2026–2027 · Asset-Based · For Teachers, Leaders & Families

Multilingual
Learners Toolkit

Teaching and supporting English learners as an asset, not a deficit: their legal rights, how language develops, program models including dual language, sheltered instruction, practical scaffolds, literacy, newcomers, and partnering with families — plus 100 tips. Sourced and evidence-based. From K12 Academics, free and with no login.

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Section 01

Welcome

Welcome to the K12academics Multilingual Learners Toolkit — a practical, asset-based guide to teaching and supporting students who are learning English while they learn everything else. It's built for mainstream teachers, ESL/bilingual specialists, and school leaders — with a strong section for families, too. These students bring a genuine strength: another language.

How to use this toolkit
Who it's for
  • Classroom teachers of every subject and grade
  • ESL/ENL and bilingual educators
  • School and district leaders and coaches
  • Families of multilingual learners
The stance this takes
  • A home language is an asset, never a deficit
  • Bilingualism is a superpower worth growing
  • Every teacher is a language teacher
  • Serving multilingual learners well is federal law

A note on words: the field increasingly says multilingual learner (ML) rather than 'English learner' (EL) or 'limited English proficient,' to center what students have — another language — rather than what they lack. We use 'multilingual learner' throughout, noting 'English learner' where it's the legal or official term. This toolkit is free and educational, not legal advice.

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Section 02

Who Are Multilingual Learners?

Multilingual learners are one of the fastest-growing groups in American schools — and far more diverse, and more likely to be U.S.-born, than many assume. A quick, myth-busting grounding.

5.3M
students — 10.6% of all public school students — are multilingual/English learners, up from 9.4% a decade earlier
NCES · fall 2021
400+
languages are spoken in U.S. public schools — though about 76% of ELs speak Spanish at home
NCES
~1 in 3
multilingual learners was born in the United States — most are not recent immigrants
NCES / district data
50 states
now award a Seal of Biliteracy recognizing students who master English and a home language
Seal of Biliteracy · 2024

The population is growing fastest in places without a long history of serving multilingual learners, so more teachers than ever have MLs in their classrooms. And the stereotype — a recently arrived immigrant — fits only some students: roughly a third were born here, many are second- or third-generation, and they span every grade, background, and level of prior schooling. What they share is that they're building English while learning grade-level content, and that they bring linguistic and cultural assets the classroom can build on.

One label, many students

'Multilingual learner' covers enormous variety: a kindergartner from a bilingual home, a newcomer teenager with strong schooling in their first language, a student with interrupted education, a long-term EL who's been in U.S. schools for years. They need different things — so the first step is always to know the individual student, not the label.

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Section 03

An Asset-Based Approach

How we think about multilingual learners shapes how we teach them. The research — and simple respect — points to one frame: a student's home language and culture are assets to build on, not problems to fix.

The asset mindset
  • A home language is a resource, not a barrier
  • Students aren't 'behind' — they're doing more (learning in two languages)
  • Culture and experience enrich the classroom for everyone
  • High expectations, with the right support
Bilingualism is a strength
  • Cognitive benefits: flexibility and metalinguistic awareness
  • A lifelong personal, cultural, and economic asset
  • Skills that transfer between languages
  • Worth developing — not just tolerating
Additive, not subtractive
  • Add English and keep the home language — don't replace it
  • Losing the home language helps no one
  • The home language supports English and content learning
  • The goal is bilingual, not monolingual
Reframe 'deficit' as 'doing more'

A multilingual learner who seems 'behind' in English is often doing something monolingual peers aren't: learning academic content and a whole new language at the same time. That's not a deficit — it's a double task deserving support and respect. The research is clear that valuing and using students' home languages improves outcomes; Colorín Colorado calls the home language a multilingual learner's most valuable resource.

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Section 04

Multilingual Learners’ Legal Rights

Serving multilingual learners isn't optional or a courtesy — it's a civil right, established by the Supreme Court and federal law. Every educator should know the basics.

