Language acquisition and language development are two similar yet slightly different aspects of teaching multilingual learners. Both are important and needed in instruction. Let's explore the differences and similarities.​

Language acquisition is the natural process of learning a language. Generally speaking, each of us acquired a language at least once in our lives. And though we might not remember it because we were young when we acquired our first language, it was the process by which we naturally gathered words through authentic listening and speaking and eventually through reading and writing as well. We didn't even notice we were learning a language.

Language development is the intentional steps we take to make linguistic progress. And usually it's not the learner that does this. Usually, language development is achieved through an instructor who knows the students' language proficiency level, their linguistic resources, and what it takes to move students forward in the language process.

There are many ways we can help students develop a new language, and peer interaction is one of them. Ensuring that students have a lot of time and opportunities to discuss with their classmates in various structures: peer-to-peer, group interactions with peers who speak the same language, and peers who speak different languages too. These are opportunities for students to practice speaking a language and also hearing the language from their classmates.

One way to think about acquisition and development is to imagine that a friend gave you a plant. Youacquired the plant. That's acquisition. But development is when you take that plant, and you intentionally water it, and you give it a place where it will have an optimal amount of sunlight, and you give that plant care so it can grow. Each plant is going to need a different amount of sunlight, care, and water in order to develop and grow. Our students are very similar in that aspectof language development. They are goingto need different steps for that linguistic growth, sometimes requiring differing scaffolds and levels of support. 
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Taken all together, language acquisition and language development are both necessary aspects for multilingual learners.

For Language Specialists who deliver professional learning on their campus or school district, this 3-minute video is offered as a tool to engage educators in this topic. 

TELPAS stands for the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System. It is aligned with the ELPS (English Language Proficiency Standards), and its purpose is to measure the annual growth in English language proficiency of emergent bilingual students. Research indicates that it can take emergent bilingual students approximately five to seven years to demonstrate full academic language proficiency; therefore, the key focus is steady growth over time. The four language domains assessed are:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

TELPAS is administered by trained and certified educators. Unlike STAAR, TELPAS measures language proficiency rather than content mastery. However, students are still required to meet English reading standards on STAAR as part of the overall accountability system.

📊TELPAS vs. STAARTELPAS:  Measures English language development
STAAR: Measures academic content knowledge

TELPAS Results
TELPAS scores help teachers and students identify areas of growth. Educators use this data to create action plans, adjust instruction, and intentionally meet students’ linguistic needs. Caregivers can also support children at home by focusing on specific language domains. This may include having intentional conversations, asking questions, celebrating growth, and partnering with educators to reinforce language development beyond the school setting. The goal for students is to demonstrate growth each year. While this benchmark is important, TELPAS scores do not define a student’s intelligence or academic potential.

🔍Many Parents Wonder:
My child speaks English.  Why do they still take TELPAS? Is it because they are bilingual? Many parents believe that the reason their child must take TELPAS is that they are bilingual.TELPAS is not about whether a student can speak English socially.  It measures how well students use academic English.

TELPAS can be confusing for parents, students, and new teachers because of the variety of formats and domains in which students are assessed. This assessment is not a single event; rather, it is a process that continues until the student reclassifies by meeting the requirements that demonstrate English proficiency.

Where It All Begins: The Home Language Survey (HLS)Upon enrolling in a Texas public school, families are required to complete a variety of documents. Within that documentation is the Home Language Survey (HLS), which is where the TELPAS journey begins, if students qualify for a language program.

What is the HLS?
The Home Language Survey is a required survey that all students enrolling in Texas public schools must complete. It is composed of three questions:

1. Which languages are used at home?
2. Which languages are used by the child at home?
3. If the child has a previous home setting, which languages were used? If there was no previous home setting, parents should answer Not Applicable (N/A).

The Home Language Survey is important because it helps schools identify the language(s) spoken in the home. This form sometimes raises parent concerns due to the misconception that selecting a language other than English means the student does not speak English well or that it will negatively impact the student academically. However, the opposite is true. The HLS exists to support students in their language acquisition by ensuring schools provide the most appropriate program to support them throughout their academic journey.

Identification of Emergent Bilingual Students
Once the Home Language Survey is completed and a language other than English is identified, the student is assessed using a state-approved oral language proficiency assessment, such as Pre-LAS or LAS Links. The assessment used depends on the student’s grade level:

• ECC/PK/K students are assessed using Pre-LAS Links
• Students in grades 1–12 are assessed using LAS Links

These assessments measure the student’s ability to listen, speak, read, and write in English, using grade-appropriate expectations. Spanish-speaking students are also assessed in Spanish to identify proficiency.

Upon completion of the assessment, the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC)—composed of an ESL or bilingual educator, an administrator, and a parent representative—makes a collaborative decision based on the student’s language proficiency data. The LPAC recommends the most appropriate program, such as ESL, bilingual, or dual language. However, collaboration between parents and schools is essential, as parents ultimately decide whether their child participates in the recommended program.

