Educator Insights
-Many students arrive to Canada with limited to no literacy and numeracy skills in their native language
-Issues of "discrimination, culture shock, isolation, identity issues
and socio-economic constraints"   (Strkalova &
Hoot, 2008), as well as the emotional impact of these experiences, can further complicate language acquisition.
Practical Strategies
-Consider ELL age, strengths, interests and goals when developing ELD student timetables
-To support ELL engagement, encourage courses that promote high student participation (ie. music, physical education, int. languages)
-Support the creation of visual  'identity texts' (Cumins and Early 2011)
-Brainstorm vocabulary
-Have students make personal connections to texts (for teacher and student benefit)
-Encourage oral storytelling, and then process the story in a written form
Use the story as a literary text (for word work and reading comprehension)
Questions to Ask
-What in the curriculum is critical for the student to understand, know and be able to do?
• Based on the STEP ELD Reading, Writing and Oral continua, what are the student’s essential language and literacy learning needs?
• What opportunities need to be provided to support the student’s language and literacy acquisition?
• What types of interaction will engage the student throughout the lesson/unit?
• What social skills will the student need to support his or her learning?
Questions After Reading
-What strategies can I employ to build an empathetic learning environment for all of my students, and particularly my ELL students? 
-How can better I use the STEP tools to support students with limited prior learning (and traumatic experiences) to create a healthy classroom environment?
-How can I encourage individual progress, in the context of such differentiated needs, while moving the entire class along a generalized continuum?