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Multilingual Reading Buddies

Revisiting Reading Buddies to Support Multilingual Learners and Their Peers

Developing Literacy Through Reading Buddies

Multilingual Reading Buddies is a reimagined peer reading strategy designed to support multilingual learners by building language skills through collaboration, conversation, and shared reading experiences. When students read together, especially across languages, they gain vocabulary, improve fluency, and develop confidence in both social and academic English. This strategy also creates a classroom culture where linguistic diversity is valued and all students are seen as capable contributors. Multilingual Reading Buddies lets students draw on all their languages to understand new concepts by encouraging peer support and cross language conversations. This approach values their full linguistic repertoire as a key tool for building vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Materials:

• Leveled or bilingual books

• Reading buddy pairing chart 

• Sticky notes or index cards

• Sentence Starters

Procedure: 

1. Strategic Pairing: pair multilingual learners with peers who can provide support. Either English proficient students or peers who share a home language.

2. Text Preview & Prediction: have buddies look through the book together. Encourage predictions using both English and home languages.

3. Shared Reading: students take turns reading. Partners assist each other with decoding, understanding vocabulary, and making sense of the story using translation or explanation when needed.

4. Discussion & Connection: after reading, buddies discuss key ideas, unknown words, or cultural connections. Encourage language sharing with sentence starters and vocabulary talk.

5. Class Share Out: Invite pairs to share something they learned from the book or from each other, highlighting new vocabulary or language insights which can act as a form of assessment.

Dual Language Text Annotation Jamboard

Jamboard Annotations Google Jamboard

Reading Annotations in Your World Language Classes with Google Jamboard

This activity reimagines text annotation through a multilingual lens. Using Jamboard or another interactive whiteboard tool, students annotate a shared text in both English and their home languages. This strategy allows multilingual learners to engage deeply with the text while drawing on their full linguistic repertoire. It promotes comprehension, vocabulary development, and meaningful academic conversations while also building digital collaboration skills. This activity supports students in using their entire linguistic repertoire by encouraging them to annotate texts in both English and their home languages, helping them make deeper connections and better understand new concepts. It leverages all their language skills to enhance comprehension and academic discussions.

Materials: 

• A short, sharable, digital text (grade appropriate)

• Access to Google Jamboard or similar site

• Laptops/ Ipads

• Sentence starters for annotation

Procedure: 

1. Select & Prepare the Text: Choose a culturally responsive, grade level text. Upload it to a Jamboard, dividing sections across slides or pages.

2. Introduce the Task: Explain that students will annotate the text together, highlighting new vocabulary, asking questions, and making connections in both English and their home language.

3. Model Dual Language Annotation: Demonstrate how to add sticky notes in Jamboard using both English and another language. 

4. Collaborative Annotation Time: Students work in pairs or small groups to annotate each slide. Encourage them to define tricky words, make text to self connections, and share cultural or language specific interpretations.

5. Group Share Out: As a class, review the Jamboard. Highlight diverse insights, vocabulary overlaps, and creative uses of students’ home languages.

6. Assessment: Review student Jamboard annotations for depth, language use, and engagement. Look for:

• Use of both English and home language

• Evidence of comprehension (questions, summaries, connections)

• Vocabulary recognition or translation

7. Optional Written Reflection: Ask students to respond to a prompt such as: “What did you learn from seeing this text in more than one language?” or “How did using your language help you understand the story?”