🤝Did you know? 
Parents are a required part of the LPAC process.  Schools cannot place a student into a language program without parent approval.

Instructional Support
Families often ask what services or benefits students receive once they are enrolled in a language program. Students receive instruction from certified teachers who are trained to support English language acquisition while students simultaneously learn academic content.
Some common instructional accommodations include:

• Pre-teaching vocabulary
• Sentence stems
• Chunking reading passages and assignments to support deeper understanding
• Use of dictionaries

Students may also receive linguistic accommodations daily and during assessments, as long as those accommodations are used routinely and effectively in the classroom.
Reclassification: ExitingContinuous English language growth may eventually lead students to meet the criteria for reclassification, also known as exiting their Emergent Bilingual (EB) status. In Texas, reclassification decisions are based on multiple data points. Current (2025-2026) reclassification includes: 

• In grades 1–2, students must earn a TELPAS composite score of Advanced High and score at or above the 40th percentile on the IOWA, Form F in reading and language, as outlined by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
• For grades 3–8, the LPAC reviews TELPAS scores, ensuring a composite score of Advanced High is achieved, and confirms that the student meets Approaches Grade Level or higher on the STAAR reading assessment.
• High school students in grades 11–12 must also meet the IOWA, Form F requirement with a percentile rank of 40 or higher in reading and written expression.

In addition, a Subjective Teacher Evaluation is completed by each of the student’s teachers to help determine readiness for reclassification. Reviewing the whole child is critical, as exiting too early may remove support students still need to access academic language. Once a student exits, campuses and districts monitor progress for two years to ensure continued success and provide intervention if necessary. Every student is different and learns at a different rate; therefore, strong home and school collaboration is essential to continued growth.

❤️Whole Child Approach
Every EB develops at their own pace.  

It is important to note that Texas is undergoing changes to the English Language Proficiency Standards, which will impact TELPAS. The new ELPS were adopted and will be implemented in the 2026-2027 school year. 

References

Texas Education Agency. (2024). Emergent bilingual students' reclassification criteria. Texas Education Agency.
Texas Education Agency. (2024). Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). Texas Education Agency.
Texas Education Agency. (2024). LPAC framework and guidance. Texas Education Agency.

In the context of working with multilingual learners, educators can work together towards a common overarching goal of serving and supporting them. Through COLLABORATION, educators come together to devise a vision for success, intentional plans, and daily actions for reinforcement. Together, collaborators share in the successes and challenges along the way.

The main element that collaborators have in common is the student(s). Therefore, collaboration happens across departments to serve MLs. Educators understand that the responsibility to educate MLs is shared. Acquiring language and learning content do not occur in isolation. Language is a vehicle for learning all things, including math, science, social studies, etc. 

A common misconception is that collaboration must happen in the same physical space. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn’t. It can happen over emails or on digital lesson planning. One language specialist explained how she met with grade-level teams for long-range planning at the onset of each grading period to look ahead at the units of study and offer linguistic supports. This opportunity also gave her a chance to prepare resources for MLs. In the following weeks, she continued to collaborate with teachers via the school’s online lesson planning system. 

The collaboration between a language specialist and a mainstream teacher is the most common; however, collaboration among multiple stakeholders can have a greater impact on multilingual learners. 

Collaboration Partnerships 

• Language specialists and mainstream teachers
• Language specialists and special education teachers
• Language specialists and GT teachers
• Language specialists and art teachers
• Language specialists and music teachers
• Language specialists and P. E. teachers
• Language specialists and librarians
• Language specialists and counselors
• Language specialists and instructional coaches
• Language specialists and administrators
• Language specialists and families
• Language specialists and front office staff
• Language specialists and nurses
• Language specialists and cafeteria staff
• Language specialists and bus drivers

Collaboration takes many forms and is not only co-teaching. 
There are many ways to collaborate in the interest of multilingual learners. 

• Coaching: Instructional coaching offers a potent method to enhance teacher capability in assisting multilingual learners. Educators with specialized training in language acquisition can collaborate directly with general education teachers during instructional planning. The guidance provided by coaches enriches a teacher's instructional toolkit.

 

• Mentoring: Teachers who collaborate and support each other gain numerous advantages. Experienced mentor teachers can act as a guide for newer educators, much like a GPS. They can provide answers to questions, suggest solutions, and help their partners navigate challenges, offering insights from someone who has already been on a similar path.

 

• Planning: Collaborative planning between grade-level teachers and language specialists (or ESL teachers) ensures that both content and language objectives are addressed. This approach increases lesson accessibility for a wider variety of learners and enhances teacher capabilities.