The foundational law
  • Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) — bars national-origin discrimination
  • Lau v. Nichols (1974) — the same books & teachers isn't 'equal' if students can't understand
  • Equal Educational Opportunities Act (1974) — schools must overcome language barriers
  • Schools must take affirmative steps and ensure meaningful access
The Castañeda test (1981)
  • A valid EL program must be (1) based on sound educational theory
  • (2) implemented with adequate resources and staff
  • (3) evaluated and adjusted if it isn't working
  • Schools must fix a program that isn't succeeding
What schools must do
  • Identify potential MLs and assess English proficiency
  • Provide an effective language-assistance program
  • Give MLs meaningful access to grade-level content
  • Reclassify students once they're proficient — and monitor them
And must not do
  • Unjustifiably segregate MLs from peers
  • Exclude MLs from gifted, AP, or special education
  • Hold MLs in EL status indefinitely without progress
  • Communicate with families only in English (see §18)
Rights, not favors

These protections are federal law, enforced by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice. The 2015 federal 'Dear Colleague Letter' spells out schools' obligations to multilingual students and to parents with limited English proficiency. When a school falls short, families can raise concerns — this is about equal access to education, which every child is owed.

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Section 05

Identification, Assessment & Reclassification

Every multilingual learner moves through a defined process — from being identified, to receiving services, to being reclassified once proficient. Understanding it helps educators place and support students well.

Identification starts with a home language survey

When a family enrolls, a home language survey flags students whose home language may not be English. Those students are then screened for English proficiency to decide whether they qualify for language services. This is a legal requirement — not a judgment about a family.

Proficiency is measured with a standardized assessment

Most states use WIDA's ACCESS for ELLs (or a state equivalent) to measure English across listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and to place students at a proficiency level. Students are assessed annually to track growth toward proficiency.

Proficiency levels guide instruction

WIDA describes levels from Entering to Reaching (roughly, beginning to near-native). Knowing a student's level in each domain tells you what supports to provide — a student can be advanced in speaking but early in writing, and needs different scaffolds for each.

Reclassification — and monitoring — matter

When a student meets the state's criteria, they're reclassified as proficient and exit services, but the school must monitor them afterward to ensure they keep succeeding. Watch for 'long-term ELs' who stall — they need a change in approach, not just more time.

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Section 06

How Language Develops

Understanding how a second language develops prevents the most common and damaging mistakes. The biggest one: assuming a student who chats easily is ready for academic work in English.

Social vs. academic language
  • Social language (BICS) — conversational; develops in ~1–3 years
  • Academic language (CALP) — the language of school; takes ~5–7 years
  • A student can sound fluent but still struggle academically
  • Don't mistake conversational ease for academic readiness
Stages of acquisition
  • Preproduction — the 'silent period'; listening, absorbing
  • Early production — a few words and short phrases
  • Speech emergence — simple sentences
  • Intermediate → advanced fluency — increasing complexity
What this means for teaching
  • The silent period is normal — don't force early speech
  • Meet students at their stage; expect growth over years
  • Comprehension comes before production
  • Errors are a normal, healthy part of learning
The 'fluent but struggling' trap

A multilingual learner who converses easily on the playground may still be years from the academic language a textbook or essay demands — social language develops in a couple of years, but academic language takes five to seven. Mistaking conversational fluency for academic readiness leads schools to pull support too soon. Judge readiness by academic performance across all four domains, not by how chatty a student is.

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Section 07

Program Models: ESL to Dual Language

Schools serve multilingual learners through several program models. Knowing the main ones helps educators and families understand what a school offers — and what to advocate for.

English-focused models
  • ESL / ENL pull-out or push-in — targeted English instruction
  • Sheltered instruction (SDAIE) — content taught with language supports
  • Structured English immersion — instruction mostly in English
  • Newcomer programs — intensive support for the recently arrived
Bilingual models
  • Transitional bilingual — home language early, shifting to English
  • Developmental / maintenance bilingual — keeps building the home language
  • Dual language / two-way immersion — both languages, both groups (see §08)
  • Bilingual models are additive — they build two languages
There's no one 'right' program for everyone

The best model depends on the students, the community, and available resources — and the law (Castañeda) simply requires that whatever a school chooses is sound, well-resourced, and effective. Research consistently favors models that develop students' home language alongside English, with dual language showing the strongest long-term results (see §08).

