Part One of a Two-Part Series

by Sarah Ottow, Confianza Founder and Director

The tips below are also more broadly discussed in the The Language Lens for Content Classrooms: A Guide for K-12 Teachers of English and Academic Language Learners published by Learning Sciences International.

As educators, we are being asked to shift our mindsets and practices. In the age of COVID-19, remote teaching and learning is the new normal. Whether you are a language specialist or a content educator, there are specific strategies to keep in mind when teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) online (in reality, these tips for working with all students, although English learners especially benefit and have a legal right to receive these supports). Many of the strategies and examples I share here are tried and true, “nuts and bolts” of any teaching and they become even more critical as we shift teaching and learning online. 

1. Teach Your Students, Not Just Your Content

We are all charged with having to get through grade level standards in a compressed time frame during this unforeseen time of emergency teaching and learning. However, we need to recognize that this is not exactly the same as “school”. To be clear, this is trying to reach kids at home during a public health crisis.This is a stopgap measure schools are providing amidst vast inequities that families experience, all the more exacerbated during this pandemic. 

At Confianza, we recommend that educators use the “3 C’s Approach” for supporting students, especially ELLs, at this time: Comfort, Communicate, and Connect. Comforting is key before any learning can occur and we need to keep in mind that every household is not created equally. Just as important at comforting is communicating effectively so that we aren’t only using a monolingual mindset when reaching out to our families. Finally, connecting authentically means keeping relationships out front and capitalizing on the funds of knowledge that families and students bring even if those strengths don’t align with the traditional curriculum. While the content is important, the students we are teaching—and their families—come first. 

In my current remote classroom, I bring ideas from the students into the learning process. I encourage my 1st and 2nd graders to share their preferences for ways they learn, what they want to learn about and, of course, sharing their feelings through social-emotional check-ins. And anyone who is doing professional learning with me online these days knows I integrate social-emotional support and learners’ interests there as well!

2. Remember That Academic Language is More Than Just Vocabulary

Academic language consists of not just the obvious content-specific vocabulary (like mitosis) but other “tiers” including cross-content academic vocabulary (like analysis) and every day, social language (like table, which has multiple meanings!) Any teacher can take a moment to figure out which other kinds of vocabulary need to be taught by prioritizing the tiered vocabulary like in this Confianza tool: 

And, remember, words alone are not what comprises academic language. We need sentence-level and discourse-level attention to language. For example, if a student is learning about mitosis, then likely there is a language function needing to be explicitly highlighted, like describe. Students can benefit from learning the language of describing, not just the language of science here. So please integrate support for this critical part of academic language like this chart shows below:

In my current remote teaching situation, I teach language structures and tiered vocabulary, for example, into our signs of spring unit. We are sequencing the life cycle of seeds and butterflies and using signal words like first, next, then, last. While butterflies is a common, everyday, Tier 1 word, monarch is a Tier 2 word, more technical and can be used across content areas like science, language arts, etc. In Confianza PD, we definitely highlight key vocabulary and bring in language structures for educators to think, write and speak using key language functions.

Read Part Two for Strategies 3 and 4 HERE!