 

• Sharing: Collaborating effectively often involves sharing successful ideas and strategies with colleagues. Building a culture of open communication and sharing within a team can encourage others to reciprocate, increasing the collective benefit of shared knowledge. 

Collaboration for multilingual learners is like a boat we row together. It works best when we are rowing in synchronization with a shared direction. 

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If you know me, you know I have been a longtime user and advocate for the Picture Word Inductive Model. This instructional method was first introduced by Emily Calhoun and has since been modified and adapted by educators around the world. 

I am sharing a One Page, Step-by-Step description of the technique. This method is excellent for multilingual learners but benefits every student who is learning about a new topic. 

If you are a classroom teacher, take it and run with it. 

If you are an instructional coach or lead teachers, use this as a technique to model or share in staff learning opportunities. 

Enjoy. 

Since today is 12-23-24, I though it would be appropriate to republish this popular post on 23 Things educators can do now to support MLs. It was first published two years ago and is one of the most read articles. 

​​1. Showcase ALL Students and Their Work. Displaying pictures of students and their families on the walls helps each learner to feel seen and validated in the learning space. This creates a sense of belonging and builds community among the class. Hanging student work on the walls, such as writing and art, can also send clear messages to learners that the classroom is for learners and learning.  
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2. Know, Pronounce, & Use their Names. That’s right. Validating a student’s identity with their given name is important. Avoid making an “American” name for a child. If you aren’t sure how to pronounce a name, ask, repeatedly if needed. Some teachers have students record how they prefer to be called on Flipgrid. This allows the teacher and classmates to replay the video/sound at their leisure as many times as necessary.
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3. Engage Students in Structured Talk. Structuring talk among classmates offers emergent bilinguals the chance to discuss with peers in a routine that focuses on academic language. A Structured conversation (like QSSSA) lightens the cognitive load so students need not worry about who their partner will be, who talks first, or how to begin the conversation. Their energy is placed directly on the content. 
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4. Provide Access to Grade Level Curriculum. When Emergent bilinguals have access to grade-level curriculum with linguistic accommodations and scaffolds they are less likely to fall behind academically. It’s important to remember that acquiring a language is not a deficit, but rather that a first language is an asset that can be used as leverage. 
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5. Embrace and Love Them. Kids that think their teachers love them and feel they are loved for who they are, achieve more. Even if a child can’t speak English yet, they can still think and feel. A smile goes a long way. 
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6. Give Daily Writing Opportunities. No matter the subject area you teach, have students write. Writing does not need to be a lengthy process nor must it be a ticket out (though it can be). Writing can include predictions, thoughts, reflections, comparisons, justifications, etc. Writing can also include modeling by you, sentence stems, primary language, and drawing as needed by students.  ​

7. Value ALL Language and Literacy. Many teachers will say that they value languages and literacy but how can we quantify that belief in our daily work with students? Actions speak louder than words, right? ​

• Learn a few words in students’ primary languages
• Use students’ primary language(s) on the walls
• Provide books & resources in L1 when available
• Encourage translanguaging and the full use of students’ language repertoire

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8. Provide High-Quality 1st Teach. This is a big one. MLs who receive initial instruction that is insufficient will often fall further behind academically and linguistically. When this happens over an extended period of time, many MLs have difficulty exiting state ESL programs and are often labeled LTELs (or long-term English learners). On the other hand, those that receive high-quality, first teach that amplifies language and is comprehensible, thrive academically and develop language simultaneously. 
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9. Have Students Collaborate With Peers. Through peer collaboration, students learn in ways that we, teachers, can’t provide. As Vygotsky taught us, learning is social. When multilingual collaborate with monolingual English-speaking peers the reciprocal learning that happens among them is invaluable. Group work, Jigsaw approach, literature circles, and book clubs are just a few examples of collaborative settings. 
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10. Use Visuals. Visuals transcend all languages. When we see a visual representation, no matter the language we speak, we can begin to access our prior knowledge and schema. 

• Carefully select the visual 
• Point to the visual during instruction
• Label the visual (using arrows) during instruction​

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11. Give Think Time/Wait Time. After posing a question, wait about 3-5 seconds before calling on students or having them talk to one another. This wait time allows emergent bilinguals time to think, process, translate, and build the courage to respond. Studies show that the extra wait time increases the number of students’ responses and the quality of responses. 

12. Amplify Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. Years ago, the idea was that when working with English learners we needed to simplify instruction so they could understand it. Now we know that we can “KEEP the content and amplify the language” (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This was a quote a heard Okhee Lee say during a presentation she did for teachers of ELs. No more watering down curriculum. Scaffold UP!
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13. Hold High Expectations. Multilingual students are brilliant. We have to believe they CAN DO it! With our support, they can do everything monolingual English speakers can do. We set the ceiling for them. It’s a matter of how high are our expectations. What do we believe? Our belief creates potential and that potential builds action. Action creates results. The cycle continues. Believe big! 

