Creating a Welcoming Classroom

Creating a classroom environment that supports and encourages interactions between peers and with teachers while exposing students to consistent opportunities to hear, see, and use language is beneficial to all students, especially multilingual learners. This learning can be impacted by purposefully thinking and decision making about the following areas of classroom design:

• Furniture Arrangement

  • Create areas for collaboration which encourage peer interaction and talk, especially for MLs continuing to grow in confidence to share their ideas with the whole class.

• Wall Space

  • Work with students to co-create anchor charts, word walls/banks, and other instructional tools.

  • Remove old materials to create space for new items as units change.

    • Create a space and routine for learners to know where/how they can find former instructional materials they need for continued support.

• Instructional Materials

  • Choice and Voice

    • Instructional materials should be labeled and accessible for when students need them. 

    • Materials are available at different levels and students know when and how to use them.

Read the full article, Setting Up Your Classroom To Foster a Language Learning Environment for MLs.