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Section 08

Dual Language & Bilingual Programs

Among all the models, dual language has the strongest research base — and it benefits English learners and native English speakers alike. It's worth understanding well.

How dual language works
  • Two-way immersion serves both language groups together
  • Instruction is delivered in both languages (target language ≥ half the day)
  • Usually starts in K–1 and can continue for years
  • Goal: bilingualism, biliteracy, and cross-cultural competence
Why it works so well
  • Strong long-term research (Thomas & Collier and others)
  • Builds academic achievement for MLs and native English speakers
  • Additive — students gain a language rather than lose one
  • Cognitive, cultural, and economic benefits for all
The gold standard — where it's available

Well-implemented dual language immersion is one of the most effective models for multilingual learners, and it closes gaps over time rather than just in the short run. The main constraints are the shortage of certified bilingual teachers and program capacity. Where dual language isn't available, the same principle still applies: use and value the home language as a bridge, not a barrier.

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Section 09

Sheltered Instruction & Teaching Content

Most multilingual learners spend much of the day in content classes taught in English. Sheltered instruction makes that content comprehensible while building language — and it's the everyday work of teaching MLs well.

The core idea
  • Teach grade-level content, made comprehensible
  • Build academic language alongside content
  • Set a content objective AND a language objective
  • Never water down the content — scaffold the access to it
The SIOP Model
  • A research-based, validated sheltered-instruction framework
  • Structures lessons for content + language learning
  • Emphasizes comprehensible input and interaction
  • Widely used PD for content teachers of MLs
Add a language objective to every lesson

Alongside 'students will understand photosynthesis,' add 'students will explain the process using sequence words (first, next, then).' Naming the language demand — the vocabulary, sentence structures, and discourse a task requires — and teaching it explicitly is the heart of sheltered instruction. It helps multilingual learners, and it helps everyone else too.

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Section 10

Scaffolding & Practical Strategies

You don't need a special curriculum to support multilingual learners — you need a toolkit of scaffolds you can drop into any lesson. Here are the highest-impact everyday moves.

Make input comprehensible
  • Visuals, gestures, realia, and demonstrations
  • Speak clearly; pause; emphasize key words
  • Pre-teach key vocabulary
  • Activate and build background knowledge
Support production
  • Sentence frames and starters
  • Word banks and anchor charts
  • Extra wait time — and 'turn and talk' before sharing
  • Accept and build on approximations
Structure interaction
  • Strategic pairing and small groups
  • Partner talk before whole-class discussion
  • Roles and routines that lower the risk of speaking
  • Lots of low-stakes chances to use language
Try this

Add sentence frames to your next lesson — 'I think ___ because ___,' 'One difference between ___ and ___ is ___.' They give multilingual learners the language structure to express what they know, turn silent students into participants, and raise the quality of everyone's academic talk. It's the single easiest high-impact scaffold to start with.

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Section 11

Literacy for Multilingual Learners

Multilingual learners learn to read using the same science as everyone — with important additions around oral language, vocabulary, and the bridge between languages.

What still applies
  • Explicit, systematic phonics and phonemic awareness
  • Fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (the five pillars)
  • See our Literacy / Science of Reading toolkit
  • Strong first instruction benefits MLs most of all
What's different for MLs
  • Oral-language development carries extra weight
  • Vocabulary and background knowledge need deliberate building
  • Skills and concepts transfer between languages
  • Watch for sounds/letters that differ from the home language
Leverage the transfer

A student who can already read in their home language has a huge head start: concepts about print, comprehension strategies, and background knowledge transfer across languages — they don't have to relearn how reading works, just how it works in English. Build explicit bridges between the two languages, and pair strong phonics with heavy oral-language and vocabulary development. Reading Rockets and Colorín Colorado have excellent bilingual literacy resources.