14. Provide Books & Resources that are Relevant & Compelling. Take a look at the books and resources in front of you. Then take a look at the students. Do they align? Will students be interested? Will they find themselves? Will they connect? Will they see others and others’ experiences? If not, this is your call to action. 

15. Offer Sentence Stems with Academic Vocabulary. Sentence stems and sentence starters are excellent ways to scaffold academic language in any classroom K-12. If we want students to speak and write using academic language structures and vocabulary, sometimes we have to literally put those structures and vocabulary into their mouths. Sentence stems are scaffolds that can help emergent bilinguals begin to acquire English language structures that differ from the language structures in their primary language. 

16. Encourage Drawing & L1. When we look at learners from their assets, we recognize that there are many ways to express ideas, share information, demonstrate knowledge, and be creative. English (or any language) does not determine intelligence. Allowing students to draw, sketch, and use their L1 (or first language) helps them recognize that thinking and learning are valued.  

17. Provide Small Group Instruction. Gathering students in small groups helps to lower the student-teacher ratio allowing for more intimate instruction. A small group can be one-to-one like a conference between the student and the teacher or a group of 3-5. It’s important that small groups be fluid and heterogeneous to avoid stigmatizing learners. Multilingual learners benefit from small group instruction because it can lower the affective filter and provide time for direct and explicit instruction with the careful guidance of the teacher. 

18. Create Warm & Welcoming Spaces. Classroom environments that capture kids' hearts will no doubt build their minds and allow language to flourish. The goal is for English learners and their families to feel safe to take risks and feel that they belong and are valued in our campuses and our classrooms. 

19. Offer Visual Word Walls. Imagine moving to a new country and not speaking the language yet. Look at the word wall. It’s only words on index cards. No visuals to help you understand. You can read them, but you have no clue what they mean. Frustrating right?! Visual word walls are accessible to more learners in our classrooms. We can even add words in our EBs’ primary language(s) or add realia. 

20. Collaborate with Colleagues. Collaborating with our colleagues helps our students. We need each other. Our colleagues know things that we don’t know and we can learn from one another. As an ESL Co-Teacher and later an ESL Facilitator, I had the honor of going into classrooms and working alongside numerous teachers on my campus/district. That was the best professional learning. Our peers are our greatest teachers! 

21. Monitor Progress & Growth. If we want emergent bilinguals to grow in language and content, we need to know where they are and become intentional about the steps to help them get to the goals. Goal setting alongside EBs has become a more common practice too. Many teachers sit alongside students to discuss goals and progress. 

22. Stop for Checkpoints with Feedback. Formatively assessing during lessons helps us to form the next steps in instruction. I think of formative assessment (checkpoints) as a thermometer. We take the temperature and then based on the results, we adjust the thermostat (instruction) and provide feedback to students. On the other hand, if we rarely stop to check on students’ understanding, we might go for hours or days not realizing that students have missed key understandings. Large gaps may form and by this time it becomes difficult to re-route the learning that has solidified. 

23. Partner with Families. Family members and caregivers of MLs are often the strongest experts of their children. They know them better than most other people. We can achieve many things by brining in family members, tapping into their expertise, helping them see their own value as partners in the educational journey, and just by simply creating environments where students feel that their entire being is accepted, loved, and welcomed-including their families. Going beyond a single parent-teacher conference, we can learn more about caregivers and ask them to join us hand in hand as we help our children learn and grow. 

The beginning of the year is both an exciting and scary time for students and educators. We all have the feelings. It's normal to wonder what the year will be like, will our peers like us, will we find belonging...

Many educators start the year with ice breaker activities to build relationships and engage students in connecting. You can read about six different fun ice breakers here in this blog from twinkl. Which will you try? Which do you already do? Is there one more you can add? 

If you are bringing in a consultant or speaker, planning ahead can make the day more
successful for the audience and everyone. In this document, I’m sharing from my
experiences as both an organizer and a consultant/speaker who has visited schools and
educational support centers across the nation.

This document includes tips for organizing the professional development months before, weeks ahead, during the actual day, and reflection after. You can download it here. 

2024 marks 50 years since the Lau v Nichols ruling. How has education for multilingual learners improved where you work?
​
Here are some resources related to Lau v Nichols. 

As we wrap up 2023 with a big beautiful bow, I am looking forward to 2024 and hoping to meet you in person in 2024. 

While a large majority of the work I do is directly with schools, these are a few upcoming, OPEN to the public opportunities where we might be able to connect. 

• January 12, 2024: Keynote Speaker AMTESOL: Mississippi
• January 26, 2024: Keynote Speaker IABE: Idaho
• March 19, 2024, Designing Success for Multilingual Learners ONLINE
  
• May 9, 2024: Keynote Speaker MABE: Michigan 

Language surrounds us in everyday life. The big and small day-to-day interactions with family members and caregivers can offer valuable and authentic opportunities for language development. Caregivers often ask how they can help support their child's language development at home. 

