How Teaching Multilingual Learners to Read is Different

Hispanic Heritage Month started Sept. 15 and goes until Oct. 15. During this time of celebrating the Hispanic culture, I thought it a great time to address how teaching our multilingual learners to read is different than teaching our native English speakers to read. I have experience in this area, being that my school has a large Hispanic population and at least 75% of the students who are in my reading intervention groups are multilingual learners (MLLs for short).

When teaching MLLs in grades preK-1, everything you are doing to teach your native English speakers to read is great for your MLL students, too. Using visuals, modeling how to form letter sounds in the mouth, and teaching phonics rules are teaching techniques that you will see preK-1 teachers use with students. This benefits ALL students!

More differences start to emerge when students new to English arrive and are placed in 2nd grade and up. By 2nd grade, teachers will probably be using some of the techniques mentioned above, but not as often. And by 3rd grade, those techniques disappear because students “should” have learned those things by now and be reading. As you know, this is not the case in many classrooms. So, here are some tips for teaching your multilingual students to read that I have learned over the years.

Tips for Teaching Multilingual Learners to Read

Tip #1- Continue to model letter sounds and mouth placement to your students. Show them with your mouth, have sound cards, and have mirrors available for students to see their mouths. In English, we have sounds that don’t exist in other languages. Furthermore, some English letters make a different sound in other languages, especially the vowels. For example, many of my Hispanic students confuse i and e because of this difference. When this occurs, I gently remind my students to think about English pronunciation when they see those letters and model it as many times as needed.

Tip #2- Continue to use visuals. When a student sees a visual attached to an English word, it will make it that much easier for the student to understand. Use visuals for basic English words that will be used often in your class. You may even add the word in the student’s home language, so the student can see the word both in English and their home language. This will provide some comfort to your MLL students because they will be able to see what they are supposed to do. It will lessen confusion for these students and allow you to get on to the actual teaching of the lesson faster. Try these free visual directions cards from Mrs. Richardson’s class to get you started.

Tip #3- Give extra time and go at a slower pace. MLL students are busy translating what you’ve said into something comprehensible to them. Give them the time to let their brains work and process the information you’ve given them. You may need to speak just a little slower for them to catch everything you’re saying. Sometimes that’s all they need to be able to respond or complete an activity. You can, also, provide sentence starters to assist your MLL students in responding to questions.

Tip #4- Work on vocabulary. When planning to read a story, passage, article, etc. think about words that your MLLs may struggle with. Still teach the words that everyone needs, but, also, include words that may impede your MLLs’ understanding of the piece read. An example would be an article that talks about viewing a table of data and the MLL only knows that a table is a piece of furniture with legs. That is where a visual would come in handy along with teaching how to use context clues to help students understand what an unknown word means.

When teaching vocabulary provide examples and nonexamples to further student understanding. Furthermore, point out cognates when one exists. A cognate is a word derived from the same root word over more than one language. When working with vocabulary you will, most likely, include some Tier 1 words in your teaching, along with the Tier 2 words you would typically select.

Tip #5- Include topics of interest to your MLL students. I’m sure you want to be inclusive of everyone’s interests and backgrounds in your classroom, so this really shouldn’t be an extra step. You just have to find a way for those students to be able to share their interests with you. Again, another spot where visuals are helpful. Students can create or share visuals of topics that interest them. That way even if they don’t know the English word for it, you will still recognize what your MLLs like or don’t like. Your MLLs will be more likely to want to learn to read when they see books about topics that interest them.

Tip #6- Be aware of the different learning styles used in different countries. What we may expect from students may not be the expectations that our MLLs are used to. Take the time to do a little research on where your student came from to find out what your student was used to. Give opportunities for your student to learn in the style they are most comfortable with, but, also, introduce new ways to learn. You never know, your student may find they enjoy the new way!

Conclusion

In short, teaching multilingual learners to read is not that much different than teaching any other student to read. The same teaching methods can be applied with some tweaks here and there. We, also, need to be sensitive to the feelings of our older MLLs and how they may feel about learning to read in a new language. They may feel embarassment and/or frustration. That’s where your classroom atmosphere comes into play. Make sure it is a safe space for students to learn, make mistakes, and grow from them without fear of ridicule. For more on this topic, check out my post on Building a Caring Classroom Community: How and Why Building Relationships is Important.

For more amazing ideas on supporting your multilingual learners, I highly recommend The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox by Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieki.