Insights from the Webinar: Proven Strategies for Supporting Secondary Newcomers and SLIFEs
In a recent webinar, we discussed how teachers and administrators can better support newcomer multilingual language learners as they transition to a new academic environment. We were honored to have three highly experienced current and former ELD educators with decades of classroom experience as our speakers:
David Noyes, NBCT
Head of Curriculum at Language Tree Online, National Board Certified ELD Educator, and former District ELD Coordinator at Long Beach Unified (California)
Joy Sanfilippo
Secondary Schools and iFlagler ESOL Program Specialist at Flagler County School District (Florida)
Shehnaz Wadhwania, Ed.D.
Language Acquisition Coordinator at Pleasanton Unified School District (California)
This blog article highlights the key takeaways and strategies from the lively panel discussion.
1
Start by Evaluating the Individual Needs of Newcomers
Newcomers are not a monolith—they come from diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds. Here are some initial considerations that will help with language acquisition and assimilation:
- Language Typology: Teachers must identify whether students’ native languages are Latin-based or use non-Latin scripts. This influences the resources and scaffolds required for literacy development.
- Basic Needs Assessment: Are their basic needs being met? Schools must ensure basic needs like food and clothing are met before focusing on instruction.
- Existing Responsibilities: Secondary newcomers may have responsibilities beyond school, such as caring for siblings or working part-time. Education may not be at the forefront of their daily lives.
To better understand your newcomers, build relationships with families early on. A welcome call communicates care and can reveal valuable information about the student’s background, helping teachers tailor their support.
Recognize that newcomer students also face social-emotional challenges. They are entering an unfamiliar school and social environment. Pairing newcomers with “language buddies” helps them navigate school environments, reducing anxiety and building familiarity. As a teacher, you can facilitate newcomers’ adjustment through school tours, buddy systems, and introductions to staff.
2
Create a Safe and Inclusive Learning Environment
Building a supportive classroom culture is critical for newcomers to thrive. Teachers can foster this environment through these intentional strategies:
- Peer Mentorship: Pairing newcomers with peer mentors can ease their transition. These peer mentors can help guide students in both academic settings and social situations, such as lunch breaks or school events.
- Acknowledging Students’ Heritage Languages: Teachers should validate the linguistic knowledge students bring from their native languages. Encouraging students to express understanding in multiple ways—whether visually, orally, or in their native language—can increase engagement and build confidence.
- Feedback and Growth Mindset: Consistent feedback on language development helps students set achievable goals. Teachers can push students incrementally by encouraging them to use more complex sentence structures, fostering continuous growth, much like leveling up in a video game.
3
Managing a Mixed Proficiency Level Classroom
One recurring challenge for teachers is balancing instruction when students are at different levels of proficiency in a classroom. Newcomers often enter throughout the school year, further complicating classroom management. Here are some suggestions from the panelists to help teachers ensure their ELLs succeed:
- Data-Driven Instruction: Conduct initial language placement tests to determine students’ English proficiency levels. Then use this data to tailor the instruction.
- Gradual Release Model: Begin with whole-class instruction to introduce new content and provide context. Use small group work for targeted intervention at the student’s current proficiency levels and independent work with resources for continued growth. Then bring everyone back together for reinforcement and collaborative learning.
- Differentiation Strategies: Utilize various strategies like graphic organizers, sentence starters, and peer support to cater to different learning styles and proficiency levels. Teachers should group students intentionally—sometimes with peers at similar levels for focused practice, and other times with more proficient peers for language modeling.
4
Hold Newcomers to the Same High Standards
Keep the rigor high, but remember to add scaffolds. Maintaining high academic standards for ELs while providing the necessary scaffolds for success is important. The panelists caution against lowering expectations, as doing so can leave students underprepared for future academic and real-world challenges.
- Scaffold Content Access: Utilize tools like graphic organizers, cognates (similar words across languages), and Google Translate (for comprehension, not as a crutch) to make content more accessible.
- Allow for Creativity When Students Demonstrate What They Know: Provide opportunities to showcase their learning through diverse methods beyond written work, such as visual aids or presentations. For instance, when teaching complex literary materials like Macbeth, assign different groups to create visual or graphic interpretations of each act or chapter. This allows all students, even those with limited English proficiency, to engage meaningfully without diluting the rigor of the lesson.
- Encourage Active Participation (with Support): Encourage active participation through summarizing discussions, paraphrasing, and restating information. For beginner-level learners, provide structured prompts and sentence stems for speaking and writing to build students’ confidence in academic language.
- Academic Vocabulary Development: Integrate explicit vocabulary instruction across all subjects, focusing on Greek and Latin roots that form the foundation of many academic words. Teaching roots and affixes helps students decode unfamiliar academic vocabulary across disciplines, providing them with tools for independent learning.
5
Collaborating with the Larger Community to Build Capacity
ELL teachers do not need to shoulder the responsibility of language development alone. Language development is a shared responsibility across the school community. The panelists talked about ways content teachers and student peers can support ELs:
- Sheltering Content: Content area teachers can use visuals, scaffolds, and simplified language to make lessons accessible without compromising content rigor. For example, identifying key cognates or providing pictorial input can enhance comprehension.
- Integrating Language Goals into Content Instruction: Embedding language into content goals is also important. This involves integrating academic vocabulary and sentence structures into content lessons, ensuring students learn subject matter and language skills simultaneously. Teachers in subjects like math and science may need training in designing lessons with both language and content objectives. Therefore, teachers should be trained in integrating language development goals into subject-area instruction, focusing on vocabulary, sentence structures, and language functions. This ensures seamless integration of academic language into daily instruction.
- Peer Support: Building a community where student peers actively support each other helps ELs and fosters leadership skills among native English speakers
Conclusion: Supporting Newcomers for Long-Term Success
The insights shared in the webinar reflect the importance of a holistic approach to supporting secondary newcomers and SLIFEs. Teachers must recognize students’ individual needs, maintain high expectations, and provide scaffolds that enable success. Integrating language and content goals, fostering a positive classroom culture, and leveraging peer relationships are all essential strategies to empower newcomers to reach their full potential.
Learn more about Language Tree's Newcomer Resources. For additional instructional support, educators can reach out to Language Tree Online’s Head of Curriculum using the Contact Us form below.