Multilingual Grouping

Multilingual grouping is a fun way of using everyone's L1 and can be used in any EAL or mainstream classroom.The following example is based on a recent Year 7 Geography lesson about Hazards. As a warmer activity, give all students a card with either volcano eruption, earthquake, tsunami/flood or hurricane/typhoon/cyclone on. The students then have …

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The Multilingual Odd One Out

Show your learners three or four target words in some of the languages that are spoken in the classroom. First ask the students who don't speak that language whether they recognize the languages and perhaps the meaning of the words. If not, ask the students who do speak that language to clarify. At this moment, if time allows, get …

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How similar are these words?

Cognates are an obvious bridge to the English language and are particularly common in content areas such as Maths, Science, and Social Studies. However, many English words might also be related through other word forms or word associations. To introduce new content-related academic vocabulary,  ask your students to group them in three categories: Cognate, Somehow …

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esreveR Translation

EAL learners want and need to understand and explore the differences and similarities between English and their home language. As such, translation exercises work really well. Reverse translation is an already well-established and ancient technique. I really like it as students can see for themselves where they can improve and what they should focus on …

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Multilingual Memory

If we want classrooms to be metacognitively aware of language use then our EAL learners are some of the best resources we have to achieve this                                    Diane Leedham Activity: Students translate target vocabulary into their home language and play memory. When a card is turned the student who speaks that language says the word in her/his language …

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