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Ms Lo

We tailor our scaffolding based on their current skill level. We always break down tasks and divide complex tasks into smaller,manageable steps. We use great resources such as widgit to help our visual learners.

What I do in my classroom currently:

-Backwards planning for units

-I do, we do, you do (modeled, guided, independent work)

-Access prior knowledge then build on it

(Pre-assessment, instruction, post-assessment)

Some ways I’ve used the past few years are vocabulary charts, co-teacher support to discuss topics and questions in the home language, tying back to previously taught concepts to develop deeper understanding.

I break art skills down into simple steps so that they can be practiced by any learner, and order projects such that the skills build upon each other in a natural way. The skills are demonstrated in multiple ways and students are given a range of options for support.

Additionally, scaffolding can also involve revisiting learning at intervals within the curriculum to cement student learning overtime.

• Breaking down how to do something into manageable steps

• Something that can be increased/ decreased over time

• Not just for those that need help to access the learning taking place. It can be used to extend and help to show what’s possible

• They can really help if the teacher made them, or at least is very familiar with the underlying structure

• Can potentially be limiting if overused

• Best ones can start off simpler and get a bit trickier - in a sequential way

In my lessons, I clearly explain each step students should do and have a visual reminder on the board. I also model a good example of the outcome I expect from students and go over which step in the process they are stuck on and how to get to the next step if students have difficulty.

Some ways I scaffold as an EAL teacher:

-Translanguaging partners, seating arrangements, proximity seating to teachers/visuals/resources, I do/we do/you do, explicit and structured instruction, intentional and clear routines and rituals, hand actions, speaking slowly and clearly, readers theatre, songs, giving time to translangauge and think before responding, sentence starters, push-in for high-level English environments, pull-outs when needed to develop foundational skills needed to access curriculum, adjusted scaffolded writing paper, colorful semantics, focusing on joy/play/future usefulness as necessary engagement etc.

Some examples of scaffolding in Art lessons:

• Live Demonstrations – Showing techniques (e.g., brush strokes, colour mixing) step-by-step.

• Visual Aids – Using examples of art works and art vocabulary/ terms posters to inspire and guide.

• Simplified Materials – Providing tools like stencils, templates, or pre-cut clay pieces for younger children.

• Open-Ended Challenges – Allowing choices (e.g., "Pick your favourite animal to draw") to foster creativity within structure.

In a PE context this may look like providing different levels of challenge in gymnastic routines / movements, ability groups in sports / activities, or different amounts of instructional time / independence.

How I currently incorporate scaffolds:

- Visual supports

Picture cards, anchor charts, and graphic organizers help students organize their thinking

- Modeling and think-alouds

I demonstrate the learning process step-by-step, showing students how I approach problems

- Chunking information

Breaking complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps

- Peer partnerships - Pairing stronger students with those who need more support

- Question prompts - Using sentence starters like "I think..." or "First, I will..." to guide their responses

- Gradual release - Starting with "I do, we do, you do" - moving from full teacher support to independent practice

The key is knowing when to provide support and when to step back, always aiming to build my students' confidence and independence as learners.

We find these strategies collectively enhance the learning experience for multilingual students.

From the "Instructional Practices" category, "Practicing academic language with non-academic topics" was particularly enlightening. This approach is brilliant because it removes the cognitive burden of learning new content while students focus on mastering complex language structures. For example, students could practice comparison language ("In contrast to..." or "Similarly...") by comparing familiar topics like video games or sports teams, rather than struggling with both new scientific concepts AND new academic language simultaneously.

My name is ….

I like to …..

I see …..

I feel….

This scaffold recognises that language acquisition and content learning are separate cognitive processes that can be strategically separated to support student success.

 Incorporating Translanguaging This Week

Show and Tell

"Show and Tell in Any Language" - Allow children to share weekend experiences or favourite objects using their home language first, then encourage them to teach one key word to classmates in English. This validates their linguistic heritage whilst building English vocabulary naturally.

Multilingual Labels

Create multilingual classroom labels where children contribute words for common objects (chair/silla/chaise) in their home languages

Turn-and-Talk

One immediate way to incorporate translanguaging would be to implement "Think-Pair-Share in Home Language First/ Turn-and-Talk"  during complex problem-solving activities.

- When introducing a challenging concept, give students 2-3 minutes to discuss their initial thoughts with a partner in their home language – turn-and-talk.

- Then have them transition to English to share their refined ideas with the larger group

- This allows students to access their full linguistic repertoire to process complex ideas before navigating the additional challenge of English expression

This small change honors students' complete language resources while building confidence for English academic discourse.

Simplifying vs. Reducing Linguistic Load

Simplifying the Task (Avoid):

- Having multilingual learners only identify colours while others describe patterns

-Asking ML to count to 5 while others solve simple addition problems

-Having ML trace letters while others write complete words

Have same learning objective

Reducing Linguistic Load (Prioritise):

Story comprehension: All children retell the same story, but multilingual learners use picture cards and simple sentence frames like "The bear was ___"

Math problem solving: All solve the same addition story problems, but multilingual learners use manipulatives, visual supports, and can initially respond by showing with their fingers before verbalising

Science exploration: All students observe plant growth, but multilingual learners can draw their observations first, then use sentence stems like "I see ___" or "The plant is___

Scaffolding Assess: This is critical. Don't assume they don't understand the science concept just because they can't write a paragraph about it.

