Additional Strategies to Try:
Social-Emotional Support
Just like for ALL students, social-emotional support is crucial. Some children who are not native English speakers may need a bit of additional support from teachers to make sure they are comfortable and included in the classroom and are offered equal learning opportunities. Using students' home language and incorporating cultural information can also send a positive message and emotional support for our multilingual learners.
Verbal Games for Multilingual Learners
Sketch and Guess - Assign each student a vocabulary term. Think of terms that may be challenging to understand, such as figurative language difficult vocabulary words. Now, have students draw a representation of their term. Next, students walk around the room and try to figure out what their classmates have drawn. It is sort of like Pictionary but with an academic twist. By using their writing skills to draw, students learn and practice vocabulary words. This could also be done with partners.
Affirmative/Negative - Write a series of questions on your whiteboard or chalkboard that you may usually get a yes or no reply. For example, do you know how to ride a bike? Next, tell students that they must respond and cannot say yes or no and no; just shake heads. Go around the room and let each student take a turn. It may be helpful to allow students to pick which of the questions they wish to answer, as some may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable (for example, if a new US student has never ridden a bike).
Draw it Back to Me: In pairs, have one student cover their eyes, and the other will draw a picture on a piece of paper. Simple images are probably best here - like a flower, tree, sun, etc. Next, the artist will try to describe what the other student must now draw an exact replica of, but without showing the original sketch. For example, a student may tell the partner to draw a flower with five petals and a stem, but did they describe the shape of the petals the correct way? How long is the stem, etc... This is a great way to practice descriptive speaking!
The 5-Second Rule: This classic game keeps your kids on their toes! Students receive a category - like modes of transportation - and a student has FIVE seconds to brainstorm and shout out three related things that fall in that category. The team gets a point if they succeed, and the class decides the answer fits the category. This is a great game to divide your class in half or use larger cooperative learning groups.
A Shared Story: Oral collaborative storytelling is fun and a great way to help your students practice speaking and listening. For this activity, students need to build off the contributions of others. You can start the story with a simple line (you can find some good ones using an AI prompt for inspiration). For example, At the stroke of midnight, a back cat appeared. Challenge each student to add a complete sentence, not just 2-3 words.