When working with ELLs, students' primary languages are a powerful tool that educators can use — even if they don’t speak those languages or are working in a classroom with students who speak many languages.
Here are some ideas to help you get started! These tips are geared towards classroom and content-area instruction; for ideas that are related to literacy instruction, see our related article (coming soon!).
Getting Started
1. Welcome students' languagses in the classroom.
- Post signs and labels in students' languages.
- Include bilingual books in your classroom library or materials.
- Talk about the benefits of being bilingual with your students and share examples of bilingual individuals with your students.
2. Find out what languages your students speak.
You can learn more about the languages your students speak by talking with:
- Students
- Families
- Colleagues
This informatio may be included in student records or the home language surveys that families fill out.
In addition, it is helpful to find out if any of your colleagues speak students' languages. Staff who speak students' languages, such as bilingual teachers, family liaisons, interpreters, or other professionals, can be an important resource and may be able to provide important insights. Confirm whether they feel comfortable being approached in that role and clarify the best way to approach them with questions.
Note: Avoid assumptions about what languages students speak based on their name or appearance. In addition, keep in mind that some students may be hesitant to share their language background, as in the case of some Indigenous students from Latin America.
3. Identify resources in students' home languages.
You may be able to find books, reference materials, and online resources in students' languages. Verify the quality of resources with a bilingual colleague or another trusted source. You can also ask your ELL/bilingual colleagues and school librarian for other ideas.
Classroom Strategies
4. Allow students to brainstorm and write drafts in their home languages.
Give students a chance to brainstorm ideas and write first drafts (either individually or in small groups) in their home languages in order to capture their thinking. Whether students are writing or speaking, they will be able to tap into their existing background knowledge. If you wish to review or assess their notes or drafts, you can provide a graphic organizer in which they summarize key points or ask them to share their thinking in English after their brainstorm.
5. Encourage peer learning.
Using students' home languages in the classroom can:
- Help build comprehension
- Deepen understanding
- Build confidence
- Give students the chance to express themselves
Give students the chance to work on complete assignments or work on projects together with peers who speak their language. You don't have to use this grouping all the time, but consider when it might be helpful for students to work in their home languages.
Allowing students to work in their native language
Teachers often worry that students will be off-task if they are working in their native language. In my experience, students are more focused because they can engage naturally with the content and delve deeper into the activity together. I set parameters and put scaffolds in place for reporting out in English. When students are "off-task" or misbehaving a teacher can tell more from body language and noise level than actual words.
— Kristina Robertson, EL Administrator, Roseville, MN
6. Teach students to recognize cognates.
Cognates are words that are related across languages and they are a powerful tool for ELLs. English shares cognates with many languages, and in particular with Spanish (plant/planta). Teaching students to recognize cognates can help increase their vocabulary. For more ideas on how to teach cognates, see our Cognates strategy.
7. Use multilingual glossaries.
Multilingual glossaries present vocabulary words with translated terms; they may also include translated definitions, visuals, sample sentences, and other scaffolds. They can be presented as a document or as a slide deck with visuals. See examples in our Multilingual Glossaries strategy.
Note: When translating terms, be sure to give students practice using the words they are learning through all four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). In addition, consider translating related terms that might be more common than the academic words.
8. Use translated text strategically.
Providing translated texts can be a helpful scaffold for students at varying levels of language proficiency. You may wish to use these texts to build or connecting to existing background knowledge or to preview key concepts in a passage. This can be an especially helpful bridge for students who are in early stages of learning English and have literacy skills in their primary language. Remember: the purpose of a scaffold is to eventually remove it, and the goal is not to translate everything! Consider how the use of translation is supporting students' understanding, and how it is supporting students' developing skills in English. For example, another strategy you can use is text engineering, which embeds scaffolds into grade-level text such as headings, visuals, synonyms, cognates, definitions, and translated terms. This draws upon students' home languages but requires them to work with the text in English.
9. Learn more about translanguaging.
Translanguaging is what happens when someone uses all of their language assets. For example, if a student says, "You need to vamos" or "I want nar-ange juice," someone who speaks English and Spanish may recognize that the little girl is combining the English and Spanish words for "orange" ("orange" / "naranja") in her speech. She is not confused; she is simply drawing upon all of her linguistic knowledge. You can support translanguaging by welcoming students to use their languages, sharing examples of translanguaging through books, writing, and music, and continuing to incorporate students' languages in your instruction. Additional ideas and examples are included below.
Related resources include:
- Bilingual Picture Books: Stories Featuring Spanish Vocabulary Words
- A guide to translanguaging in the classroom (WIDA)
10. Consider your use of translation apps and AI tools.
There are many translation apps and tools built into learning platforms and AI tools, and new ones are being added all the time. These powerful tools can be used to identify cognates, create multilingual glossaries, translate text into different languages, and translate spoken speech. For examples of AI-generated multilingual resources, along with prompts that incorporate students' home languages, see Put On Your GLASSES: Writing AI Prompts for ELLs.
However, as noted above, it is possible to become over-reliant on any type of translation tool. Ask yourself how the tool is helping support students' comprehension and expression in English, and what steps you are taking to reduce the use of the tools over time.
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