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Section 12

The Four Language Domains

Language proficiency isn't one thing — it's four, and students develop them at different rates. Strong ML instruction builds all four, deliberately.

The four domains
  • Listening — understanding spoken English
  • Speaking — producing spoken English
  • Reading — understanding written English
  • Writing — producing written English
Teach across all four
  • A student can be strong in one, developing in another
  • Receptive (listening/reading) often precede productive (speaking/writing)
  • Plan tasks that build each domain
  • Assess each domain — a single 'level' hides the picture
Don't let speaking stand in for writing

Because speaking is the most visible domain, it's easy to assume a student who talks well can write well — but academic writing is often the last domain to develop, and it carries the heaviest language demands. Give multilingual learners explicit support and lots of structured practice in writing specifically, and track each domain separately so no one falls through the cracks.

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Section 13

Every Teacher Is a Language Teacher

Multilingual learners are in every class — math, science, history, art, PE. Every teacher shares responsibility for the language of their subject, whether or not they trained as an ESL teacher.

Academic language is subject-specific
  • Every discipline has its own vocabulary and text types
  • Math word problems, lab reports, historical arguments — each is a language
  • The 'language of school' must be taught, not assumed
  • Content and language grow together
What content teachers can do
  • Set content AND language objectives (§09)
  • Scaffold reading, writing, and discussion in your subject
  • Teach discipline-specific vocabulary explicitly
  • Use the strategies in §10 — they fit every subject
You don't have to be an ESL expert

Mainstream teachers sometimes feel unequipped to support multilingual learners — but the moves that help (visuals, sentence frames, pre-teaching vocabulary, structured talk) are good teaching for everyone, and they're learnable. You don't need to become a linguist; you need a few reliable scaffolds and a willingness to name the language demands of your own subject.

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Section 14

Leveraging the Home Language

The home language isn't an obstacle to English — it's a tool for learning it. Letting students use their full linguistic repertoire deepens both understanding and English development.

Use the home language as a resource
  • Allow students to think, discuss, and draft in their home language
  • Pair students who share a language to build understanding
  • Provide bilingual glossaries and cognates
  • Home-language books and media build knowledge and joy
Translanguaging in practice
  • Students draw on all their languages to make meaning
  • Preview a concept in the home language, then work in English
  • It's a bridge to English, not a crutch that delays it
  • Honors the whole child and their whole mind
Home language use speeds English, not slows it

A persistent myth says students should hear only English to learn it fast. The research says the opposite: using the home language to build understanding accelerates both content learning and English development, because comprehension comes first. Encourage students to use every language they have — and never punish or shame home-language use. It's an asset, in the classroom and for life.

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Section 15

Supporting Newcomers & Students with Interrupted Schooling

Recently arrived students — and those whose formal schooling was interrupted — have distinct and urgent needs. A warm, structured welcome makes an enormous difference.

Newcomers need
  • A safe, welcoming start and a sense of belonging
  • Intensive, structured English support
  • Orientation to a new school system and culture
  • Time, patience, and connection before pressure
Students with interrupted schooling (SLIFE)
  • May have gaps in formal education, not ability
  • Need foundational skills alongside grade-level content
  • Benefit from home-language literacy where possible
  • Require extra care to avoid mislabeling as disability (§16)
Belonging comes before academics

A newcomer who feels safe, welcomed, and connected will learn; one who feels lost and alone will struggle no matter how good the curriculum. Pair new students with a buddy, learn to say their name correctly, connect with their family, and build relationship first. Many newcomers also carry significant stress or trauma from their journey — approach them with patience and see our Well-Being toolkit.

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Section 16

Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

One of the trickiest issues in the field: telling the difference between still learning English and having a disability. Getting it wrong — in either direction — harms students.