Visuals: The use of interactive modeling where we physically demonstrate a task step-by-step tasks is something we try to practice but is underrated. So powerful.

I think remembering that scaffolding should be done at the right time to bridge gaps between their current knowledge/ability and the end goal is essential. We should not scaffold to the detriment of the child.

One small way I could use translanguaging this week is by letting students share ideas in their home language before moving into English. This feels especially important as I’ll be working more with Year 2 and Year 3 this year, where younger learners may need that extra support to express themselves and build confidence.

I also want to be mindful of how easy it is to simplify tasks rather than reduce the language demands. Simplifying often lowers the challenge, while reducing language demands keeps the task the same but makes the English more manageable, for example with glossaries, visuals, or sentence starters.

Discuss the difference between "simplifying the task" (which we want to avoid) and "reducing the linguistic load" to access the same complex task (which we want to prioritize). Share examples.

Simplifying the task means you give an easier assignment. For example, instead of writing about how bees help flowers, a student might just color a picture of a bee. This lowering the learning goal.

Reducing the linguistic load means you keep the hard assignment but help with the language. For example, the student still has to explain how bees help flowers, but you give them a word bank, pictures, and sentence starters like "Bees help by ______." This keeping the learning goal high.

Lo

These strategies collectively enhance the learning experience for multilingual students.

For assessments, we can potentially pair students with low and high English capabilities together for group work. Their differences will compliment each other well, enabling them both to improve in their English proficiency.

Having vocabularies listed in the form of a bilingual pair also ensures that students who are in lower proficiency of English understands exactly what they are being assessed.

In addition, pictures and gifs would greatly enhance the engagement of students as well, making sure that they fully understand what is being assessed.

Question 1

Key takeaways that will impact our approach to working with multilingual learners include the understanding that scaffolding is a temporary support that should be gradually removed to foster student independence. We will utilise a mix of materials, practices, and groupings to accommodate diverse learning needs, ensuring that scaffolds are tailored to each student’s English proficiency and the complexity of the tasks at hand. Additionally, we will scaffold assessments to fairly measure students' content knowledge rather than just their language skills. Collaboration with colleagues will be essential for planning and applying scaffolds consistently across classrooms, and we will prioritise reflecting on the effectiveness of these scaffolds regularly, adjusting them based on student feedback.

Question 2

We talked about implementing peer collaboration as a scaffold, where students work in pairs to discuss concepts. In our upcoming Inquiry unit we will pair students strategically to encourage them to share their understanding and support each other’s learning. We are also discussing how we can use sentence more effectively in out unit plans.

Question3

To ensure consistency in scaffolding across subject areas, we hope to create a "word and strategy bank" that can be developed throughout the year. This resource will compile key vocabulary and effective learning strategies from each subject area, providing students with cohesive support as they engage with different disciplines.

One small way to scaffold more translanguaging in the classroom is to encourage students to use their home languages during group discussions or when brainstorming ideas. For example, you could invite students to talk about a new topic first in their home language with a partner, and then share their ideas in English with the class. You might also display key vocabulary words in multiple languages around the classroom, or allow students to label diagrams and write notes using both English and their home language. These strategies help students feel more confident and included, and make it easier for them to understand and express complex ideas while still engaging with rigorous content. We also discussed the idea of cross class integration of students who have the same first language. This would these students to discuss new learning concepts in their home language.  

“Simplifying the task" means making the work itself easier, like giving a simpler math problem or fewer steps in a science experiment. This can stop students from working on challenging and interesting ideas. "Reducing the linguistic load" means keeping the work just as hard, but helping students with the language. For example, instead of making a math problem easier, a teacher could give students a list of important words, pictures, or sentence starters. This way, all students can work on the same tough content, but language is less of a problem.

1. Key takeaways

We felt that effective scaffolding starts with questioning and interactive structures. Here are some things we already use or would like to use in our classrooms:

• Use prediction questions before reading: What do you think will happen next?

• Encourage Think–Pair–Share so students can use language with friends before sharing with the class

• Offer sentence stems

• Use  barrier games, word sorts.

• Create visual prompts (pictures, diagrams, maps) to support comprehension.

• Use scaffolded writing strategies like cloze sentences, word banks, and structured frames.

We think these scaffolding strategies are useful in Year 2 because they provide the essential temporary support that builds confidence, reduces cognitive load, and guides students toward independent mastery of reading, writing, and thinking skills.

2. Scaffold we would like to try:

Sentence Stems:

In maths, while comparing vehicles or taking a class survey on favourite transport, you could give them starters like: “Most of us like ______ because…” or “______ is longer than ______.”

