This blog post will tackle the sixth guiding principle in working with Multilingual Learners (MLs). This content has been adapted for this blog from the WIDA ELD Standards Framework.
This guiding principle is all about integrating and embedding language throughout the curriculum. This can feel overwhelming when you’re prepping math games, small groups for phonics instruction, planning conferences, and organizing and reorganizing science kit materials (seriously, do those boxes ever close fully without using brute force?).
Incorporating language development into your classroom is easier than you think. I think many teachers have some of these practices in place already! The strategies that will give you the most impact for your time are coined by Be GLAD and are called the 7 Hip Pocket Tools. Below, you will find some “hot tips” for implementing in your classroom. If you’re already doing these strategies, these tips will polish an already great practice.
10/2 Discussions – like a turn and talk this time allows students to discuss newly taught material. Provide instruction for no more than 10 minutes and then allow students to verbally process. Hot Tip: group your ML students in triads with your native English speakers so that they have a language model.
“Say it with me” and “Read it with me” – having students repeat the language that is new or challenging increases their engagement in the content and provides opportunities to learn tricky pronunciation. This will also lower the affective filter in your classroom, making it a brave space for trying new things. Hot Tip: have multilingual students teach their classmates this word in their home language and use the “say it with me” and “read it with me” tools, too!
Total Physical Response (TPR)—this is as simple as adding a gesture to provide a visual representation with key vocabulary and academic language. Brain science tells us that incorporating gestures helps our brains make new neuropathways. Hot Tip: Pair TPR with the “say it/read it with me” tool. This also honors different forms of intelligence.
Prove It! – When students share a response, we want to ask them to tell us the process of how they got there. Instead of asking recall questions, we have now increased the knowledge level of the question and created a focus on the process of learning as well as metacognition. Hot Tip: If you are using GLAD strategies in your classrooms, students can “prove it!” by citing one of your GLAD resources.
Paraphrase – this is a great skill for students to have and promotes listening actively and patiently. Students can paraphrase each other, apart from a book, or even teacher-directed instruction. Hot Tip: create sentence frames for your students to reference as they learn the important skill of paraphrasing.
Sketch or Visual – along the same idea of TPR, the more modalities we can present new content with, the more likely students are to remember and comprehend new material. This also honors different forms of intelligence. Hot Tip: if you’re self-conscious of your sketches (like me!) teach your kids that you are making a “mathematician drawing” or a “journalist drawing” instead of an “artist drawing.” This lowers the affective filter and shows that perfect isn’t the best.
Color and Shape Coding – this is a great way to organize and connect ideas into categories or show relationships. This is another way to make learning multimodal and honors different forms of intelligence. Hot Tip: watch this video of a teacher teaching about parts of speech using color and shape coding (start at 2:00).
"Multilingual learners use and develop language through activities which intentionally integrate multiple modalities including oral, written, visual, and kinesthetic modes of communication" (WIDA 2020).
Photo and Content Credit To Choi & Ye 2015, Jewitt 2008, van Lier 2006, Zwiers & Crawford 2011
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