Effective Practices that Support Emergent Bilingual Students 

1. Identify your students’ language backgrounds and Proficiency Levels (please see page 18 of the ELD Standards Framework) 
2. Provide effective Integrated ELD and Designated ELD instruction 
3. Use appropriate and planned scaffolds to support academic language development and content knowledge.

Build Connections with Families 

• Access students’ “Funds of Knowledge” via a Family Survey or Inventory, such as this one from the Learning for Justice website: Family Interview.
  • Connect learning to students’ lived experiences.
• Ask students to share any extenuating circumstances you should be aware of regarding their learning.
• Encourage families to have conversations in their home language to aid academic language development.

Provide Opportunities to Build Academic English 

• Restorative Circles: Use a version of Restorative Circles to give Emergent Bilinguals opportunities to hear and speak English daily.
• 40 Intriguing Photos to Make Students Think: You can use pictures to encourage and scaffold conversations in the classroom
• QSSSA: More Thank Turn and Talk – Try QSSSA Method: Question, Signal, Stem, Share, and Assess

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