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 …
L1 karaoke
Karaoke is a great language development activity across all skill areas. Many of our EAL learners love singing, especially in their home language. Using this in class can be very powerful and motivating. Activity: Ask your learners to find a karaoke song in their own language. There are many specialised websites (see list below) or your students will probably be …
Say it with GOOGLE
Google Translate is a great calculator for EAL/ESL students and has its flaws but I find it a very useful tool to use in multilingual classrooms. I especially like the audio playback function which I use for the following activity: (All students will need to have an internet connected device) Students are given a text (example below) and identify target/key …
Multilingual Displays
Most classrooms are decorated with students' work, info graphs and posters. Unfortunately they are static and are rarely used for learning. A way to make your displays more interactive is by making sure to leave space for translations for students' own languages The photo below is a great example of a multilingual display from my classroom. Every …
The Class’s Translator
As a lesson starter or activity consider using a video clip in one of the many home languages of your learners. That student should then come to the front of the class, play the video and ask the other students what they thought was said. Many students will recognise words and with help of the images the …
Multilingual Sequencing of Events
Activity: When you have an exercise in which students have to order certain events or tasks, consider writing a few sentences in some of the home languages of that class. As a result the multilingual EAL learners will be needed to complete the exercise as they will have to translate it to their peers. A strong international minded …
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 …
