Supporting Newcomer Multilingual Learners

1. Welcome:
Please grab a
snack and sit
where you are
comfortable.
We will begin
at 9am

2. Meaningfully
Supporting the
whole mll
Presented by Aika Topolski and Karen Reed
Adapted from Mill Park LDS, Katie Nicholas and
reviewed/revised by District LDS Team

3. Strategies
The goal of this session is to walk
away with as many practical
strategies as possible for you to
immediately use to support students.
Keep in mind that quality instruction
and support should be intentional,
sustainable and consistent!
You can and do make huge impacts
on the students you serve!

4. Session Agreements
REMAIN STUDENT CENTERED Be mindful of others’
experiences and backgrounds
Participate
ANYTHING ELSE?

5. In DDSD, We believe…
Being multilingual is a
superpower
(for everyone–students and staff!!)
The neural pathways!
Talk time is key
MLLs will need many opportunities for
practice, in a low stress environment, to
reach mastery.
All students have a wealth
of knowledge
Our task is to find the key that unlocks
their background knowledge.

6. District demographics
By The Numbers:
● +/- 8,900 students
● 63-68 Home Languages
● 2459 Active MLLs
(3/11/24)
● DD Elementary schools
have an average of 23
languages spoken by
their student population
● Currently we have 473
identified “Newcomers”
enrolled K-5
Approx. 11% represents 1st or
2nd Gen. Eastern European
Immigrants
Approx. 4%
represents
1st or 2nd Gen.
African Immigrants

7. Our David douglas community
Newcomer (n) :
A student who has
recently moved to
a new country and
is immersed in a
new language,
culture and
community.

8. Have you ever been immersed in a community in which
you did not speak the language?
Describe your experience.
How did you feel?
How did you communicate?
What things/tools/strategies helped you navigate?
If you have not been in this situation.. Use your imagination and
make inferences to respond to the same prompt.
● Words
● Pictures
● Sentences
● Lists

9. Give one. Get one.
Find a partner.
Take turns sharing and listening.
Thank them!
Find a new partner.
Repeat until time runs out.

10. Now imagine being a young child + all that!
OUR
KIDS

11. Behavior is communication
Every child is unique. Some MLLs may
exhibit specific behaviors due to a variety
of emotions.
These behaviors might look like:
● Withdrawn
● Not following directions/expectations
● Leaving the group/room
● Big emotions (crying, yelling, anger)

12. As of
4/11/24
CP
502
EB
417
GH
450
GP
506
LP
472
Menlo
386
Mill
532
VP
376
WP
379
# Home
Languages
21 15 25 27 25 22 28 23 23
% English
as a Home
Language
66.2% 64.5% 58.7% 58.9% 51.5% 72.5% 45.3% 60.4% 53%
Top 5
Languages
Spoken
English
Spanish
Cantonese
Viet.
Russian
English
Spanish
Cantonese
Mandarin
Russian
English
Spanish
Viet.
Cantonese
Ukrainian
English
Spanish
Ukrainian
Russian
Viet
English
Spanish
Russian
Nepali
Cantonese
English
Spanish
Viet.
Cantonese
Rohingya
English
Spanish
Somali
Viet.
Russian
English
Spanish
Dari
Russian
Viet.
English
Spanish
Dari
Ukrainian
Russian
Turn and Talk: What do you notice/observe/wonder??
I notice/observe/wonder _____________
because….

