Module Overview
Building strong relationships with your students is one key to effective teaching—especially when working with multilingual learners, who bring unique linguistic and cultural backgrounds into the classroom. In this module, you’ll explore foundational principles for teaching multilingual learners and reflect on how these align with your own values and practices. You’ll also take time to consider what you already know about the multilingual learners in your classroom and create a plan to learn more about their strengths, experiences, and perspectives. Through interactive activities and practical tools, you’ll begin to connect this knowledge to broader topics like scaffolding, language objectives, and assessment—helping you design more inclusive, language-rich classrooms where all learners can thrive.
Introduction Video
Connections to the
MLRC School Improvement Framework
The MLRC School Improvement Framework identifies key research-based components essential for the success of multilingual students in international schools. The framework has been designed to reflect the nested nature of schools as complex ecosystems, with students at the center. The framework is organized across four levels: student, classroom, program, and school. For each of the levels, the framework identifies important themes, research connections and key indicators
1.1.3. Dispositions about multilingualism
Faculty explicitly share positive beliefs about multilingualism. They consider languages and multilingualism to be part of the core provision of the school.
1.1.7. Linguistic landscape
School's physical, virtual, and social environment reflects the multilingual nature of students, families and community.
3.1.1. Planning for MLs in the curriculum
Curriculum is designed with needs of MLs in mind, and there is evidence of planning for language acquisition opportunities throughout all curriculum planning.
3.3.3. Culturally and linguistically appropriate resources
School resources, including the library, reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of the student body at all levels.
3.2.5. Peer collaboration
Faculty ensure all students have opportunities to make meaning through language and to share their knowledge and language with peers.
3.3.4. Adaptive teaching
Faculty implement adaptive teaching strategies to meet the needs of students with varied levels of language proficiency.
3.2.3. Co-assessing and co-reflecting
Classroom/subject teachers work collaboratively in teams and with language specialists to develop appropriate assessments and interpret ML performance.
3.3.1. High leverage/core practices
Faculty implement high-leverage/core teaching strategies to meet the needs of MLs with varied levels of language proficiency.
3.3.2. Content-area language instruction
Language is explicitly developed across all areas of the curriculum in primary, and in secondary there is attention paid to disciplinary literacy in subject areas.
3.4.1. Adaptive assessment and monitoring
Faculty are able to implement adaptive assessment and monitoring strategies to meet the needs of students with varied levels of language proficiency.
4.3.1. Belonging
MLs express and exhibit high levels of social and academic belonging within the school context.
4.3.2. Well-being
MLs demonstrate high levels of well-being. In particular, attention is paid to new arrivals and/or students with low levels of proficiency in instructional languages, to support their transition to academic and community life.
4.3.4. Multilingual identity
Students’ linguistic identities are recognized and nurtured as complex, dynamic and essential parts of who they are. Students embrace multilingual, multicultural identities rather than focusing on English proficiency as a marker of identity.
Curriculum
- 9 Sections
- 41 Lessons
- Lifetime
- 0. Welcome!1
- 1. Know Your Learners5
- 2. Setting Up Learning5
- 3. Teaching Language through Content: Language Demands5
- 4. Teaching Language through Content: Literacy demands5
- 5. Language Goals: Setting Language Objectives5
- 6. Support Language and Content: Scaffolding5
- 7. Supporting Oral Language Development and Collaboration5
- 8. Checking for Understanding5
