Teaching Multilingual Learners Strategy of the Week (Social Studies)

Each week we will 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. As you read through the strategy, think about your specific ML students and determine how you can use it to support all learners during Tier 1 instruction.

• Instructional Strategy: Be a Detective
• Language Objective: I can discuss my predictions using social studies vocabulary.

Be a Detective: How-To

Before the Activity

• Choose a variety of images related to the content of the lesson. Choose content-specific words that students should use to discuss the images.
• Plan student groups (pairs or small groups).

During the Activity

• Share the vocabulary for the lesson.
• Provide students with a collage of the images and model making a prediction. In your prediction, be sure to use the vocabulary you have chosen, and refer back to the images to support your prediction.
• Have students analyze the images and take notes about what they think the lesson will be about.
• Using the vocabulary and referring back to the images for support, have students share their predictions with a partner or in a group.
• Come together to share responses with the class.

Extra Support for MLs

• Prepare a multilingual or picture glossary of the vocabulary words.
• Provide word banks and sentence frames.
• Use a graphic organizer so students know what to write.

Example: U.S. History

• LT: I can analyze the key events that led to the U.S. Civil War.

Display photographs or paintings from the Civil War period and provide some specific vocabulary related to the period. Students take notes about what they know and what they predict the lesson will be about. Have students share their predictions with a partner and with the class.

Helpful Links to Learn More

• Be a Detective strategy on Ellevation (graphic organizers, examples, and quick tips) 
• Find historical photographs at the Library of Congress Online Catalog

We would love to know how this tip worked for you! Please share any experiences with your PLC or ML supervisor, or email Tani Brown (Secondary ELD Curriculum Specialist) at tanib@provo.edu.