During your inquiry time, whether you’re testing toy cars on ramps or talking about pollution, try stems like: “I think boats float because…” or “If I designed a new vehicle, it would have…”

And in literacy, whether it’s discussing a book about trains or writing their own story, sentence starters like “The problem in the story was…” or “First, the rocket…” can really help structure their thoughts.

3. Collaboration at YCIS

One step we can take:

• Make a shared Language & Visuals Wall for each unit (e.g. Transport, Habitats).

• All subject teachers (English, Maths, Inquiry) contribute to the wall by adding:

  • Key visuals

  • Tier 1-3 vocabulary

  • Sentence stems

• Students can use the same visuals in every class.

2. Scaffold to try:

   • Home language materials

   • Interactive modeling

   • Sentence and paragraph frames

   For writing groups, we can model for children how we utilize translanguaging (exchanging native language for target language) when we do shared writing.

   
   

   Thereafter, sentence and paragraph frames can be used for children to practice first at a sentence level, then paragraphs as they get more adept at the writing process.

   
   

   Finally, home language materials can be target focus so we engage parents as partners in the writing/learning process.

   
   

3. YCIS collaboration

   Scaffolding is most effective when it goes hand in hand with children's zone of proximal development.

   
   

   As a school, we can continue to do what we are already doing - building an intricate connection across children's learning content (e.g., Inquiry is tied in with Literacy Writing and Reading) so vocabulary and concepts learned are repeated.

   
   

   Planning can include different stakeholders (e.g., EAL, homeroom teachers, LS) so all students are catered for. Curriculum content developers can also possibly revisit the speed of the curriculum, to consider giving children more time for individual units to encourage practice and mastery.

We found it interesting that the article mentioned the removal of scaffolds at some point after students have mastered the lesson objective(s) because it seemed counter-intuitive.

Suggested Scaffolds:

Instructional materials - Word Wall of Art Vocabulary, complete with visual examples.

YCIS Collaboration:

First step we could take is to maybe collaborate with the EAL team to discuss about how scaffolding of art-specific assessments should look like for multilingual students.

2. Scaffold we want to try and how we will implement it
Looking at the “Suggested Scaffolds at Each Proficiency Level” table, we want to try using intentional grouping of students with varying abilities. In an upcoming lesson, we plan to pair students strategically so that peers can support one another while practicing new vocabulary and concepts. We will also provide word banks and sentence/paragraph frames to guide their discussions, and co-teach when possible to monitor understanding and engagement.

3. Collaborating to scaffold instruction and assessment across content areas
To support consistent scaffolding across YCIS, we propose integrating Widget into specialist subjects. Since Widget is already being used in some year levels, embedding it into other content areas will provide consistent formats for vocabulary, key concepts, and assessment scaffolds. This will help students see familiar supports across different lessons, build understanding more effectively, and give teachers a shared tool for collaboration.

One aspect that is challenging for specialists is developing a deep knowledge of every ML giveen the number of students and the limited amount of time we have with them each week. One way we can overcome this is to communicate more with the Year groups to share information including Literacy / reading levels. This can affect how we deliver our own assessments and ensure we are clearly assessing their knowledge of our subject. If they cannot read well, we can adjust their groupings.

2.        We can share our Learning Objectives and Key Questions in multiple languages. This can be through visual translations as well as having the students break into language groups to discuss. Ipads can be used to translate to allow students to understand and discuss these concepts in more details.

3.       When using Quizzes, have the questions translated into multiple languages (English / Chinese), use pictures and videos to increase understanding.

In carousel activities, have instructions available in the students’ language and have diagrams / pictures of the task.

2. A simple effective way to incorporate translanguaging is by intentionally inviting students' home languages when we introduce our new vocabulary word. For example, if the word is "community," you could  invite students who know the word in another language to share it. We would then label a simple drawing with the word in all the languages spoken by the students, such as Korean (지역사회 - jiyeok sahoe), and Chinese (社区 - shèqū), celebrating the linguistic assets in the classroom. This practice validates their home languages as a valuable resource, builds community, and creates a multilingual word bank that all students can learn from and be proud of.

3. Simplifying the task means we make the thinking easier, which can prevent students from learning what they need to. Reducing the linguistic load means we keep the hard thinking but make the English needed to do it much simpler.For example, if our complex task is to sequence the life cycle of a butterfly:

Simplifying the Task: Giving students a worksheet with the pictures already in order and just asking them to color it in. This removes the cognitive work of analyzing and sequencing.

Reducing the Linguistic Load: The complex task; sequencing—remains the goal. Provide the same four pictures but reduce the language barrier by:

-Using physically manipulable cards they can move around before gluing.

-Pre-teaching the key vocabulary (first, next, then, last; egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly) with gestures and picture cards.

-Providing a sentence frame for them to explain their sequence: “First is the ___. Next is the ___.” This allows them to demonstrate their understanding of the science concept without being halted by the inability to formulate the sentence from scratch. We keep the learning goal high, but we give every child the language tools they need to reach it.