The two errors to avoid
  • Over-identification — mistaking language learning for a disability
  • Under-identification — missing a real disability, blaming 'just language'
  • Both are common, and both cause harm
  • Language acquisition is not a learning disability
Do it right
  • Rule out language and schooling factors first
  • Use the home language in evaluation where possible
  • Look for difficulties in both languages (a real disability shows in both)
  • Include ESL/bilingual expertise on the team
'Dually identified' students have rights under both systems

A multilingual learner can also have a disability — and is then entitled to both language services and special-education services (an IEP or 504), designed together. The key is a careful, culturally and linguistically appropriate evaluation that distinguishes the normal process of learning English from a genuine disability. See our Special Education / IEP & 504 toolkit, and Understood for guidance.

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Section 17

Culturally Responsive & Trauma-Informed Support

Language is inseparable from culture, and many multilingual learners are navigating a new culture, a new school system, and sometimes real hardship. Responsive, caring support is part of the job.

Be culturally responsive
  • Learn about students' cultures, names, and experiences
  • Include their languages and cultures in the classroom
  • Build on cultural strengths and knowledge
  • Examine your own assumptions and biases
Support the whole child
  • Foster belonging and a safe classroom
  • Be aware some students carry stress or trauma
  • Connect families to school and community resources
  • Patience and relationship come first
See the whole student, not a test score

A multilingual learner's English level says nothing about their intelligence, their prior knowledge, or their potential — many bring strong academic backgrounds in another language and rich life experience. Treat every student as capable, hold high expectations with strong support, and make your classroom a place where their language and culture are visibly valued.

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Section 18

Partnering With Multilingual Families

Multilingual families care deeply about their children's education — and schools have a legal duty to include them. Meaningful partnership starts with communicating in a language they understand.

Communicate accessibly
  • Provide key information in families' home languages (it's the law)
  • Use qualified interpreters — not children — for important conversations
  • Translate forms, notices, and report cards
  • Confirm understanding; don't assume
Build real partnership
  • Welcome families as partners and experts on their child
  • Explain the U.S. school system, which may be unfamiliar
  • Offer flexible, accessible ways to engage
  • Honor their hopes, culture, and home language
Families' right to communicate — and a note for parents

Schools must provide information to parents with limited English proficiency in a language they can understand, and must use competent interpreters for important meetings — that's a federal requirement, not a favor. For families: you have the right to an interpreter, to translated documents, and to be full partners in your child's education — and keeping your home language strong is one of the best things you can do for your child.

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Section 19

For Leaders: Building an Effective ML Program

A strong multilingual-learner program is a whole-school effort, not the ESL teacher's job alone. Leadership sets whether MLs are an afterthought or everyone's shared responsibility.

Get the fundamentals right
  • Meet identification, service & reclassification requirements
  • Choose a program that's sound, resourced, and effective (Castañeda)
  • Communicate with families in their languages (§18)
  • Give MLs access to gifted, AP, CTE, and electives
Invest in capacity
  • Build every teacher's skill with MLs, not just specialists
  • Fund sustained PD (SIOP, WIDA, sheltered instruction)
  • Recruit and grow bilingual and ESL-certified staff
  • Use data to monitor MLs — including long-term ELs
Make it whole-school
  • Shared responsibility across all classrooms
  • An asset-based, welcoming culture for MLs and families
  • Collaboration between ESL and content teachers
  • Evaluate and improve the program over time
Multilingual learners are everyone's students

Programs fail when MLs are seen as belonging only to the ESL department. They succeed when every teacher owns their language development, leaders invest in schoolwide capacity, and the culture treats bilingualism as an asset. The Castañeda standard is a floor: identify, serve well, resource it, and prove it's working — then keep improving.

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Section 20

Find Schools & Programs on K12academics

Looking for a dual-language school, an international program, or resources for multilingual learners? K12academics helps families and educators find schools and programs across every category.

Search for the right fit
For educators & families
  • Find programs that match a student's language & needs
  • Explore summer & enrichment programs
  • Connect with the right specialized services
  • See our Choosing the Right School toolkit
Find your community, in any language

Since 2004, K12academics has helped millions find the right school, college, camp, and program — for students of every background and language. Whether you're seeking a dual-language program, an international school, or the right services for a multilingual learner, start at K12academics.com and search across all our directories.