​Many caregivers have been under the impression that using the target language at home is the best or only way to help their child acquire the new language. They are often surprised to learn that first language is foundational to additional language acquisition. Therefore, speaking and sharing their first language at home IS in fact supporting language acquisition. The graphic above can be downloaded as a PDF and shared with caregivers. These are practical ways that family members can support language acquisition at home in the language that is most comfortable. 

Read here for more on Connecting with EL Families.

Read here for more on Powering Up Parent Teacher Conferences.

Read here for more on How to Have the Best Parent Teacher Conferences with Parents of Immigrants & ELs. 

Need a print out of the article? Here it is! 

Click the image to download the PDF with live links to each platform. 

Teachers of Multilingual Learners have unique roles, special jobs! They not the same as most of the other teachers in the building. Here are a few articles to help get the year started on the right foot. 

4 Things You Can Take OFF of Your List Before School Starts

3 Common 1st Day of School Mistakes 

Things To Do with MLs During the 1st WEEK of School

5 Ways to Start Off Your Class Period with MLs

This f-word has been rather annoying over the past year or more as I’ve traveled and worked with teachers around the nation discussing instruction and second language acquisition.

If you look up the word fidelity in the dictionary, here are some examples of what you might find: 

• Strict observance of
• Accuracy in details, exactness
• The degree of exactness to which something is copied

Is this problematic for the instruction of English Learners (ELs) or Multilingual Learners (MLs)? Let’s explore. 

If an educator is given a resource, program, or curriculum to follow and told to execute it with fidelity, then the teacher would be asked to strictly follow the plan as it is written. However, canned textbooks and programs know little about the students that sit in our classrooms. They have no way of understanding the needs of every child we see. 

If we follow a program with fidelity then we do not deviate from the script. We do not make exceptions. We do not address how the learners meet the learning. These programs may provide starting points and frameworks but should never be the sole source of input. 

Fidelity like this is not equitable for ELs/MLs because their instruction requires that we accommodate instruction based on their linguistic needs. Accommodations help ELs/MLs meet linguistic and academic goals. Over and over again we must beat the drum and remind our colleagues that there is no silver bullet and that MLs have a right to accommodated instruction in every content area. 

A few years ago I had a student that needed the assistance of an FM unit in order to hear. Every day I wore the unit that communicated directly to the student’s earpiece so he could hear the lesson clearly. Never did I consider not wearing the unit because it was cumbersome or didn’t match my outfit. I knew he needed it in order to participate fully in the learning. I would not opt out of wearing it. After all, it was not only required but the child would not be able to access the learning without the support of the FM unit. Much like wearing an FM unit for a child to hear the lesson, linguistic accommodations are not a choice. They may feel like an additional or new thing we need to do, but essentially accommodating instruction and infusing language into lessons will benefit many if not all learners. 

Will fidelity to the program: 

• Account for individual students’ language proficiency levels? 
• Consider and include individual students’ background experiences? 
• Allow the teacher to make adjustments to meet the needs of learners?
• Take into consideration linguistic and cultural backgrounds?
• Give teachers the flexibility to modify and accommodate lessons for ELs?
• Provide teachers the autonomy to select authentic resources that engage ELs and are culturally inclusive and relevant to them?

Fidelity to a program or curriculum is often not equitable for ELs/MLs so we as educators should instead combine all the resources we have including linguistic information to create the best instructional environment for our learners. 

Are there times when fidelity is important? Yes, there are, especially in educational research when we want to discover the validity of our findings. Perhaps we could also have fidelity to our common goals as educators. We must also be exact when administering standardized assessments. Fidelity is important to assure that the findings are reliable. If one teacher administers the assessment and allows students to collaborate while other teachers require students to work independently, the findings would not be reliable. 

Proceed with caution when you hear the F-word. 

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What is advocacy? Am I doing it? 
Many educators find themselves asking these questions. 

Advocacy sometimes sounds big and scary and many educators think they can’t do it. But actually, advocacy is incorporated in daily actions sometimes big and other times small. 

UDL an educational framework that creates inclusive learning environments for all students. It involves providing multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement to accommodate diverse learning needs. 

CAST defines UDL as “a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.” This research-based set of principles for learning was first introduced in the 1990s by Anne Meyer and David Rose. They aim to create lessons that are accessible and effective for all students, removing any barriers to learning. UDL focuses on students’ strengths, what they can do and adjusts based on their needs. 

Let’s take a closer look at the components of the word Universal Design for Learning. 

Universal-
Think of a universal remote control that can be used with any brand name television. Universal in UDL means building curriculum and lessons that can be understood by all students. 