13. Language gallery walk Walk around the room and visit the
LANGUAGE POSTERS that represent
the top languages spoken in our
Elementary Schools and indicate your
familiarity using the symbols below.
If you speak it →
If you know some
words/phrases →
If you know the specific
country/countries where it is
predominantly spoken→
✓
→ You may add more than one symbol to the same
poster

14. English Spanish
Second most widely spoken
language in the world.
Romance language along
with Catalan, Italian, French,
Portuguese and
Romanian.Over 21 countries
have Spanish as their official
language.
Chinese-Cantonese
A tonal language (four tones)
One of seven dialects of
Chinese. Spoken in Southern
China and Hong Kong.
Vietnamese
A tonal language (six tones).
Originally written with chinese
characters but adapted to
latin script during French
colonization. Three regional
dialects.
Russian
The official language in Russia,
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan. Uses the Cyrillic
alphabet which is based on the
Greek alphabet. Originated in
the middle ages.
Chinese-Mandarin
Most spoken language in the
world. Spoken by 70% of
Chinese Speakers. Same
characters as cantonese but
pronounced differently.
Spoken in Mainland China,
Taiwan and Singapore.
Ukrainian
Spoken as the primary
language of 70% of
Ukrainians. About 30% speak
Russian as their first language.
Uses a form of the Cyrillic
alphabet.
Nepali
Language of Nepal and spoken
by many in Bhutan, India and
Burma. Written in Devanagari
which is similar to Hindi.
Originally based on ancient
sanskrit
Rohingya
Arakan is the historical
geographical name of Rakhine
State, Myanmar (formerly
Burma).
About 2 million speakers.
Arabic alphabet system.
Somali
Official language of Somalia
and Ethiopia. Approx. 4
dialects. One of the Cushtic
languages spoken in the horn
of Africa. Uses english latin
alphabet (except p v and z)
Dari
Persian language spoken in
Afghanistan. Very similar to
farsi when written but not as
much when spoken.

15. What do all these
acronyms mean?!
ELL
English Language
Learner
MLL
Multilingual
Learner
ELPA
English Language
Proficiency Assessment
**With asset based thinking has come
a shift in language: no longer is not
speaking English seen as a deficit, a
hole that needs to be filled.
Being multilingual is a strength!

16. Let’s explore a
MLL student’s
ELPA profile:
The ELPA has four domains in which
students are assessed: Reading,
Writing, Listening, and Speaking. The
goal is for them to gain a level of
proficiency each year, exiting the
program once they have reached a
level 4 or 5 in each domain.
What do you notice or wonder about this student’s ELPA scores?
What patterns or trends do you notice?

17. ELPA Practice TEST
Go to this website: https://osasportal.org/students.html
>> Sample and Training Tests >> Log in as Guest User >> Keep
Default Settings >> Choose Grade Level you want to see

18. Lines of Communication: Cherry Park
RED suits make a line (shoulder to shoulder)
BLACK suits lineup (shoulder to shoulder) facing red
With the person across from you,
share one new piece of learning or
something that was interesting
“One thing I learned was _______”
“Something I found interesting was ________ because…”
When you’re finished: Voices off, Thumbs up!

19. Inner-Outer Circle: Menlo
RED suits will form the outside of the circle
BLACK suits form the inside of the circle facing and pairing
with someone with a red suit
With the person across from you,
share one new piece of learning or
something that was interesting
“One thing I learned was _______”
“Something I found interesting was ________ because…”
When you’re finished: Voices off, Thumbs up!

20. BREAK
Please take a break and be
back in 10 minutes

21. For supporting
multilingual students
(and others!)
as wholepeople!
Strategies

22. First and foremost,
Show empathy
Have patience
Maintain high expectations and
BELIEVE all students can learn!

23. Show. Don’t tell.
Have students be leaders and
show one another what they’re
to do. Fishbowl/Peer modeling,
For everything you do!
Task Directions, Expectations, etc.
Actually DO what you’re
asking them to do (whether it
is behavioral or academic)
Animate your delivery to
provide more context and
information beyond the words
1
Visuals!
Modeling Peer examples
Gestures & BodyLanguage
04
02
03

24. When teaching new
vocabulary, pictures are
key in connecting the word
in English to any
background knowledge the
student may already have.
Use pictures
Tree
This could be as simple as Googling
images → always preview before
showing students!

