If you teach English language learners (ELLs), there are a lot of steps you can take early on to support your students' success. These tips, shared by veteran ELL educators, offer practical ideas that you can use right away, whether you are new to teaching ELLs, starting a new school year, or welcoming newcomers. Additional ideas are offered in the featured videos at the end of the article.
Coming soon!
These tips will also available in a PDF format and slide deck that you are welcome to share.
Getting Started with ELLs
Here are some tips to help you get started when you first meet your ELLs.
Welcoming Students
- Welcome students with smiles, friendly greetings, and positive body language.
- Show respect for students' languages and cultures.
Former ELLs often recall small gestures of kindness and encouragement from their teachers and peers.
Learning Students' Names
- Learn to say and write students' names correctly.
- Refrain from using nicknames, making comments about students' names, or giving students a nickname.
Classroom Routines
Help students understand:
- Classroom routines
- School-wide routines
- Schedules
- Behavioral expectations
- Activities and events
Use visuals and translated terms where possible to help support students' understanding.
Navigating a New School
Help students get settled into their new environment with the following tips:
- Make sure students know where the bathroom is and where they can get a drink of water (as well as rules for doing so).
- New students to the school may also benefit from a school tour that includes the cafeteria, nurse's office, gym, playground, and library.
- Find out if students have the appropriate school supplies. If not, talk with an administrator about how to help students get the supplies they need.
You may also wish to share the tips featured in How School Staff Can Support English Language Learners.
Clear Communication
Keep your language clear. Speak calmly; avoid idioms; and use visuals, gestures, and translated terms as needed.
Silent Period
Keep in mind that students who are learning a new language may go through a "silent period" in which they are listening and learning. Students may not speak much during this time as they absorb new language.
Be patient and look for opportunities for small successes in speaking with you and peers, which 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.
Related Videos
Learn more about the "silent period" in these two videos. The first is an excerpt from Dr. Elsa Cardenas-Hagan's presentation on teaching ELLs to read. The second features ELL expert Areli Schermerhorn, who remembers her experiences as an English learner.
Getting to Know ELLs
Veteran ELL educators often highlight the importance of getting to know students and offer the following ideas.
Students' Interests
- Get to know your students' interests, hobbies, and talents.
- Look for ways to tie learning to those interests, like sports or other school activities.
Hands-on Learning
Give students opportunities to do hands-on activities that they enjoy as they comfortable, such as puzzles, building, and artwork.
Students' Prior Schooling
- Learn about ELLs' prior schooling.
- Some students' education have been interrupted once or several times, while others may have attended school consistently.
- Students who come from the same country and speak the same language may have had very different educational experiences.
Literacy and Language
Find out:
- If students have learned to read in their home language
- What their English language proficiency levels are across different skill areas, such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Note: An ESL specialist may be able to help you access and understand this information.
Special Education
Find out:
- Whether students have any identified special needs
- If families have other concerns about their health or development
School Activities and Clubs
Make sure that students have information about (and know how to sign up for) school activities and clubs, as well as holiday customs, such as exchanging valentines or dressing up for Halloween.
Creating a Welcoming Classroom
Here are some additional tips on creating a welcoming classroom environment for your students.
Offer Encouragement
Encourage your students. Starting at a new school — particularly in a new language and a new country — can be exhausting and overwhelming.
In addition, put yourself in your students' shoes. If you have newcomers, imagine what it feels like to be attending a new school in a new country in a new language. (You can try some of the activities we include in our professional learning session, What It Feels Like to Be a Language Learner.)
Culture Shock
It may take students some time to settle in, especially if they have just arrived in a new country. Give students time and space to adjust. Learn about the signs of culture shock so you can recognize it if needed.
Welcoming Students' Languages
Welcome and include students' languages in the classroom by:
- Posting bilingual labels in the class
- Including bilingual materials
- Inviting students to teach the class a few words in their language
Welcoming Students' Cultures
Invite students and families to share their culture through:
- Mementos
- Photographs
- Cultural artifacts
- Stories and folk tales
- Music and dance
- Customs and holidays
- Food
Assign a Buddy
Find a classmate who is patient and friendly and who can help the student in the classroom, in other classes, and in the cafeteria. While it can be helpful if the buddy speaks the student's language, students who don't speak the student's language can still help by being friendly and using gestures.
Classroom Community
Brainstorm ideas on with your class about how to welcome any newcomers who arrive and how to be a good friend. Use gratitude activities during the year to support appreciation and empathy. And make sure all students are clear about rules related to bullying.
ELL Instruction
There are lots of ways to support ELL instruction! Here are few high-impact strategies to help you get started, with links to more information about how to use each strategy.
Background Knowledge
Keep an eye out for the background knowledge students will need to support their learning. Look for ways to connect content to students' experiences and find out what students know about a topic. Build new knowledge where needed.
Hands-On Learning
Scaffolds are temporary supports that give students access to grade-level content. Just like the scaffolds used in building construction, scaffolds are taken away when they are no longer needed.
Use scaffolds such as:
- Visuals
- Graphic organizers
- Realia and manipulatives
- Sentence frames
- Translated texts
Find more tips on how to use these scaffolds from our ELL Strategy Library.
Vocabulary
Teach key vocabulary, such as:
- Academic words (helium)
- Words with multiple meanings (yard)
- Homophones (flower/flour)
- Common words used in a lesson or text (train station)
Students' Languages
Students' languages are a valuable asset! You don't need to speak students' languages in order to use them to support instruction. You can use:
- Multilingual glossaries: Glossaries that include terms and definitions in English and students' languages. They may also include visuals, sample sentences, sentence frames, and partner discussion questions.
- Cognates are related words in two languages (e.g., the English-Spanish pair information/información). Many languages share cognates with English, including Spanish, which is the most common language spoken among ELLs in the U.S. Teach students how to recognize cognates.
Comprehension Checks
Use quick comprehension checks to track student understanding, such as thumbs up, emojis, exit tickets, or open-ended questions. These are more effective than asking, "Do you understand?"
Peer Learning
Look for ways to that students' can interact with their peers in pairs or small groups on a regular basis to give them plenty of speaking and listening practice. Use a variety of groupings; for example, during a brainstorming activity, you may wish to pair students who speak the same language so that they can compile many ideas and share a summary of their brainstorm in English. For a group project, you may wish to assign students with different proficiency levels together.
Bonus Tip: Try only one new thing at a time.
ELL expert Kristina Robertson reminds teachers that teaching multiple new things at the same time often doesn't work! When introducing new material, remember the following:
- If you are teaching new language, use familiar content.
- If you are teaching new content, use familiar language.
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