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 writing strategy is specifically for secondary social studies teachers but could be adapted for use in many content areas.

Learning Styles Debate

Language Objective: I can participate in a debate about a topic through speaking and writing.

Learning Styles Debate: How-To

Antes de la actividad

1. Prepare the following labels and display them in different corners of the room: LETTER TO THE EDITOR, CARTOON, SPEECH, and CHANT.
2. Decide on a debate topic that coincides with your unit.

Durante la actividad

1. Introduce the debate topic. As a class, list reasons supporting both sides of the argument.
2. Ask students to choose an activity (writing a letter to the editor, drawing a political cartoon, writing a list of talking points for a speech about the topic, or writing a chant or song). Have them move to stand by the sign of the activity they chose.
3. Divide the groups in half so that at least one student is debating for each side.
4. In groups, students use the reasons you listed already to complete the activity they chose.
5. Students present their creations as groups in this order: chant, cartoon, letter, speech.
6. Have students write one sentence stating which point of view they support most after the debate.

Apoyo adicional a los ML

• Provide sentence frames, graphic organizers, or fill-in-the-blank worksheets for written activities.
• Show examples of what each final product should look like.
• Provide a word bank with vocabulary that students could use in their responses.

Ejemplo: Historia de EE.UU.

LT: I can explain points of view regarding the various acts of British Parliament that were protested by American colonists.

For this debate, half of the class represents Parliament and the other half represents the colonists. Students can write a chant supporting either view, a political cartoon mocking the other side’s behavior, a letter to a local newspaper in support of their side’s actions, or a list of talking points defending their side’s views. Teach words like loyalty, revolt, freedom, and rights for students to use in their writing.

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