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Section 21

Toolkit Checklists

Six checklists for supporting multilingual learners. Click any box to check it off; your progress stays for this session. Tap a checklist to open it.

Welcome a New Multilingual Learner
Scaffold Any Lesson
Support Across the Four Domains
Use the Home Language as an Asset
Get Identification & Placement Right
Partner With Families (& Comply)
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Section 22

Downloads & Templates

Templates referenced throughout this toolkit, ready to adapt for your classroom or school.

Teach & scaffold
  • Content + language objective planner
  • Sentence-frame bank by task
  • Scaffold menu for any lesson
  • Academic-vocabulary routine
Know your students
  • New-ML welcome & intake sheet
  • Proficiency-by-domain tracker
  • Home-language & schooling profile
  • Long-term EL watch list
Home language & culture
  • Cognate & bilingual-glossary template
  • Translanguaging strategy card
  • Culturally responsive classroom audit
  • Home-language book list starter
Families & program
  • Family communication (translated) templates
  • Interpreter-request checklist
  • ML program self-audit (Castañeda)
  • Whole-school responsibility guide
Get the editable versions

Editable versions of these templates are available on request — see §26, Stay Connected.

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Section 23

Communities & Resources

The multilingual-learner field has a rich, mostly free ecosystem of research, training, and classroom tools. These are the trusted places to learn and go deeper.

For teachers & families
Professional & research
Official & rights
Find schools & programs
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Section 24

QR Resource Hub

Scan any code below with your phone camera — perfect for a printed copy of this toolkit. The first codes go to Colorín Colorado and our directories.

Colorín Colorado QR code
Colorín Colorado

The leading site for teaching multilingual learners.

Find Schools & Programs QR code
Find Schools & Programs

Dual-language, immersion & more.

International Programs QR code
International Programs

Language immersion & study abroad.

Visit K12academics.com QR code
Visit K12academics.com

200+ directories across six categories.

Join the Newsletter QR code
Join the Newsletter

Education news and resources.

This Week in Education QR code
This Week in Education

Our weekly roundup for educators.

State of Education Reports QR code
State of Education Reports

Free 2026 research reports.

Contact Us QR code
Contact Us

Questions or ideas for the next edition.

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Section 25

K12academics Resource Center

Beyond this toolkit, here's what K12academics offers families and educators — much of it free.

Find schools & programs
Research & reading
Explore all categories
Connect
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Section 26

Stay Connected

Ways to stay in touch with K12academics — and to help shape the next edition of this toolkit.

Subscribe
Explore
Contribute
  • Nominate a resource for a future edition
  • Request the editable templates from §22
  • Tell us what educators & families still need
  • Contact us
Follow
📚
Section 27

Sources & Further Reading

The figures and framework in this toolkit come from current, authoritative sources. Start here to go deeper.

Data & policy
Rights & the law
Teaching & practice
Professional communities

Figures reflect the most recent federal data available (NCES, fall 2021) as of the 2026–2027 school year. Identification criteria, assessments, and program requirements vary by state, and legal specifics evolve — confirm current requirements with your state education agency and the sources above before you rely on them.

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Signature Feature

100 Tips for Teaching Multilingual Learners

Everything above, distilled into 100 quick, practical reminders for teachers, leaders, and families. Twenty categories, five tips each.

