Newcomers encounter many changes at once: a new school community, country, and new language. Newcomer ELD instruction can help them navigate this as part of general ELA classes, a summer program, or a dedicated course. Focus newcomer English lessons on developing foundational English skills across all four domains, and help students connect to relevant content areas. Effective ELD lessons support and engage multilingual learners (MLs) as they learn language and content through meaningful tasks. Having a five-step instructional routine helps us do this.
Step One – Explore
Begin lessons with open exploration, activating prior knowledge. Encourage students to share what they know about the unit theme or topic(s), based on their home culture and experiences. Preview visuals, key vocabulary, phrases, and sentences (e.g., Essential questions).
Step Two – Learn
Provide direct, contextualized instruction on standards-based topics. Introduce key vocabulary, grammar, phonics, and reading through various modalities, such as audio, visuals, and print. Offer multiple opportunities to match oral sounds and words to print in English. Use audio to reinforce sound-symbol associations. Have MLs listen to text wherever possible.
Step Three – Practice
Offer varied, hands-on practice across all language domains. Engage students in activities based on unit goals. Use visuals and audio: play games or make flashcards using high-frequency words or phonics patterns. Scaffold grammar and vocabulary using sentence frames. Encourage daily writing, whether it be a word or a sentence. Teach students to underline, highlight, and write new words in a log. Practice can be digital, pen to paper, or a combination/ Tailor practice to your classroom’s needs.
Step Four – Communicate
Facilitate opportunities for students to articulate their learning through partner, group, or individual work. Encourage cultural discussions and use sentence frames for structured conversations. Model expected language output and provide both oral and written tasks. Allow students to practice and rehearse oral presentations or discussions. Have students point out and verbalize phonetic patterns. Students will use the English they hear, so provide constant modeling of expected output.
Step Five – Assess
Assessments should be formative and summative. Formative assessment focuses on the learning process and identifies any gaps. These include quick activities, games, fluency monitoring, writing samples, and comprehension checks. Use formative assessment data to respond to individual student needs and tailor instruction. Assess students sequentially. Summative assessments evaluate student knowledge and skills at the end of a period, section, unit, or term. Provide MLs with clear models and steps, particularly for writing, and use prompts for listening and speaking.
Additional Tips and Strategies
- Use age-appropriate and current materials (e.g., Vista’s Get Ready! series).
- Support adaptive practice tools like Boost.
- Follow the ELD standards (WIDA, ELPA21, CCSS, etc.) recommended by your district or school.
- Learn about students’ families and cultures.
- Highlight cognates.
- Post high-frequency word lists.
- Preview visuals (charts, tables).
- Help students decode and spell (use decodable readers where available)
- Post a writing process chart (plan, draft, revise, present).
- Read aloud and use audio.
- Use manipulatives (or have students make them)
Offering newcomer English instruction will set up your MLs for academic success. We want to value our students, their contributions, and their experiences. Building an effective ELD instructional routine with appropriate materials will support a culturally responsive classroom, family involvement, differentiated instruction, and build foundational literacy in all the ways that matter.
By Katalyn Vidal Loveless, Ed.M.
References:
Trujillo, J. L., & Raducanu, A. L. (2021). Get Ready! Language, Literacy, Content Grades 9-12 Teacher’s Edition. Vista Higher Learning.
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