25. Use Sentence Frames
Providing sentence frames,
or sentence stems, is a great
way to support our
multilingual students.
● I see a ____________.
● The ______ is ____________.
● A _______ is/has _________,
_________, and __________.
**These frames are leveled to
help support different levels of
proficiency, with red being the
easiest and blue the most
challenging.
Tree

26. Translanguaging
If the students you’re
working with are literate in
their first language, you
can use Google Translate
or other sources to find
the word in their
language.
● Cây (Vietnamese)
● ‫شجرة‬(Arabic)
● Árbol (Spanish)
● 树 (Chinese)
Tree

27. As you watch, please
listen for specific
strategies that students
say are helpful while at
school.
What do you notice?
Any surprises?
Take a moment
to add to
your graphic
organizer→

28. First, group together by number
so that your group has ALL SUITS
Then, collectively choose one strategy we’ve
discussed and: :
- Identify the strategy what (1 pt.)
- Describe the strategy how (1 pt.)
- Explain how it supports MLLs why (1 pt.)
Lastly, I will call each group and one person
(suit) will be responsible for sharing out to the
whole group. Your team can earn up to 3
points!
→ Audience will listen to determine the score.
Numbered heads Together

29. Proximity
● Sit next to your striving MLLs,
especially newcomers.
● Be close to students when giving
directions, support or redirection.
Ideally, be on the same level as
students as often as possible.
● Avoid talking over others or
addressing students from afar.

30. Speak in complete sentences
as often as possible
● Provides more context and clarity
● Models language structure (syntax
and grammar)
● Supports writing tasks
Also, think back to the ELPA domains…
speaking domain should demonstrate
proficiency using complete sentences

31. Total
Physical
Response (tpr)
Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of
teaching language or vocabulary concepts by
using physical movement to react to verbal
input. The process mimics the way that
infants learn their first language, and it
reduces student inhibitions and lowers stress.

32. Universal design
for learning (UDL)
Pictures
Words
Auditory
Tactile
Play
Text to Speech
Speech to text
Translation
MULTIPLE WAYS OF
accessing
Speaking
Writing
Drawing
Use of Technology
Modeling
Graphic Organizers
Group work
Independent
MULTIPLE WAYS OF
expressing
Visual
Auditory
Experimental
Tactile
Text to Speech
Pictures
Multimedia
Games
MULTIPLE WAYS OF
Engagement

33. Cognates:
Cognates are words in two
languages that share a similar
meaning, spelling, and
pronunciation. While English may
share very few cognates with a
language like Chinese, 30-40% of
all words in English have a
related word in Spanish.
For Spanish-speaking ELLs,
cognates are an obvious bridge
to the English language.
Spanish Word
centro
familia
biografia
accidente
causa
English Cognate
center
family
biography
accident
cause

34. Things to Consider
● Students may have low English proficiency but depending
on their age, may be highly educated and literate in their
home language.
● Some newcomers also carry the weight of trauma, which
can impact their learning and behavior. Be patient.
● Recognize all of the background knowledge students
already have.
● Often, newcomers go through a “silent period.”
Speaking and writing are high level “productive” skills.

35. Take advantage of technology!
If you have a Smartphone, there
are many free apps that can
help you communicate with our
MLLs.
SayHi App
This one is my favorite because it has
SO MANY languages. It also allows
you, or a student, to speak into the
microphone and it will say the
translation out loud-no reading
required!

37. ______the bottom line______
David Douglas School District and all of us, as
educators, have the privilege of serving a
culturally, linguistically, racially, ethnically,
RICH and DIVERSE community of learners!
Therefore, we must be intentional about our instruction
and ensure that learning is accessible to all students!

38. Closing: Lightening share
Think of one takeaway,
appreciation, something that
stood out to you and be ready to
share quickly ( 5-10 seconds tops!)
When the talking piece gets to you,
share your idea and pass it along
to the next person.

39. Your input helps us
better support you!
Please do now Scan
or click here

40. Resources Science of Reading -
Multilingual Podcast
Phonemic Inventories and
Cultural and Linguistic
Information
DDSD Emerging
English Supports
Language Rich
Content
Elementary ELD