When I was a little girl, I remember playing with small toys called Micro Machines. Those tiny cars had all the power of Hot Wheels cars but were half their size. Microlearning does the same for English language development. Small doses of educational content make a large impact. Successful microlearning platforms and strategies incorporate short bursts of learning into our busy lifestyles. Students need this kind of support at all proficiency levels.
What is Microlearning?
Microlearning is an educational strategy. Deliver content in small, manageable units to enhance engagement. It is flexible and allows us to deliver lessons in short formats like videos, infographics, and quizzes. Microlearning is short, 2-10 minutes for maximum impact. It is accessible and caters to diverse learning styles and preferences. It focuses on one concept or skill, is actionable, and can provide immediate feedback where possible. Research suggests that microlearning improves student comprehension and retention by breaking complex information into “digestible” chunks. Let’s look at how microlearning can work for our multilingual learners.
After aligning multilingual resources to ELD standards, microlearning can focus on phonics, reading comprehension, oral language, and writing. The success of microlearning is based on the availability of learning materials, technology, and student characteristics. Let’s find out how to make ELD lessons more portable.
- Microlearning – Phonics
In Get Ready!, newcomers in grades K-12 have explicit phonics lessons in every unit. Lessons teach sounds, sound-spelling patterns, and decoding rooted in academic themes. Teachers can assign phonics tutorial videos with embedded interactive practice to reinforce the lesson. There are additional speaking and listening activities that build phonemic awareness; students can listen, repeat, compare, and review pronunciation anywhere, anytime.
Boost is the only standards-aligned adaptive and personalized literacy program combining reading and phonics for grades K-8. Boost is a platform that can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. Phonics falls under the Foundational Skills section of the program. Teachers assign phonics mini-lessons and handwriting videos for students to complete independently from there. There is also a phonics game to provide interactive and dynamic practice with immediate feedback.
- Microlearning – Reading Comprehension
Get Ready! recognizes that comprehension can be challenging in English classes for newcomers. Reading must be active, expose students to various genres, and provide relevance. ELs bring their experiences and background into reading. The science of reading suggests that reading comprehension begins with read-alouds and scaffolded texts. We teach students metacognitive strategies like setting a purpose, checking for meaning, making inferences, summarizing, and focusing on relevant text structures. This is crucial for ELs to be able to succeed in content-area lessons. Teachers using Get Ready! can assign content-area readings in math, social studies, science, writing for all grade levels, as well as rotating elective lessons for grades 6-12. Readings are chunked with embedded audio and highlighting to give newcomers the scaffolding they need.
Boost uses adaptive software to provide individual instruction and targeted interventions using chunked readings. Mini-lesson videos appear during reading comprehension quizzes and before completing any writing prompt activity. Teachers can also assign mini-lessons directly. Topics are relevant to the readings that students complete (e.g., finding the main character, keywords that repeat, and finding main idea). These are effective because they support students in the moment and help teachers tailor future instruction.
- Microlearning – Oral Language
Get Ready! approaches oral language by combining skills in phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension. Once students know how different sounds in spoken language connect to letters, they can decipher words. ELs need to build receptive and expressive language skills to reach proficiency. Get Ready! cultivates these across each lesson by providing multiple, short, and repeated opportunities to practice the language they learn. Teachers can also assign digital activities called Video Virtual Chats to practice engaging, academic conversations with listening and speaking.
Boost offers oral activities supported by video lessons and speaking games. Students’ progress from Novice Low to Intermediate Mid 1 across thematic units. Each unit has a mini-video lesson on topics relevant for oral language development and language function (e.g., I can say my name, I can introduce people and say what they do). Games in this section enhance and deepen the learning. Students can enter the virtual world ChatterCity and explore buildings as they navigate. Each building opens up the game, Speed Pair Tutorial.In this game, students practice listening and speaking words, sentences, or question/answer pairs. They click to listen to reference audio, then record. Quests is a timed partner game for intermediate-level students: a “hacker” and an “agent.” The hacker and the agent must work together to solve everyday problems (e.g., where Mayor Panda can check out books, eat pizza, and buy vegetables).
- Microlearning – Writing
Get Ready! understands that writing skills usually develop after listening, reading and speaking, especially for younger ELs developing oral and written expression skills at the same time. Microlearning here integrates content and activities from all domains. Activities vary, based on the age of our students.
Elementary activities might include:
- Label the picture
- Matching pictures to sentences
- Listening to words and circling their beginning sound
- Capitalize the first letter of each sentence (3-5)
- Choose the correct verb (e.g. “She run/runs fast”)
- Combining ideas (e.g., I like apples. I like bananas, using “and”)
Secondary activities might include:
- Give one example of why dogs are good pets (e.g., Dogs are good friends)
- Identify the sequence of events in the (chunked) reading using pre-taught sequencing words
- Connect two related sentences (e.g., First, Mrs. Lee draws a picture. She measures 25 feet of metal, using pre-taught transition words
- Rewrite the sentence using a different starting word
- Read the captions about Earth’s history (provide age-appropriate visuals). Make a timeline of three important events based on the captions and images.
By the end of each unit, students are ready for a final writing piece. Get Ready! K-12 provides an age-appropriate model, then uses a step-by-step writing approach; students write their name, plan their writing and drawing, share writing with the teacher for feedback, share writing in pairs, then “publish” and share with the class.
Teachers assign writing prompts in Boost based on what students read. The writing process includes guided and independent practice (e.g., video mini-lessons, graphic organizers, checklists). Mini-lesson videos in this category help students understand informative, opinion, narrative, and response writing. Topics include drawing ideas with details, writing complete sentences, and other strategies to build writing proficiency.
Microlearning brings flexibility and accessibility back to the ELD classroom. From mini-video lessons to gamified activities to speaking practice, English language learners have the chance to learn, grow, and engage in new and exciting ways. It is very effective for language acquisition, especially when customized to provide various learning scenarios. Let’s give our students Hot Wheels, Micro Machine style.
By Katalyn Vidal Loveless, Ed.M.
References:
Ghafar, Z. N., Abdullkarim, S. T., Mhamad, L. M., Kareem, R. A., Rasul, P. A., & Mahmud, T. I. (2023). Microlearning as a learning tool for teaching and learning in acquiring language: Applications, advantages, and influences on the language. 1 Canadian Journal of Educational and Social Studies, 3(2), 45–62. 2 https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v3i2.127
Trujillo, J. L., (2022). Get Ready! Sail: Language, Literacy, Content Teacher’s Edition. Vista Higher Learning.
Trujillo, J. L. (2022). Get Ready! Soar: Language, Literacy, Content Teacher’s Edition. Vista Higher Learning.
Trujillo, J. L., & Raducanu, A. L. (2021). Get Ready! Language, Literacy, Content Grades 9-12 Teacher’s Edition. Vista Higher Learning.
Vista Higher Learning. (n.d.). Learn about Boost. Avanza Boost. Retrieved [May 5, 2025], from https://learn.vistahigherlearning.com/avanza-boost/learn-about-boost.html
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