• Spending 15-20 minutes at the beginning and end of the day engaging in activities such as greeting each other, playing collaborative games, and reflecting works toward establishing a positive community where students know and respect one another.

• Games that involves songs or chants like "Hello Neighbor" can be a great way for ELs to practice and remember new words and phrases.

Greetings can help to create a positive community where everyone knows and respects each other.

• Use simple greetings that require little to no words.

• Ex: wave, smile

• If comfortable, start with simple words or phrases

• Ex: “Hi,” “Hello,” “Good morning.”

• Give students a chance to practice the greeting with a partner or small group first.

• Research greetings in the cultures of students.

• Ex: Some cultures avoid eye contact, especially with adults, as a sign of respect. The class could turn their bodies toward the person they’re greeting without making direct eye contact.

• Learn a greeting in the home languages of the EL students. EL students may feel more welcomed, and the native English speakers may gain some insight into the challenges of functioning in a new language.

• Ex: "Hola, Como estas?"

The opportunity to share and learn about each other helps to strengthen the classroom community. Sharing also allows students to practice and develop social skills like turn taking, listening, clear and respectful communication, and building empathy.

Students can use this opportunity to share about their culture, which broadens the cultural understanding of the class, and allows students to feel a sense of visibility and belonging.

Sentence frames for sharing can be provided to support ELs.

“A special food I like to eat is_________.”

Students can also hold up an item to share and respond to yes or no questions.

Additionally, it may benefit the students if teachers learn more about the cultures represented in the classroom.

• Some students may not be aware of the unspoken rules that other students have been exposed to, and your classroom norms likely vary to some degree from other teachers.

• It may be especially helpful for ELs to model and visually display the classroom norms.

• Using pictures of your students modeling appropriate behavior for the posters can contribute to creating a positive classroom community and students may feel a sense of ownership over the rules and the classroom.

• Predictable cues for attention getting, transitions, and other parts of the school day help to create a consistent, safe, easy to understand environment for ELs and all students.

• Non-verbal signals, like sounds or hand signals, may be especially helpful to ELs because language is not required. The "peace sign" can be used as a quieting signal.

• Going beyond explicit teaching of classroom norms, teaching procedures is outlining each step of a certain task or activity. Clear and simple directions may help ELs to understand what is expected of them and communicates high expectations.

• Modeling the steps and allowing students plenty of time to practice in a low-stakes setting may be beneficial for EL students. For example, using a discussion about favorite colors, teachers can model with a student or another adult how to follow these steps. Sentence frames and a word bank can be extra supports.

• This can then be used as a framework for teaching academic and language procedures, which can provide support for ELs.

• Procedures for many activities, such as turn taking when discussing, playing a game, partner reading, etc. can be created and implemented.

• Set individual goals to fit a student's current ability level, and provide challenge without overwhelming the student. The focus should be on growth and improvement, not perfection or measuring up to other students.

• Provide scaffolding through questioning that is appropriate to the student's level of verbal proficiency. If students are struggling with production, they can be asked "Show me..." or "Which of these..." so that they can point or nod. As the level of production increases, prompting for an increased number of words will be appropriate. This scaffolding sets students up for a task that is challenging but attainable.

• It can be helpful to focus less on error correction, and more on correcting language use in a supportive manner. For example, in your response, try rephrasing what the student said to reflect correct use of a word or sentence.

• Encourage risk-taking. After providing students with evidence of how their brain can grow, and implementing community building classroom strategies, hopefully ELs and all students feeling comfortable taking the risks that are necessary for learning.

Words can encourage students and build confidence or can shut them down and discourage their efforts.

Instead of saying:

• "Good job!"

• "Nice work!"

• "Excellent!"

Try:

• "Your hard work is paying off!"

• "What strategies did you use?"

• "You kept going even when it got challenging!"

When students are struggling, instead of saying:

• "Work harder"

• "Keep trying"

Try:

• "What part is proving difficult?"

• "Let me try explaining it another way"

• "I expect you to make mistakes; that is part of the learning process."

• Growth mindsets are not just for students! When something doesn't work, teachers should consider the obstacles to success, and think about different ways to support students. Modifications can range from rewriting or highlighting texts, to providing sentence frames, graphic organizers, and word banks, to utilizing different types of assessments.

• Provide and list many strategies. A growth mindset is not just about effort, it is also about developing the metacognitive skills to understand when something isn't working and another strategy is needed, or knowing when and how to ask for help.

• Allow students to reflect on challenges and support them in brainstorming solutions.

• Build learning stamina. ELs may be easily frustrated, so start with shorter learning time and gradually extend as students are ready.