded activities/text. This tapering applies to peer/buddy translators, too.

Personal translation devices:

I'm not a fan. Yes, cool for a short-term trip overseas, but for students, this could really isolate them from the class community and language practice opportunities.

Lessening translation does not mean shutting out languages other than English:

We aim to maintain a classroom culture that is assets-based and linguistically-inclusive. We can do this by opening opportunities for translanguaging, helping our MLs feel comfortable using their home language for learning.

Conclusion

Your teaching context is certainly unique, and only you know your students, your abilities, and your resources. My hope is that you can gather up all this information and determine for yourself what the "right balance" looks like when it comes to translation. Please avoid placing judgment on yourself or your own teaching, and put your energy into learning more about the kind of instruction that works for your students. We are all in process, and you are already headed in the right direction!

Blessings, friend,

More resources you might like:
How to Scaffold for ELLs So They Can Better Comprehend Grade-Level Text Language Acquisition: An Overview - from Colorin Colorado Digital Frayer Model Templates for Building Vocabulary

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Supporting Multilingual Learners with Translation: What's the Right Balance? - The All-Access Classroom

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Translate everything, translate nothing, or....Is there a good balance for supporting multilingual learners? Here are some solutions.

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Teacher Tech Tool for Supporting Students

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Teacher Tech Tool for Supporting Students

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Carol Salva: Boosting Achievement                     The ESL Podcast          

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Carol Salva: Boosting Achievement                     The ESL Podcast          

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Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

Very empowering!

I love listening to this playlist anytime I feel defeated. It gives me so many ideas to try and share with my colleagues.

Teacher

I love this podcast when you get those episodes that offer serious teaching tips and information. Unfortunately, it is sometimes just a looooong commercial for someone trying to sell a book, or a bunch of people fan-girling over one another.

I love this podcast

Brand new to the ELL world (as a literacy tutor) and I am learning SO much from Carol Salva.

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‎Boosting Achievement: The ESL Podcast on Apple Podcasts

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Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

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Helpful 15 Minute Overview of Terms & Strategies!

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Helpful 15 Minute Overview of Terms & Strategies!

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Prezi: 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom

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Prezi: 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom

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Great Start: 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom

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7 Steps...Language Rich Classrooms     By John Seidlitz

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The 7 Steps... 1. Teach students what to say when they don't know what to say 2. Speak in complete sentences 3. Randomize & Rotate calling on students 4. Use total response signals 5. Use visuals and vocabulary strategies that support your objective 6. Participate in structured

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TCAPS EL Accommodations & Modifications Secondary, Grades 6th-12th

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TCAPS EL Accommodations & Modifications Secondary, Grades 6th-12th

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8 Min Video Overview: 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom

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8 Min Video Overview: 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom

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7 Steps to a Language Rich Interactive Classroom: STEP 1

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Parent Communication: Talking Points App

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Parent Communication: Talking Points App

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How to Translate a Document in Google Docs

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What is the Silent Period and Why is it Important?

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What is the Silent Period and Why is it Important?

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Learn why it is typical for newcomer students to go through a silent period where they are soaking in language but not speaking in class, even when they might be talking with friends.

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Thomas Carlyle said, "Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together." Oftentimes English Learners are silent in school and won't talk for an extended period of time. Teachers need to understand that this is a normal part of second language acquisition--it's a concept called the Silent Period. This blog post explains what it is and why it's important for teachers to know about it.

When I was still teaching lower elementary English Language Learners, one of my students was a Chinese-American girl whose native language was Mandarin. She didn't know any English when she started school -- her father told me the family wanted their daughter to maintain her Chinese language skills so they only used Chinese at home. At school, the girl barely spoke the entire day.

That concerned her teacher, who wondered if there might be a special education issue that was the reason for the student's silence. I was asked to observe the child in her pre-school class. What I saw was a little girl who was alert and doing her best to follow along with what was going on. When the teacher called on her for something (so I could see how she reacted), she spoke so softly it was almost impossible to hear what she said.

