4A) High-quality and extended talk
Provide high-quality and extended talk in each language, including longer utterances with varied vocabulary, a mix of open-ended and scaffolding questions, providing child friendly definitions for new or unfamiliar words, recasting or repeating an erroneous utterance in a corrected form, and engaging in back-and-forth exchanges.
Video: Barrier Games
This video shows PreK students engaged in barrier games, a fun activity that builds speaking and listening skills.Read More
Video: Making Butter—Small Group Instruction
In this video, the teacher works on a hands-on project to make butter with Multilingual Learners. The small group instruction supports multiple opportunities to practice oral language and writing in an authentic context.Read More
Video: Soyul & Teacher Yvette—Beginning a New Language
This video is a series of excerpts from the first months of preschool for Soyul, a Korean-speaking Multilingual Learner. The video showcases instructional moves that the teacher, Yvette, makes to teach English language development during Soyul's initial silent period.Read More
Video & Video Guide: Adventures in Preschool Second Language Acquisition
This video showcases the relationship between one teacher and one Korean-speaking Multilingual Learner and her family. The video includes vignettes of teaching, interviews with the teacher, the family, and administrators, and many rich examples of English development teaching strategies. The accompanying guide suggests moments in the video to pause to notice teachers’ practice, along with prompts for reflection and discussion.Read More
Blog Series: Shifting Towards a Multilingual View of Biliteracy
This series includes 4 blog posts that are useful for teachers and administrators who are new to biliteracy models for instruction. The posts include information to help understand and advocate for these models for instruction.Read More
Resource Guide: Barrier Games
This is a list of resources for barrier games to use in the classroom. These games are designed to encourage oral language practice since one student is given information that another student needs.Read More
Digital Book: Developing Oral Language with Barrier Games
Barrier games are designed to promote oral language since one student is given information that another partner student needs. The lesson design encourages students to ask information of one another. This resource provides many example barrier games.Read More
Webinar: Promoting Oracy in Spanish Language / El desarollo de la oralidad en español (Spanish)
This webinar given in Spanish focuses on developing oracy for Multilingual Learners. The research-based considerations for lesson design and example activities are introduced to support the development of oral expression, fluency, and comprehension during instruction.Read More
Strategy Overview: Talk Moves
This resource offers specific teacher language to use in order to facilitate and structure classroom discussions. These talk moves help create quality opportunities for Multilingual Learners to practice and use oral language.Read More
Strategy Overview: Bounce Cards for Primary Grades (Spanish and blank for other L1)
This strategy sets teachers up to distribute role cards to build structured conversation and promote quality oral language practice in the classroom.Read More
Strategy Overview: Bounce Cards for Primary Grades (English)
This strategy sets teachers up to distribute role cards to build structured conversation and promote quality oral language practice in the classroom.Read More
Strategy Overview: Narrative Input
After a shared reading of a text, students retell, act out, and/or capture key vocabulary and content information with a variety of experiences. This multi-day strategy builds on student's storytelling and oral language skills.Read More
Blog: The Potential of Wordless Picture Books with English Learners
Wordless picture books can be "read" in many different ways with Multilingual Learners, both at home or in the classroom, to provide instruction on book concepts, to practice oral language fluency, and make connections between multiple languages.Read More
Website Article: Many Languages, One Classroom
This article offers explicit strategies for teachers who have language-diverse classrooms. Ideas are offered on how to partner with families and set up a culturally and linguistically responsive classroom environment.Read More
Strategy Overview: Supporting Oral Language
To develop language, children need many opportunities to practice speaking. This overview describes how teachers can support families to give Multilingual Learners opportunities to practice oral language.Read More
Strategy Overview: Teacher as Language Model
This resource outlines strategies teachers can use to model and extend Multilingual Learners' oral language skills. Strategies include narration (describing what the teacher is seeing and thinking) and amplification (paraphrasing a child's statement in more complex and extended language and asking a follow-up question).Read More
Video: Home-School Connection and Projects
Opportunities for curriculum-based learning at home help build relationships with families and support language development for Multilingual Learners. This video showcases an example of a home-school project presentation in a preschool classroom where educators provide high-quality extended talk in multiple languages and provide hands-on, inquiry-based experiences.Read More
Tip Sheet: Communication with Parents / Comunicación con los padres
This bilingual (Spanish) document explains to parents the benefits of speaking a home language. Advice is shared on how to develop oral home language proficiency and provide high-quality and extended talk opportunities for children.Read More
Video & Video Guide: Complex Oral Language
This video emphasizes the importance of immersing Multilingual Learners in an environment with high-quality and extended talk in each language. Teachers can ask questions to elicit complex oral language from children. The accompanying guide suggests moments in the video to pause to notice teachers’ practice, along with prompts for reflection and discussion.Read More
Video: Supporting Home Language through Language Models
This video discusses how "language models" can support Multilingual Learners by integrating English and the home language(s) into classroom activities and conversations throughout the day. Parents and other speakers of children’s home languages can join classroom activities to support children’s development of multiple languages. Language models can provide high-quality and extended talk in each language, including a variety of questions to elicit talk from children.Read More
