Teaching academic content in a new language can be challenging for both teachers and students. How can you support your students to learn effectively and confidently in a multilingual classroom? Here are some strategies that can help you address the linguistic and cultural diversity of your students and foster their academic success.
Before you plan your lessons, you need to know your students' backgrounds, interests, strengths, and needs. You can use surveys, interviews, observations, or portfolios to gather information about your students' language proficiency, prior knowledge, learning preferences, and cultural values. This will help you tailor your instruction to their level and style of learning, and to connect the content to their experiences and goals.
Trying to understand students from the students' perspective will help a lot. Also making sure that students will understand why they are learning is as much as important as how they are learning.
Comprehensible input is the language that your students can understand with the help of context clues, visuals, gestures, or other supports. You can use comprehensible input to introduce new concepts, explain procedures, give instructions, or provide feedback. To make your input more comprehensible, you can use simple and clear language, speak slowly and clearly, repeat and paraphrase key points, use examples and analogies, and check for understanding frequently.
?? Celebrate small victories: Acknowledge and applaud every achievement, no matter how minor. ?? Rephrase with care: When students pose questions, gently rephrase to build confidence and understanding. ??? Multilingual support: Speak to them in their native language, allowing them to respond in the "new language." Your imperfect attempts create a comfortable space for them to embrace the learning journey. ?? Encourage mistakes: Demonstrate a positive attitude towards your own language learning. Embrace errors as opportunities for growth, fostering a supportive atmosphere. ?? Language is a bridge: Foster a connection between their native language and the "new language," perhaps by showing genuine interest in their culture.
Scaffolding is the support that you provide to your students to help them complete a learning task that they cannot do independently. You can scaffold learning tasks by breaking them down into smaller and manageable steps, providing models and examples, giving hints and prompts, or using graphic organizers and charts. You can also scaffold learning tasks by grouping your students strategically, such as by language proficiency, interest, or readiness, and by facilitating peer collaboration and interaction.
While teaching academic content, you also need to develop your students' language skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. You can do this by integrating language objectives into your content objectives, and by using various activities and techniques to practice and reinforce language skills. For example, you can use songs, videos, podcasts, or stories to practice listening; role-plays, presentations, debates, or discussions to practice speaking; texts, articles, books, or magazines to practice reading; and journals, summaries, reports, or essays to practice writing.
Encourage students to listen to radio broadcasts to increase their vocabulary. Listening to broadcasts can help in communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings. Keeping a diary is another way of learning, students can write down new words or expressions. There are so many language apps to assist with spelling and writing. Another way is to have a language buddy to improve your listening and speaking skills.
Teaching academic content in a new language also involves teaching about the culture and values of the language community. You can promote cultural awareness by using authentic and diverse materials and resources that reflect the culture and perspectives of the language speakers. You can also promote cultural awareness by creating a respectful and inclusive classroom environment that celebrates and values the diversity of your students. You can do this by learning about their cultures, acknowledging their contributions, encouraging their participation, and addressing any bias or prejudice that may arise.
Finally, you need to assess your students' learning outcomes in both content and language. You can use different types of assessments, such as formative or summative, formal or informal, or alternative or traditional, to measure your students' progress and achievement. You can also use different tools and methods, such as rubrics, checklists, portfolios, or self-assessments, to evaluate your students' performance and provide feedback. You should also use your assessment data to inform your instruction and to adjust your strategies as needed.
In my role as an English and German teacher, supporting students learning academic content in a new language involves a multifaceted approach. I emphasize building a strong foundation in the basics of the language first. This includes key vocabulary and grammar specific to their academic subjects. I use varied resources like visual aids, interactive exercises, and real-world examples to make complex concepts more accessible. Regular practice and reinforcement, tailored to individual learning paces, ensure that students gradually gain confidence in using the language academically. Encouraging them to engage with the language outside the classroom, through reading and multimedia content, further enhances their proficiency.