Supporting Multilingual Learners (HOW 7-12)
The HOW of supporting multilingual learners
Secondary: HOW we support multilingual learners
Across this series, we’ve highlighted that multilingual learners thrive when instruction is both content‑rich and language‑rich, giving them full access to curriculum while supporting them in expressing their ideas with confidence. To help students turn their complex ideas into effective academic writing, we can design learning that is intentional while still creating space for students to draw on their full linguistic repertoires. This month’s strategy focuses on doing exactly that, in a supportive, collaborative way.
Strategy: THINK, TALK, WRITE TOGETHER
This strategy weaves talk, collaboration, vocabulary development, and writing together. For the example below, students were going to write an essay describing an animal, including its habitat, diet, physical characteristics, predators and prey, and adaptations for survival. This was the first lesson within that unit, with the goal of building critical vocabulary and conceptual understanding.
Select a topic from any discipline.
Example: Animal interactions (grade 7 science), including food chains, adaptations, and human impact.
Introduce unit concepts with concrete definitions and examples.
Example: Habitat: “This is where the animal lives. Some examples of habitat are the ocean, forest, and grasslands.”
Tip: Use a variety of visuals for your multilingual learners, such as pictures, actions, movements and realia (real objects) to support understanding of the critical concepts.
Collaborative idea generation. Have each concept written on individual pieces of chart paper and posted around the room. In groups, students rotate to each poster to add ideas and examples.
Gallery walk and share out. Groups read through each poster, adding any additional ideas and noting words for their personal word banks.
Tip: Encourage translaguaging by inviting students to add examples in their own language(s) alongside the English terms.
Pre-teach academic language to support communication of ideas. Before students begin writing about their animals, introduce some key academic vocabulary and transition words (e.g., in addition, in contrast, for example, as a result) to support clarity and complexity in writing.
Tip: If you use mentor texts, revisit one to show how authors use academic language in context. Seeing these examples helps students understand what strong writing sounds like.
Collaborative writing. For the first draft, have students write collaboratively in small groups. Consider assigning the topic the first time, and then offering choice for the next writing task.
Tip: Text structure is a powerful scaffold for all writers. Identify the structure that best fits your end in mind and break down the thinking pattern. Unsure of where to start? Our first newsletter in the fall will focus on text structure!
Step 3 example of Collaborative Idea Generation
In closing
Throughout this series, we have explored how multilingual learners flourish when instruction honours their languages, builds on their strengths, and provides clear pathways into complex academic thinking. Whether through verbal scaffolding, linguistic reinforcement, or structured writing supports, the goal remains the same: create classrooms where multilingual learners can contribute, communicate, and thrive.
