Across the United States, educators are grappling with how to provide remote instruction to their students. This can present a number of additional potential challenges (e.g. lack of technology in home, unfamiliarity with technology for teaching remotely, lack of quality multilingual online curriculum) for teachers of multilingual learners. But it also provides us with opportunities to draw upon the amazing resilience and ingenuity of our students to engage in deep learning online—to make meaning from online “texts” , negotiate different viewpoints, explain complicated processes, identify, evaluate and share multilingual multimedia resources across the disciplines, to name a few . This short document attempts to highlight some of the do's and don'ts that educators should consider as they plan and implement virtual approaches to instruction for their multilingual learner students.
Educator Do’s
1. Support Students’ Socio-Emotional Needs First
Consider students socio-emotional needs to be preeminent right now. Teachers, counselors and site administrators can make short videos of themselves on their phone or computer talking about what they are doing while staying at home—reading books, playing board games, gardening, catching up with friends (virtually) or other hobbies. Videos can be uploaded to shared portals such as google classroom or added to a class/school Instagram account. Students can share part of their day with their classmates through video, chat or email.
2. Connect Regularly with Families
Parent communication is absolutely essential. Consider using apps such as Talking Points to provide text messages in family’s home language(s). If not, even simple text messaging can work to let parents know that grades are suspended for the semester and that student work is optional.
3. Ground Instruction in What We Know about Language and Content Learning
Remember to keep in mind what we know about language acquisition and content learning for MLLs. Read over Understanding Language’s Key Principles for ELL Instruction. For example, focus on:
a. Providing opportunities for students to interact with each other over video/audio in small groups/pairs to make meaning of texts. Of course, texts can be written or multimedia (e.g. a video on climate change). Gather some of this formative student evidence and consider student strengths and areas for additional support.
b. Ensuring that students can use all of their linguistic assets to learn. Yes, they can use google translate for webpages. But they can also use their agency by finding primary language texts or videos that cover similar information. Have students identify and share videos in their primary language on key topics (e.g the water cycle).
c. Depth, not breadth. Choose high level understandings and help students to see the connections across ideas and disciplines.
d. Providing students graphic organizers or guiding questions before reading complex texts so they can organize information into meaningful chunks. In this way, students can make meaning from texts beyond their independent level without understanding every word.
e. Underscoring the relationship between the new content, language and/or analytical skills (e.g. argumentation and explanation) and what students have learned previously.
f. Asking students to reflect on what works and doesn’t work from them while learning online.
4. Focus on Generative Disciplinary Practices
While bits and pieces types of skill building apps might have a place in students’ daily routine (e.g. digital vocabulary cards), integrated ELD should really promote students’ ability to argue, justify, define, explain, etc. within a variety of disciplines. These practices are invaluable to students across grade levels and content areas. Use third party skill building apps judiciously.
5. Leverage Students’ and Educators Technology Expertise
Where established, continue to use technology that students are already familiar with instead of introducing them to lots of unfamiliar technology.
Ask students to share ideas via video on how they currently use technology to learn about their own interests (music, culture, etc.). Consider using these student generated sources (e.g. Youtube, Instagram) as a medium for communication and learning.
For teachers, provide virtual office hours by district technology staff to learn more about how you can use technology to support your students. Teacher group chats can be used to share best practices and answer questions as well.
Educator Don’ts
1. Role of Parents in Supporting their Children
Don’t put the burden on the parents of MLLs to be their child’s teacher. Instead, ask parents to engage with their children in any language they choose in activities such as cooking/baking, making up stories, playing board games, etc. Don’t overwhelm parents with lists of online resources that students can use. Parents are looking for guidance and direction, not unlimited choice.
2. Assessment of Students
Do not rush to use diagnostic tests to determine what students have lost during remote instruction in order to remediate their learning once they are back in school. Instead, consider ways to accelerate their learning once they are back in school (see TNTP’s excellent COVID-19 School Response Toolkit). Use formative assessment practices to determine next steps in instruction on knowledge, skills and language that is both substantive and generative (will be used in novel contexts in the future).
3. Deficit Thinking
Be careful not to frame the need to support MLLs in deficit thinking, e.g. a “lost generation”, that they will never catch up, etc. Consider the implications of this deficit approach on students when they return to school. Frame discussions of instructional practices by reminding everyone of the immense (and often untapped) capacity that these students have to make meaning with their peers, come up with novel solutions to problems, communicate effectively across a wide array of audiences, etc.
4. Modeling Assignments
Don’t provide lengthy, written descriptions of an assignment without providing a complementary video explaining what students are supposed to do. Modeling sample responses (creating a video of an exemplary, or not so exemplary response) can go a long way to help students grasp what they are being asked to do.
5. Inappropriate Use of Written Texts
Don’t choose texts that are “inconsiderate” for MLLs if possible. Texts are inconsiderate if they contain many superfluous tangents, include unnecessary jargon, are poorly organized, and use metaphors and analogies that are clearly beyond students’ lived experiences. If an inconsiderate text is indispensable, consider additional scaffolding supports (e.g. video accompaniments, chunking reading and providing guiding questions for each section) that students will need to make meaning from the text.
6. Myopic focus on Language Proficiency Levels
Don’t limit students to interacting with only their peers at the same language proficiency level. Students learn by hearing and trying to create “stretched” language in the face of attempting to accomplish a worthwhile task with their peers. Don’t be constrained by only providing students language frames at their perceived proficiency level. Remember that good instruction is always beyond a student’s current independent level, where appropriate supports are provided. There are times for grouping students homogeneously (in a jigsaw reading project, where different groups receive readings at differing levels of complexity), but consider the power of heterogeneity during remote instruction.
These remote learning do’s and don’ts are clearly not absolutes--what works for one educator with their MLLs may not work for another. But they do provide a lens for educators to consider as they adapt their instruction for online access. Note that in no way do we believe that online learning is a one-to-one substitute for the classroom environment, in which multilingual learners learn with and from each other. With those caveats in mind, online learning during these trying times can help multilingual learners stay connected to their peers and teachers. It can advance students’ own conceptual and linguistic learning to the degree that they are prepared to be fully engaged participants when they eventually do return to their schools.
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