But I didn't see anything out of the ordinary that indicated a learning disability, just a child who didn't know English who was doing her best to keep up with her class. To get a better sense of things, I chatted with her in Mandarin, which I'd learned when I worked in China, and that reinforced my view that this English Language Learner was just going through the Silent Period. (For information on identifying learning disabilities in English Language Learners, please see my resource Is it an ESL Issue or a Special Ed Issue? )

The Silent Period is a concept developed by Stephen Krashen, a noted linguist who has written prolifically about second language acquisition. All teachers should know about the Silent Period because it's a stage in the process of learning English that all ELLs go through, regardless of age. Simply put, it means that before an ELL starts speaking in English, he or she spends time watching and listening to people use the language. During this time, it might appear that the ELL is just passively sitting in the classroom. In fact, although the student is not orally participating in class or rarely does so, she or he is absorbing the structures and vocabulary of the English language. Learning is definitely occurring! This stage of second language learning is also called the pre-production stage.

The length of time an ELL spends in the Silent Period depends on several characteristics. Personality is one factor; if an ELL is naturally out-going and an extrovert, that student is likely to emerge from the Silent Period more quickly than shy, introverted students. ELLs who come from cultures where active learning and participation is not emphasized, such as some Middle Eastern and Asian cultures, will probably spend more time in the Silent Period. How closely the ELL's native language is related to English also influences the length of time a student spends in the Silent Period; the less closely related, the longer the time will be. Age is also a factor. Younger ELLs tend to spend more time in the Silent Period than older ones. According to the American-Speech-Language-Hearing-Association , "The silent period can be as short as one month or it can stretch to more than six months, but gradually the child will move beyond silence."

Teaching Implications

What are the teaching implications of the Silent Period? First of all, it's imperative that regular ed teachers do not force ELLs to speak in class if they are just beginning to learn English. That is counter-productive; a major reason ELLs go through the Silent Period is because they don't want to make a mistake when speaking English and risk being ridiculed by their classmates. Instead, teachers need to use other ways to involve their pre-emergent ELLs in their classes. Activities that involve movement, such as using commands to do things; letting ELLs draw about topics instead of talking about them; using lots of visuals and realia to explain meaning; working with a partner where the ELL need only speak to one person instead of the whole class, which minimizes embarrassment if errors are made; and letting students use their native language to communicate, will all support the language learning of ELLs in the Silent Period.

When an ELL is ready to speak, that's when the Silent Period for that student will end. At this point, the student will have the confidence to participate orally in class but will still make mistakes when speaking. To encourage continued participation, teachers should not focus on the errors, although a little gentle modeling of correct language may be done so the ELL hears the correct form. Learning English is a process and when an ELL emerges from the Silent Period, she or he is ready to begin the next stage of acquiring the English language.

In the case of my Chinese-American student, she was very quiet in my kindergarten ESL class and rarely spoke above a whisper. I had her again the next year in my 1st grade ESL class and she was much more talkative then. In fact, when she spoke, her grammar was excellent. She was obviously the kind of student who didn't want to speak English until she was able to do so without making major mistakes. At the end of 1st grade, she exited the ESL program -- which was highly unusual since virtually all of my students needed at least a third year of language support -- because she was doing so well. Her time in the Silent Period clearly was beneficial and she was very successful in her classes in the years that followed.

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What is the Silent Period and Why is It Important?

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Find out what the Silent Period is, how it affects English Learners, and what the implications of it are for teachers

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Language Development Plan Template Elementary Level, 23-24

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Language Development Plan Template Elementary Level, 23-24

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One of these is filled out for each student and given to their teacher. It's also filed in their CA-60. It includes WIDA scores, classroom accommodations, and testing accommodations.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Valentina Gonzalez:  Infographics for Supporting ELs

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Valentina Gonzalez:  Infographics for Supporting ELs

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

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Scaffolding for ELs in the Content Classroom

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Scaffolding for ELs in the Content Classroom

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Seidlitz Education:  Supporting ELs in All Areas!

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Seidlitz Education:  Supporting ELs in All Areas!

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by Valentina Gonzalez

I dare to say that working alongside colleagues had and still has the greatest effect on my professional growth and, therefore, my multilingual learners' success.

Continue reading "Collaborating Across Departments to Serve Multilingual Learners"

by Carolyn Bracksieck

Your words matter. The environment you create for your classroom matters. As a language teacher, you have the ability to create an environment that is engulfed in the language and culture from the very first moment of class to the last. Greeting your students every day in the language and teaching them how to respond to instructions in the target language are both important parts of this environment. As an immersive learner myself, it was the constant repetition (input) and the constant opportunity to give output that really helped my proficiency grow. It was repetition that became habitual-especially when the repeated phrases had a usefulness and meaning for me.

