TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR WORKING WITH BILINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS

Strategy #1
Parent Interview for
Background Information
/ Some BMLs can slip through the cracks in schools in terms of being identified. This can be a result of inadequate information collection at admission, inaccurate information provided by parents or even because of the student’s strong proficiency in social language/BICS (which can give the impression of a native-like speaker).
In order to ensure that you have the “full story” on potential BMLs, ensure that you gather the right information from parents. Also, a short, focused interview with a parent (using a translator or their MT as required) will help you to better identify BMLs as well as allow you to collect important background information on them. For example, it is good for you to know their language background, languages spoken by each parent (and caregivers), percentage of time the child is exposed to different languages, schools they have previously attended and which language-medium they were instructed in, etc. You should use a “PARENT INTERVIEW SHEET” to gather this information efficiently and use it to properly identify BMLs and their potential needs.
Strategy #2
Identify Vocabulary Stage &
Learning Trajectories
/ The English Language Progression Map (ELP Map) is a tool which should be used to identify BML students’ vocabulary and literacy progress over the short and long-term.
Teachers can use this tool to better understand the trajectories of students as well as signal them to any potential “hot spots” along the way. This can help them to better plan and target their support for students.
Strategy #3
Language Investigation
/ Find out about the languages that your students speak. Learn about the phonemics, grammar features, number of loanwords (cognates) and how they are similar/ different to the English language. Also, try to understand how the language interconnects with cultural traditions. This information can be invaluable to understanding your students more deeply.
For example, knowing that individuals from Korea do not often use the personal pronoun, “I,” but prefer to say, “we,” because of the collective nature of their culture, can give you an inside look at why some BMLs continue to make language errors long after you feel they should have reached mastery.
Teachers should also explicitly share this information with the student and support them in thinking about their languages, especially for reading and writing.
Strategy #4
Learning through the
Mother-Tongue
/ As we know, allowing BMLs to use their MT is very helpful for a variety of reasons, mainly because it provides the student with a “thinking language.” Students can (and should!) be encouraged to work in their MT for different types of work/ assignments/ projects. This can make things easier for them and also for the teacher, especially if students have literacy skills in their MT. The MT can allow them to think deeply about a topic or idea, can enable them to brainstorm, think through a complex problem or even allow them to access books about a topic in their language. MT Literate students can even access books translated in their language to keep up with learning when the grade/ year-level English book is beyond their independent comprehension level. Even if the teacher does not speak the student’s language, another staff, volunteer or parent can be called upon to translate it. If the child is able to, they can even go through the work and explain the translation to you themselves.
The student might also find it helpful to start writing tasks by first writing in their MT and then translating it into English later.
Strategy #5
15-Minute Reading
15-Minute Writing
/ BML students require extensive focus on literacy in order to “catch up” over time. Even when BML students reach native-like oral proficiency, in many cases they are still behind in their independent literacy skills.
Teachers should ensure every BML student is always on a reading programme and being monitored regularly. They should also ensure that these books are matched to their level. Opportunities for reading practice must be created within the school so that all students can make continual progress. Teaching strategies to help students reach the next level should be taught.
The same should be done for writing. BML students should be encouraged to write daily in journals or for specific purposes. They need to have one or two goals for grammar, punctuation and spelling each month. Do not overwhelm them by having them attend to many different targets. As they write, they will become more proficient in the writing process as well as applying conventions of writing.
Strategy #6
Mini-Thesaurus
/ BML students often become stagnant in their independent writing because they tend to overuse the same vocabulary words over and over. This is the time when they need to be “pushed” gently and supported to use a wider range of more expressive words. Vocabulary has a direct positive impact on the level of student writing.
The problem is that many students cannot use new words if they don’t know them, or are not given any strategies or tools to actively learn them. A word list or “Mini-Thesaurus” is an ideal tool to use with your students so that they can easily replace repetitive words like, “good” or “nice” with more advanced vocabulary words like, “excited” or “friendly,” for example.
You can use a Mini-Thesaurus to meet the needs of different levels of learners. Even if you have students at the Foundational Language stage, you can highlight just a few words from their Thesaurus that they can focus on and learn with repeated use (until they are proficient and ready to move onto new ones).
Strategy #7
High-Frequency, Academic Words
/ The Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000) is a list of academic vocabulary words which provides the most frequent and useful words for academic purposes. It is used for a range of subjects and disciplines. It is especially helpful for BML learners to learn these specific words in order to aid comprehension for assignments, tests and higher-level reading and thinking, etc.
It takes many interactions (8-14 times) with a word before a BML student will recognize and understand it. Teachers need to teach these specific words and use them across a variety of contexts in order for students to recognize, recall and use them independently. Post them inside the classroom, have translations for them in students’ MTs and be deliberate in your use of these words. As time goes on, BML students will begin to know them and use them too!
You can begin with these words, some of which are used from around age 8 upwards: analyze, define, describe, demonstrate, evaluate, identify, interpret, investigate, summarize.
Strategy #8
Greek & Latin Roots
/ Many of the academic words and low-frequency words stem from Greek and Latin roots so it is important for students to know how to work with and break up these words for meaning. For example, many Greek roots include: auto (self); bio (life); hydr- (hydrate; water); micro (small), etc. Common Latin roots include: ambi (both); dict (to say); ject (throw), etc. It is helpful to teach the most high-frequency Greek/Latin roots in order for students to better access their subject specific vocabulary with greater ease. You can also access a list of the most common/useful affixes from Nation (2015).
Strategy #9
Narrow Reading
/ Narrow Reading simply means reading within a specific or defined topic/subject area. This strategy is very effective for secondary students learning about specific subject areas for their classes, and especially for their preparation for university studies. Specific disciplines have their own technical vocabulary words and narrow reading provides more exposure (coverage) and repetition of the most widely used words within that particular subject area.