Design-
When we design for those in the margins, it works better for everyone. Imagine a building with a ramp and automatic door. This building is designed to work for many customers, not just some. When we design lessons for students in the margins, they too, work better for everyone. Lessons with multiple entry points, multimodal lessons, and lessons that are flexible to meet students’ needs. 

Learning-
Effective instruction is not limited by a one-size-fits-all approach. On the other hand, learning happens differently and at different rates. 

UDL includes 3 main principles: engagement, representation, and expression. 

Examples of Using UDL to Support English Learners
Engagement: the why (affective) 

• Provide opportunities for choice in learning
• Discover students’ interest and passions
• Allow for peer interaction and collaboration
• Link learning to students’ lived experiences and cultures 
• Invite students to interact with and co-create goals

Representation: the what (recognition) 

• Make content comprehensible through adapted texts, visuals, videos, gestures, etc. 
• Teach the use of graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams, webs, and tables
• Scaffold learning by building background knowledge
• Support language development with primary language using bilingual dictionaries

Action and Expression: the how (strategic) 

• Use total physical response to check for understanding
• Include role playing, song, and physical movement in learning experiences
• Use technology to support language acquisition and content learning

MLs can benefit greatly from the implementation of UDL principles in the classroom. Effective instruction for MLs includes the development of language, validation and inclusion of culture, and collaboration with peers. UDL provides a framework for lessons and instruction that allow MLs to access, process, and express information and fully engage. 

The Benefits of UDL for Multilingual Learners

Increased engagement: By providing multiple ways for students to access and engage with the content, UDL can help multilingual learners feel more connected to the learning process and motivated to participate.

Improved comprehension: UDL allows multilingual learners to access information in ways that align with their language and cultural backgrounds. This can help them better understand the content and make connections to their prior knowledge. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

Enhanced expression: By providing multiple ways for students to express their understanding of the content, UDL allows multilingual learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in ways that align with their strengths and preferences. LOW-STRESS OUTPUT 

Using UDL as an approach to lesson planning with Multilingual learners...

• Recognizes the affective filter in the classroom, helping MLs to feel safe and valued in their learning environment.
• Reduces the stigma of only certain students getting accommodated instruction (such as visuals, sentence stems, etc.). When everyone can have the accessibility features, no one is singled out. 
• Taps into MLs’ prior knowledge allowing students to connect new learning to what they already know.
• Engages MLs through choice, interest, participation, and movement.
• Offers content in more than one way to MLs allowing for multiple entry points (audio, visuals, video, hands-on).
• Encourages MLs to interact with learning and show what they know through multiple means. Some may choose to draw and label while others may give an oral presentation. 

UDL Strategies for Multilingual Learners

Provide multiple modes of representation: Teachers can use a variety of visual aids, such as pictures, diagrams, and videos, to support multilingual learners' comprehension of the content. This can help students make connections between the visual representation and the language used to describe it.

Use multimedia resources: Teachers can provide multimedia resources, such as audiobooks or videos with captions, to support multilingual learners' listening and comprehension skills. 

Use cooperative learning strategies: Teachers can use cooperative learning strategies to encourage multilingual learners to interact with their peers and practice their language skills. This can help students develop their language skills in a supportive and engaging environment.

Provide multiple means of expression: Teachers can provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate their understanding of the content, such as written assignments, oral presentations, and multimedia projects. This can help multilingual learners showcase their strengths and express their understanding of the content in ways that align with their linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Incorporate culturally responsive teaching: Teachers can incorporate culturally responsive teaching strategies that recognize and honor the linguistic and cultural diversity of their students. This can help multilingual learners feel valued and respected in the classroom, which can improve their engagement and motivation to learn.

​It doesn’t make sense to expect students to mold themselves into our lesson plans or our curriculum. That may be why it’s challenging to pull out a lesson from years ago and use it with the kids we have in front of us today. Every year the students are different. They have different needs and the world they are living in is different also. Instead, as lesson designers, we can use UDL as an approach that adapts to our students. In the book, Breaking Down the Wall (2020), Margo Gottlieb and Andrea Honigsfeld share that even assessments should be planned with UDL in mind. 

The bottom line is that UDL serves MLs a healthy dose of equitable and accessible instruction. UDL is a powerful framework that can support the academic success of multilingual learners by providing multiple ways for them to access, process, and express information. When we incorporate UDL strategies in classrooms, we can create more inclusive and engaging learning environments that support the diverse needs and strengths of all students.


Resources: 
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Calderón Margarita. (2020). Breaking down the wall: essential shifts for English learners success. Thousand Oaks, California.: Corwin.

Haas, E., & Brown, J. E. (2019). Supporting English learners in the classroom: best practices for distinguishing language acquisition from learning disabilities. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Understood: For Learning and Thinking Differences. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en?_ul=1*qgdhee*domain_userid*YW1wLUZMRkFpVzgtTUVJQWE2Mi01NkEtbkE.