Continue reading "Purposeful Phrases in the LOTE Classroom"

by Valentina Gonzalez

The class is approaching a unit on life cycles. Ms. Prasad finds three images of living beings and their life cycles: a butterfly, a chicken, and a plant. She sends the three images home with each student for families to pick one and discuss. Families are asked to talk with their children about the image in the languages they are most comfortable with. They can share facts and vocabulary, and even make up stories about the picture.

When students come to class the following week, Ms. Prasad has all three pictures up on the screen, and students are asked to discuss them with their partners. They talk about the one their families picked and what they learned. Ms. Prasad walks around the room, listening and gathering information about students' prior knowledge before she begins the unit.

Continue reading "Sending Pictures Home: Engaging Families, Building Language, & Helping MLs Learn Content"

by Dr. Mónica Lara

There is something magical about Puebla that keeps me coming back year after year. As I journey home from my fourth time there, I find myself reflecting on the invaluable experience that this city and its teachers bring to my life as an educator. For a little background, the Bueno Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder has hosted the Literacy Squared Conference for the past four times in this picturesque town about 200 miles from Mexico City. The conference is not just informational, but it inspires and teaches me to stay humble and focused on the greater cause: Supporting emergent bilingual students in the United States. I would like to briefly share the highlights that resurface time after time during this week-long event. Indulge me as I describe them the PUEBLA way.

Continue reading "Literacy Squared® Conference: ¡Regresamos a Puebla!"

Steve Davidson's 17 Stories: Students Finding Meaning Through Teaching and Service But don't take our word for it. We wanted you to have a chance to meet Steve Davidson firsthand. So here he is, introducing himself, the service program he created, and the book that we can't wait to share with you later this summer. debuted from Seidlitz Education this summer. This inspirational book highlights the power students have to make a difference-for themselves and for their communities-when they're encouraged to find meaning and passion in service.
17 Stories is a collection of testimonies from Davidson's students about their personal experiences with service and the impact it has had on their lives. As the common denominator behind these students' success, Davidson is clearly an educator to be reckoned with. As John Seidlitz says in the foreword to 17 Stories, "He has the biggest heart for his students I think I've ever seen, and he's a very unorthodox, out-of-the-box thinker."

Continue reading "Meet the Author: 17 Stories"

by Stephen Fleenor

We made it! Another school year has passed, testing season is finally over, and summer is upon us! This time of year often feels like the end of a chapter, with a whole mix of emotions: excitement about the summer (and maybe the next school year), relief from the exhaustion and stress, and perhaps even grief about moving on from these students and this teaching assignment into a whole new year. So when we start to see the conferences, workshops, and professional development offerings on the summer calendar, we naturally have a variety of reactions. For some of us, it's a welcome opportunity to finally reflect on our practice outside of the stress and bustle of the school year. For others, it's merely a requirement of our jobs, and we can imagine many other things we'd rather be doing, as what's happening over the next two months (or even tomorrow) isn't even on our radars.

Regardless of where our heads are at during professional development this summer, there is great potential to have a major impact on the next year (and we may even catch ourselves smiling, too!). Here are three tips for having an enjoyable, productive experience with PD this summer.

Continue reading "Three Tips for Successful Summer Professional Development"

by Elise White Diaz

Research shows that when students involve themselves in extracurricular activities, their academic performance soars (Hollan, 1987). Fowler Middle School in Plano, Texas, exemplifies this. The school is known locally for its high STAAR scores and high-performing population. So much so that families move into its zoned neighborhoods just so their children can attend this remarkable school. Yet despite its success, when the school's Special Populations committee convened and looked at the data, they discovered that not all subgroups of the student population were well represented in extracurricular activities- emergent bilinguals in particular -and that most of the clubs offered catered to already high-performing students. With these findings in mind, Fowler Middle School launched the Language Exchange Club.

Continue reading "Language Exchange Club: Providing Emergent Bilingual Students with Opportunities to Participate in Extracurricular Activities"

by Natalia Heckman

If you are an ESL teacher, you have probably heard about Stephen Krashen. If you are an administrator, you have probably heard about John Hattie. If you have ever attended a campus accountability meeting, you must be familiar with the phenomenon of language stagnation. So what do Krashen, Hattie, and language stagnation have in common? They are connected through the principle of MINIMAX (maximum return on minimum investment).

