Starting at my new school in the United States, I remember the clang of the bell and some of the students running with joy to go inside the building, while others slowly dragged their feet. For some students, a return to the secure routine of school is a welcome change from summer. For still others, it is a different experience altogether. Whether students feel angst or excitement (or both!), it is our role as educators to ensure that all students are welcomed and feel comfortable and ready to learn. In particular, multilingual learners—and especially newcomers, who are still acclimating to their new context—need to feel secure. The good news is that a welcoming classroom and school building can be a place to foster reliability and consistency for multilingual learners, so they can grow and learn.
Creating a predictable routine is one of the simplest strategies to implement in a classroom, but it’s extremely important in reducing anxiety. Because newcomers and beginning-level language learners don’t always understand every word being said at school, having set patterns helps them relax. If they know what to expect, they can focus more of their energy on learning. This begins immediately when families walk into the building.
There are a variety of things to consider so you can kick off the school year in a positive way:
- Ensure the building is physically welcoming!
- TIP: Place visuals, infographics, and multilingual messages of welcome outside each entrance to the building. Most schools today have security requirements to enter, which, while necessary for safety, can feel very formal or even off-putting. Multilingual signage and positive, colorful notes of welcome help families and students know where to go. Of course, teachers, administrators, staff, and peers helping people in person is important as well! Check out our other blog post on making connections: Coming Together: Family and Community Involvement Are Key to School Success.
- Open the year by sending a positive, personalized non-academic comment to each family about their child. You can also send home a positive note (or brief email or text message) in the child’s home language. Even a short, positive phrase can be affirming and encouraging. Be sure to use the school-to-home letters available in multiple languages on the Get Ready!, Connect, Bridges, and/or Engage Supersites.
- Find out what families need and ensure basic needs are met (e.g, food insecurity, knowledge of school navigation, etc.). These can be addressed by a family liaison, ideally someone who is bilingual.
- Lower the affective filter and pay close attention to social-emotional messages.
- TIP: Start the class with informal opportunities and activities that help students feel comfortable. Avoid icebreakers that demand vulnerability or ask too much of students right away. Instead, pair students up for activities that invite them to get to know each other in a low-risk but engaging manner.
- Meet students where they are, and get to know where that is academically, linguistically, culturally, and socially.
- TIP: CULTURAL/SOCIAL: Start with the funds of knowledge students bring forward on background, special talents, likes, cultural knowledge, and abilities, and make note of them for yourself in a private log, chart, or device. Write down anything that can help you connect.
- TIP: LANGUAGE: Keep anecdotal records of linguistic observations beyond the formal language assessments required within the first 30 days of student enrollment. Use the language transfer charts included in Get Ready! and all Vista ELD curricula to note sources of transfer (Zero Transfer: where students are learning sounds or words from scratch; Negative Transfer: where students may substitute sounds or symbols from their home language; and Positive Transfer: where students share common sounds, symbols, and other components with their home language and English that can be built upon).
- TIP: ACADEMICS: Use language assessments as the actual starting point for language and content learning, not just page 1 of the text. Be ready to differentiate so students start the year on a path to success! All Vista programs have several resources in print and online to help you differentiate by language level.
Most importantly, have fun, be open, be flexible, and take time to learn about each student’s and family’s unique background, experiences, and culture. Capitalize on opportunities to incorporate the knowledge they possess, so they can enrich the classroom and school community throughout the year.
For more back-to-school tips, check out Managing Back to School Anxiety: Tips and Tricks from the Movie Inside Out 2.
By Dr. Jenni Trujillo
Also read:
The Impact of Summer Programs for Multilingual Learners
Using Consistent Curricular Routines for Multilingual Learners