Until learning has no limits. (2020, January 22). Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/?utm_source=udlguidelines&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=none&utm_content=header

For years, teachers at the campus where I worked were asked to post objectives clearly on the board. I, like many of my colleagues, did this. I followed the directive given and posted the objectives. As administrators walked by and conducted the obligatory walk-throughs I was always given the pat on the back for having objectives. Yet, they were a bureaucratic check mark in many ways. I complied with what I was asked to do.

Then one amazing day at a workshop the presenter empowered me with how to use objectives with my learners…as a tool for their own learning and it was a magical.

Here’s what I learned.

​Objectives are more powerful when we put them in the hands of the learners and let them grapple with them. Objectives are not meant only for teachers and those that evaluate teachers, they are for designed to support the learners.  
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1. After determining the content and language objectives, make them student-friendly,  post them, and READ them together as a class.
2. Point out academic vocabulary by highlighting or making specific words bold.
3. Annotate the objectives with synonyms and visuals as students listen and watch.
4. Ask students to do something with the objectives. For instance, students can:
   1. Pick a word from the objectives and use it in a sentence
   2. Select a word and act it out or draw an illustration
   3. Paraphrase or summarize the objectives
5. Have students "turn and learn" from their partners by sharing what you’ve asked them to do in step 4.
6. Finally, at the end of the lesson, activate students' metacognition by reviewing the objectives and having them rate their understanding or mastery. Where are they in the learning process? Did they master the objectives today? If not, what will they do? Prepare to share grade appropriate strategies such as come to tutoring, ask the teacher, reread the materials, etc.

In the book, Motivating ELLs, Dr. Lora Beth Escalante shares this process of amplifying content and language objectives (pages 52-55) and you can also find classroom examples by searching "annotated language objectives" on Twitter. 

Posting objectives is a great step in the direction. It gave me a clear path for students’ success. Now I was helping them to walk it with me. We became laser focused and united in our learning journey.

​1. Showcase ALL Students and Their Work. Displaying pictures of students and their families on the walls helps each learner to feel seen and validated in the learning space. This creates a sense of belonging and builds community among the class. Hanging student work on the walls, such as writing and art, can also send clear messages to learners that the classroom is for learners and learning.  
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2. Know, Pronounce, & Use their Names. That’s right. Validating a student’s identity with their given name is important. Avoid making an “American” name for a child. If you aren’t sure how to pronounce a name, ask, repeatedly if needed. Some teachers have students record how they prefer to be called on Flipgrid. This allows the teacher and classmates to replay the video/sound at their leisure as many times as necessary.
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3. Engage Students in Structured Talk. Structuring talk among classmates offers emergent bilinguals the chance to discuss with peers in a routine that focuses on academic language. A Structured conversation (like QSSSA) lightens the cognitive load so students need not worry about who their partner will be, who talks first, or how to begin the conversation. Their energy is placed directly on the content. 
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4. Provide Access to Grade Level Curriculum. When Emergent bilinguals have access to grade-level curriculum with linguistic accommodations and scaffolds they are less likely to fall behind academically. It’s important to remember that acquiring a language is not a deficit, but rather that a first language is an asset that can be used as leverage. 
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5. Embrace and Love Them. Kids that think their teachers love them and feel they are loved for who they are, achieve more. Even if a child can’t speak English yet, they can still think and feel. A smile goes a long way. 
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6. Give Daily Writing Opportunities. No matter the subject area you teach, have students write. Writing does not need to be a lengthy process nor must it be a ticket out (though it can be). Writing can include predictions, thoughts, reflections, comparisons, justifications, etc. Writing can also include modeling by you, sentence stems, primary language, and drawing as needed by students.  ​

7. Value ALL Language and Literacy. Many teachers will say that they value languages and literacy but how can we quantify that belief in our daily work with students? Actions speak louder than words, right? ​

• Learn a few words in students’ primary languages
• Use students’ primary language(s) on the walls
• Provide books & resources in L1 when available
• Encourage translanguaging and the full use of students’ language repertoire

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8. Provide High-Quality 1st Teach. This is a big one. MLs who receive initial instruction that is insufficient will often fall further behind academically and linguistically. When this happens over an extended period of time, many MLs have difficulty exiting state ESL programs and are often labeled LTELs (or long-term English learners). On the other hand, those that receive high-quality, first teach that amplifies language and is comprehensible, thrive academically and develop language simultaneously. 
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9. Have Students Collaborate With Peers. Through peer collaboration, students learn in ways that we, teachers, can’t provide. As Vygotsky taught us, learning is social. When multilingual collaborate with monolingual English-speaking peers the reciprocal learning that happens among them is invaluable. Group work, Jigsaw approach, literature circles, and book clubs are just a few examples of collaborative settings. 
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10. Use Visuals. Visuals transcend all languages. When we see a visual representation, no matter the language we speak, we can begin to access our prior knowledge and schema. 

