Teaching Social Studies to Multilingual Learners: Strategy of the Week

• Download Teaching Social Studies to Multilingual Learners: Strategy of the Week

Each week we share one strategy that you can use to meet the needs of your diverse multilingual learners in secondary content classes. This week’s strategy is specifically for secondary social studies teachers but could be adapted for use in many content areas.

Helping MLs Access Grade-Level Text

• Language Objective: I can read a grade-level text with visual supports.

Helping MLs Access Grade-Level Text: How-To

Before Reading

Prepare your text (engineer it) so that it is more accessible for students by doing the following:

• break the text into smaller meaningful chunks to allow students time to process what they read
• include focus questions at the beginning of chunks and/or space for written responses in between chunks
• add text features like headings, bolded words, and visuals
• provide definitions, translations, or synonyms for key words

During Reading

Use any of the following strategies while students are reading:

• provide an audio version of the text
• choral reading as a class (teacher sets an appropriate pace)
• have students take turns reading aloud in small groups and discuss what they read after each chunk

Extra Support for MLs

• Provide sentence frames for written responses after each chunk
• Let students at lower proficiency levels listen to the audio in their first language
• Allow students to pass or read with a buddy if reading in a small group

Example: Geography

LT: I can read to learn about a new place.

When students read about a new place in their Geography class, engineer the text by adding maps and other visuals. Give students focus/reflection questions to discuss in groups every 1-2 paragraphs. Examples of focus questions: What are the key geographical features of this place? What historical events have shaped this area? What surprises me about this area?

Helpful Links to Learn More

• Use an AI program like SchoolAI to help you chunk your text! 
• See an example of a chunked or engineered text about Frida Kahlo