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There are many reasons why learners may be recommended for language acquisition support. It is important to note that multilingual learners may not qualify for language support if there proficiency assessment rates them near a grade-level native-speaker proficiency. As stated earlier, learners also move through the language acquisition process at different rates and may "test out" or no longer qualify for language support at different times. The care providers of multilingual students who qualify for language support may also refuse formal language support at their discretion. Always check with your cooperating teacher or school site ESL coordinator for information related to supporting the learners in your specific classroom context.
Multilingual Learners: Individuals who have "Languages Beyond English" (LBE)
Once students are identified as eligible for language support through the WIDA proficiency assessment system, there are three further "types" of language learner required to be distinguished and identified for support within Minnesota state education law as identified by current research. A link to policies regarding English Learner Education in Minnesota is provided for you here.
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2) SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education are students who do not have continuous educational experience equivalent to their age/grade level, usually due to refugee or other immigration-related life experiences. Minnesota was the first state to create policies to identify and support SLIFE specifically.
3) *L-TEL: "Long-Term English Learners" are students who have received English language support services for eight or more years within the U.S. school system. (*also abbreviated as LTELLs for "Long Term English Language Learners").
Language Learners' needs, strengths, and challenges can vary dramatically, even within the same classroom or among students from the same background.
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One you have gathered the data about a students WIDA score, perhaps by asking your cooperating teacher, you can use the Can Do Descriptors to decide what your student "can do" without support and where additional language supports may be needed. The WIDA "Can Do" grade level descriptors for all 6 proficiency levels are linked in 6.5b Academic Language Objective: WIDA Resources - for Teaching Multilingual Learners within your SOE Lesson Plan Handbook. For more information about the philosophy guiding the creation of the Can Do Descriptors for supporting language learners, you can view this 2 minute video produced by WIDA or view this PDF:
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So, let's continue our example with our context. Let's say our example lesson objective relates an 11th grade Earth Science class and the following MN Science Standard and benchmark. I've pasted this MN Science Standard here so that you can see it in it's original language:
The objective, then, for this lesson with "Tuaha" could be something like: "Students will be able to (SWBAT) gather and synthesize information related to the how climate change impacts one MN American Indian Tribe through the oral presentation of a guest speaker representing the local tribal indigenous community".
For Tuaha and his classmates, I would present the objective as an "I Can" statement using student-friendly language as follows: "I can synthesize the phenomena related to climate change presented by our guest speaker from our (local) tribal community." (See 2.3 Central Focus and Alignment linked here and in this handbook for details on how to create your own "I Can" statements for use with students). I would use this opportunity to familiarize my 11th graders with the term "phenomena", one of the academic language forms they should be able to use when talking about their gathered data.
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Step Three: Consult What Your Multilingual Student(s) "Can Do"
Refer to WIDA's "Can Do" descriptors, linked for you in 6.5b Academic Language Objective: WIDA Resources - for Teaching Multilingual Learners of this handbook and found on the WIDA website under "Resources" or "Recursos En Español."
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However, I also consider that my guest speaker will not be speaking in statements spaced by large amounts of "wait time", or a slower rate of speech than is normally used for story-telling and extended narration which can best be understood in a paragraph-like format. I then realize that Tuaha may need an accommodation or support to help him keep pace with this oral presentation by our guest speaker.
Next, I will then consult tools like the matrices and charts below to inform my decisions and consider what may help Tuaha navigate this discourse level academic language need.
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Finally, I consult the scaffolds to support Tuaha in the specific area of Listening using the "Go To Strategies Matrix" provided below. Here is the relative excerpt for "Listening":
I see that strategy recommendations for supports and accommodations include the above "Level 2- Emerging" notations and look to where Tuaha is moving towards in "Level 3- Developing". I decide that I will request our guest speaker to take frequent breaks for questions and to provide "wait time" for Tuaha in chunks. I allow Tuaha to speak to peers in class in order to clarify his understanding in English or his native language during these "Turn and Talk" times (see "Strategy Cards" below). This should assist all students, as well as Tuaha.
Next, I consider that Tuaha and my other level 2 and 3 proficient students may benefit from having a graphic organizer provided for them in order to contextualize the guest speaker's narrative within my objective. I decide to use a simple T-chart graphic organizer, with one side labeled for comments and dates describing the phenomena given by the guest speaker, and one side labeled for Inferences and Insights students may have that could support their final synthesis relative to the stated science objective.
More examples of scaffolds, accommodations, and supports that would be helpful for Tuaha are located in the sample "Multilingual Learner Profile" located above and linked again for you HERE for your convenience.see that Level 2 English learners can better understand spoken language that is "patterned or routine", which I note that my guest speaker will most likely not be using. I note that I already decided to model the form or term "phenomena" in my student-friendly lesson objective, which aligns with Tuaha's possible need to have academic language and vocabulary modeled. I note that Level 3 English learners often benefit from frequent comprehension checks and graphic organizers to sequence, along with ample "wait time" between oral utterances.
I decide that I will request our guest speaker to take frequent breaks for questions and to provide "wait time" for Tuaha in chunks. I allow Tuaha to speak to peers in class in order to clarify his understanding in English or his native language during these "Turn and Talk" times (see "Strategy Cards" below) as well as provide an opportunity for Tuaha to possibly share any background connection or deep understanding that he may have regarding our topic and objective. This opportunity to interact and share should assist all students, as well as Tuaha.
Next, I consider that Tuaha and my other level 2 and 3 proficient students may benefit from having a graphic organizer provided for them in order to contextualize the guest speaker's narrative within my objective. I decide to use a simple T-chart graphic organizer, with one side labeled for comments and dates describing the phenomena given by the guest speaker, and one side labeled for Inferences and Insights students may have that could support their final synthesis relative to the stated science objective.
Step Six: Record Accommodations and Supports Given
In your School of Education Lesson Plan under the section 2.5 Academic Language and Support, you are required to explain and record your accommodations and supports given for each individual student with a language level under 6.0 on the WIDA scale to show how these multilingual students will be supported to meet the grade-level instructional goals.
Some academic language accommodations and supports may be given to all students because they will assist all students in meeting the instructional objective(s), and should also be recorded in this section.
Finally then, in our example, I consolidate and list my selected supports and accommodations within the UNW Lesson plan under "Academic Language Supports" using something like the following statements:
"Tuaha" will be provided: Listening Level 2.4 Speaking Level 2.6 |
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| All Students will be provided: |
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More examples of scaffolds, accommodations, and supports that would be helpful for Tuaha are located in the sample "Multilingual Learner Profile" located above and linked again for you HERE for your convenience.
A Final Note on Accommodations and Supports for Academic Language Learning:
Please consider that academic language accommodations and selected supports are LESSON SPECIFIC. This means that listed accommodations and supports for academic language and multilingual learner supports should and will change each lesson according to the lesson objectives, tasks, and students' individual WIDA language proficiency level data. You should complete this process relative to each lesson and for each class that you teach, as this level of differentiation is not a "one-size fits all" model.
And though this particular task may seem monumental now, our program is designed to support you incrementally in this from your first field experience through student teaching. My good news for you is that Identifying supports for multilingual learners does get easier with practice! It does take practice, which is why we, in the School of Education, are here for you!
Since you may have a variety of WIDA proficiency scores represented in your class, you may need to examine the academic language and supports needed at more than one level (1-6). You may also decide that no further supports are needed for your multilingual learners to achieve their instructional goals, in which case-- you may want to consider extending your lesson's instructional objective(s), language modality (SWRL), or the complexity of the academic language used to challenge and support your learners for whom the lesson content may be too easy.
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