• Carefully select the visual 
• Point to the visual during instruction
• Label the visual (using arrows) during instruction​

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11. Give Think Time/Wait Time. After posing a question, wait about 3-5 seconds before calling on students or having them talk to one another. This wait time allows emergent bilinguals time to think, process, translate, and build the courage to respond. Studies show that the extra wait time increases the number of students’ responses and the quality of responses. 

12. Amplify Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. Years ago, the idea was that when working with English learners we needed to simplify instruction so they could understand it. Now we know that we can “KEEP the content and amplify the language” (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This was a quote a heard Okhee Lee say during a presentation she did for teachers of ELs. No more watering down curriculum. Scaffold UP!
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13. Hold High Expectations. Multilingual students are brilliant. We have to believe they CAN DO it! With our support, they can do everything monolingual English speakers can do. We set the ceiling for them. It’s a matter of how high are our expectations. What do we believe? Our belief creates potential and that potential builds action. Action creates results. The cycle continues. Believe big! 


14. Provide Books & Resources that are Relevant & Compelling. Take a look at the books and resources in front of you. Then take a look at the students. Do they align? Will students be interested? Will they find themselves? Will they connect? Will they see others and others’ experiences? If not, this is your call to action. 


15. Offer Sentence Stems with Academic Vocabulary. Sentence stems and sentence starters are excellent ways to scaffold academic language in any classroom K-12. If we want students to speak and write using academic language structures and vocabulary, sometimes we have to literally put those structures and vocabulary into their mouths. Sentence stems are scaffolds that can help emergent bilinguals begin to acquire English language structures that differ from the language structures in their primary language. 


16. Encourage Drawing & L1. When we look at learners from their assets, we recognize that there are many ways to express ideas, share information, demonstrate knowledge, and be creative. English (or any language) does not determine intelligence. Allowing students to draw, sketch, and use their L1 (or first language) helps them recognize that thinking and learning are valued.  


17. Provide Small Group Instruction. Gathering students in small groups helps to lower the student-teacher ratio allowing for more intimate instruction. A small group can be one-to-one like a conference between the student and the teacher or a group of 3-5. It’s important that small groups be fluid and heterogeneous to avoid stigmatizing learners. Multilingual learners benefit from small group instruction because it can lower the affective filter and provide time for direct and explicit instruction with the careful guidance of the teacher. 


18. Create Warm & Welcoming Spaces. Classroom environments that capture kids' hearts will no doubt build their minds and allow language to flourish. The goal is for English learners and their families to feel safe to take risks and feel that they belong and are valued in our campuses and our classrooms. 
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19. Offer Visual Word Walls. Imagine moving to a new country and not speaking the language yet. Look at the word wall. It’s only words on index cards. No visuals to help you understand. You can read them, but you have no clue what they mean. Frustrating right?! Visual word walls are accessible to more learners in our classrooms. We can even add words in our EBs’ primary language(s) or add realia. 


20. Collaborate with Colleagues. Collaborating with our colleagues helps our students. We need each other. Our colleagues know things that we don’t know and we can learn from one another. As an ESL Co-Teacher and later an ESL Facilitator, I had the honor of going into classrooms and working alongside numerous teachers on my campus/district. That was the best professional learning. Our peers are our greatest teachers! 


21. Monitor Progress & Growth. If we want emergent bilinguals to grow in language and content, we need to know where they are and become intentional about the steps to help them get to the goals. Goal setting alongside EBs has become a more common practice too. Many teachers sit alongside students to discuss goals and progress. 


22. Stop for Checkpoints with Feedback. Formatively assessing during lessons helps us to form the next steps in instruction. I think of formative assessment (checkpoints) as a thermometer. We take the temperature and then based on the results, we adjust the thermostat (instruction) and provide feedback to students. On the other hand, if we rarely stop to check on students’ understanding, we might go for hours or days not realizing that students have missed key understandings. Large gaps may form and by this time it becomes difficult to re-route the learning that has solidified. 

23. Partner with Families. Family members and caregivers of MLs are often the strongest experts of their children. They know them better than most other people. We can achieve many things by brining in family members, tapping into their expertise, helping them see their own value as partners in the educational journey, and just by simply creating environments where students feel that their entire being is accepted, loved, and welcomed-including their families. Going beyond a single parent-teacher conference, we can learn more about caregivers and ask them to join us hand in hand as we help our children learn and grow. 

So there they are, again, in no particular order. 23 ways to support multilingual learners in everyday instruction. 

For the original post of this article, click here: ​https://www.valentinaesl.com/articles-for-educators/22-things-educators-can-do-now-to-support-multilingual-learners