Continue reading "Minimax Principle and Secondary Long-Term English Learners"

by Marcy Voss

I noticed that Diego was the first student in the eighth-grade math class to finish the assignment. He was a quiet and respectful student who did not volunteer to speak in class because he had difficulty pronouncing academic math terms like "slope" and "y-intercept." However, Diego willingly helped the student paired with him to correct mistakes and complete the math problems. As he was one of "my students" in my job as an English Learner Coach, I was to support Diego during class instruction to help him gain language proficiency and achieve academic success. Diego was in his first full year in US schools, having arrived at the end of the previous school year. I was told he was educated in his home country and had aspirations of becoming an engineer. This alerted me to the fact that he was motivated to learn.

Continue reading "Who Are Gifted Multilingual Learners and How Do We Support Them?"

by Diane Kue

Mathematics has existed in every civilization throughout history. Its worldwide presence is why so many people claim it as a universal language. Further perpetuation of the claim is present in the classroom. A classroom full of students who may or may not all speak the same language can successfully and individually solve the same problem. After all, doesn't 1 + 1 = 2 everywhere, no matter the language, country, or culture if the symbolic representation shows that one whole, joined with another one whole, makes two wholes?

However, the idea that math is a universal language because the answer to a problem is always the same no matter what language is spoken can be misleading. This notion focuses on the answer; it does not acknowledge that the processes to solve for the answer-or even the perspectives on the processes-can vary. When we focus on the processes to solve, we can discover and unveil various perceptions on or ways to look at problem solving. We find the whys behind the hows of problem solving.

Continue reading "The Role of Perspective in the Math Classroom"

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Quick Tips Sheets for Busy Teachers!

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All educators are teachers of language, but not every educator has time to learn the strategies to teach language. That's the purpose of Bathroom Briefs (BB). Each Monday, I physically post a new BB in the faculty bathroom. They offer a quick, easily accessible strategy that can be used cross-content.

You are free to use these, modify them, translate them as needed. Please just reference that you got them from the site. I'd love to see them and share them on Twitter, so please tag me (@TanKHuynh) in your tweets when you tape them up in your schools or when you create your own.

In the December 2019/January 2020 issue of ASCD's Education Leadership, Bathroom Briefs was featured as something newsworthy for teachers.

I've created classroom-ready posters for these academic command terms for you to post in your classroom. I hope they support your ELs in all classes, not just their English.

Bathroom Brief # 6 to 8 will be sharing sentence stems with you. I have found it an indispensable tool to scaffold EL's production of ideas. However, the legendary Jana Echevarría strongly encourages that we differentiate the sentence stems. She recommended that they not be too basic for the more advanced students nor be too complex for the developing ELs. If we have a group of five ELs, there might be three different sentence stems to support ELs to share their thinking.

Here's an article she wrote on the topic called " Are Language Frames Good for Learners?" When Jana recommends something, I listen because she is one of the creators of the sheltered immersion (SIOP) approach.

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Bathroom Briefs | ELL Strategies | Empowering ELLs

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ELL Bathroom Briefs are one page infographs offering quick, easily accessible ELL strategies that can be used across cross-content areas.

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Tried and True Ideas for Supporting English Learners

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Tried and True Ideas for Supporting English Learners

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A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners

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A very comprehensive guide to working with ELs!

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Quick grade level guides for each proficiency level (1-6). Helpful for teachers to know entry points for working with their ELs.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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4 Essential Encouraging Statements for ELs

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4 Essential Encouraging Statements for ELs

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Equipping ELLs Podcast (AKA Inspiring Young Learners)

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Equipping ELLs Podcast (AKA Inspiring Young Learners)

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All about supporting ELs wherever they are at with their English proficiency.

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We all know that teaching isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be this hard. Equipping ELLs is a podcast for both ESL specialists and homeroom teachers who are looking for effective and engaging ways to support their English Language Learners without adding to their endless to-do list.

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The person that I was before I started listening to podcasts pales in comparison to the person I am today. I have laughed, cried, changed my mind, picked up new habits, adopted new behaviors, started businesses, learned to forgive, and stopped to catch my breath - all while listening to podcasts.

I want you to have the same life-altering experience! This podcast will give you greater access to the content of my blog in a convenient, travel-friendly way.

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This is a podcast for teachers passionate about language learners. I interview leading academic, sought-after consultants, and inspiring teachers like you.