The Asset Mindset
  1. A home language is an asset, not a deficit.
  2. Bilingualism is a superpower worth growing.
  3. A student 'behind' in English is doing more, not less.
  4. Additive, not subtractive — add English, keep the home language.
  5. High expectations with strong support.
Know Your Students
  1. Know the student, not the label.
  2. MLs vary enormously — learn each one.
  3. About a third of ELs were born in the U.S.
  4. Learn to pronounce every student's name.
  5. Their English level says nothing about their intelligence.
Their Legal Rights
  1. Serving MLs is federal law, not a favor.
  2. Lau v. Nichols: identical isn't equal.
  3. Title VI and the EEOA require meaningful access.
  4. Castañeda: sound, resourced, and effective.
  5. Schools can't segregate or exclude MLs.
Identification & Assessment
  1. It starts with a home language survey.
  2. English proficiency is screened, then assessed yearly.
  3. WIDA ACCESS measures all four domains.
  4. Place by proficiency level in each domain.
  5. Monitor students after reclassification.
How Language Develops
  1. Social language: ~1–3 years. Academic: ~5–7.
  2. Don't mistake chatty for academically ready.
  3. The silent period is normal.
  4. Comprehension comes before production.
  5. Errors are a healthy part of learning.
Program Models
  1. ESL, sheltered, bilingual, dual language, newcomer.
  2. Bilingual models are additive.
  3. No single model fits every student.
  4. The law requires sound, resourced, effective programs.
  5. Home-language models show strong results.
Dual Language
  1. Two-way immersion serves both language groups.
  2. Target language at least half the day.
  3. Strong long-term research (Thomas & Collier).
  4. Benefits MLs and native English speakers alike.
  5. The gold standard where it's available.
Sheltered Instruction
  1. Teach grade-level content, made comprehensible.
  2. Never water down content — scaffold access.
  3. Set a content AND a language objective.
  4. SIOP is a validated framework.
  5. Comprehensible input plus interaction.
Everyday Scaffolds
  1. Visuals, gestures, and demonstrations.
  2. Sentence frames and word banks.
  3. Pre-teach key vocabulary.
  4. Extra wait time and partner talk.
  5. Build background knowledge.
The Four Domains
  1. Listening, speaking, reading, writing.
  2. Students develop each at different rates.
  3. Don't let speaking stand in for writing.
  4. Assess each domain separately.
  5. Writing is often the last to develop.
Literacy for MLs
  1. The science of reading still applies.
  2. Oral language carries extra weight.
  3. Skills transfer between languages.
  4. Build vocabulary and knowledge deliberately.
  5. Strong first instruction benefits MLs most.
Content-Area Teaching
  1. Every teacher is a language teacher.
  2. Each subject has its own academic language.
  3. Teach discipline vocabulary explicitly.
  4. You don't have to be an ESL expert.
  5. Good ML teaching is good teaching.
The Home Language
  1. The home language is a learning tool.
  2. Home-language use speeds English, not slows it.
  3. Let students think and draft in their language.
  4. Highlight cognates; provide bilingual glossaries.
  5. Never punish or shame home-language use.
Newcomers
  1. Belonging comes before academics.
  2. Provide intensive, structured English support.
  3. Orient students to a new system and culture.
  4. Watch for stress and trauma.
  5. Interrupted schooling isn't lack of ability.
MLs with Disabilities
  1. Language learning is not a disability.
  2. Avoid over- and under-identification.
  3. A real disability shows in both languages.
  4. Evaluate in the home language where possible.
  5. Dually identified students get both services.
Culture & Belonging
  1. Learn about students' cultures and experiences.
  2. Include their languages and cultures visibly.
  3. Build on cultural strengths.
  4. Foster a safe, welcoming classroom.
  5. Examine your own assumptions.
Partnering With Families
  1. Communicate in families' home languages — it's the law.
  2. Use qualified interpreters, never children.
  3. Translate forms, notices, and report cards.
  4. Welcome families as partners and experts.
  5. Explain the U.S. school system.
For Leaders
  1. MLs are everyone's students, not just ESL's.
  2. Fund sustained PD for all teachers.
  3. Recruit and grow bilingual/ESL staff.
  4. Give MLs access to gifted, AP, and CTE.
  5. Meet Castañeda and keep improving.
Common Mistakes
  1. Pulling support when a student sounds fluent.
  2. Confusing language learning with a disability.
  3. Watering down content instead of scaffolding.
  4. Excluding MLs from advanced options.
  5. Communicating with families only in English.
Mindset
  1. Every student is capable.
  2. Bilingualism is an asset for life.
  3. Meet students where they are; expect growth.
  4. Relationship and respect come first.
  5. Their languages make your classroom richer.