Supporting English Learners, SLIFE, and Diverse Learners | April 27, 2025 | Randi Whitney
When a new English Language Learner (ELL) walks into your classroom, it’s a powerful moment, not just for that student, but for the entire class. It’s a chance to model inclusion. It’s a chance to strengthen communication skills. And most importantly, it’s a chance to show that every voice matters.
At Teach BIG, we believe that students don’t learn a new language best by sitting quietly. They learn by talking, participating, and connecting. The more we can involve our ELL students in meaningful, low-risk conversations, the faster they grow, academically, socially, and emotionally.
Rather than viewing new English learners as an obstacle to overcome, we can, and must, embrace them as a powerful addition to our classrooms. Their voices add richness. Their questions deepen thinking. Their journey inspires everyone.
Here’s how to best include them in instruction, help them become a helpful part of your classroom learning, and train their classmates to support them enthusiastically.
The Golden Rule: Talking is the Gateway to Learning
If we want our ELL students to thrive, we must prioritize one key goal: They must talk. A lot.
Talking builds vocabulary, pronunciation, comprehension, and confidence. Talking opens doors to friendships and academic success.
But it must be purposeful, supportive talking, not forced, fearful talking.
Our job is to create opportunities where they feel safe, welcomed, and needed in classroom discussions.
10 Powerful Ways to Engage ELLs Through Talking
Here are ten simple, high-impact ways to make sure your English learners are not just observing lessons, they are living them through speaking:
Use Sentence Starters: Post simple stems like “I think…”, “I noticed…”, “I wonder…” to scaffold responses. Sentence starters give ELLs the confidence to jump into conversations without struggling to form complex sentences from scratch.
Implement Think-Pair-Share. Every Day: Always give students a chance to first think individually, then pair with a partner, and then share out loud. Talking to just one peer first lowers anxiety and boosts language production.
Assign “Buddy Translators”: Pair your new ELL with a bilingual peer (if available) who can clarify directions privately, summarize conversations, or encourage participation during lessons.
Create Language Learning Stations: Designate one station where students practice structured conversation (e.g., describing a picture together, reading dialogue strips, role-playing simple scenarios).
Use Visual Conversation Aids: Incorporate pictures, graphic organizers, charts, or realia (real-world objects) that ELLs can point to and discuss. Concrete visuals help anchor language to meaning.
Celebrate Every Attempt Out Loud: When an ELL contributes verbally, no matter how small, celebrate it enthusiastically. Praise effort over perfection. Your reaction sets the tone for the entire class.
Incorporate Partner Interviews: Begin units with simple peer interviews (“What is your favorite food? What sports do you like?”) to encourage informal speaking practice while building relationships.
Role-Play Lessons: Act out vocabulary, historical events, or science processes. Speaking through role-playing lowers the pressure of “correctness” and invites fun, natural language practice.
Interactive Word Walls: Don’t just hang vocabulary, use it! Have students use new words orally in sentences, act them out, or create questions using the words during review games.
Host Class Talk Routines: Begin and end the day with quick “Talk Around the Circle” routines where every student shares one thought. Routine builds security, and security builds speaking confidence.
Training Students to Be Encouragers
A welcoming environment is not built by accident, it’s intentionally taught, modeled, and reinforced.
Here’s how to train your students to be encouragers:
Teach empathy explicitly: Hold discussions about what it feels like to be new. Share stories about bravery, learning new skills, and being patient. Help students step into the shoes of an ELL.
Create a “Helper Mindset”: Explain that every student in class is a teacher and a learner. Being helpful isn’t about correcting, it’s about supporting and growing together.
Model appropriate correction: Teach students not to correct ELLs rudely. Instead of saying “That’s wrong, ” they can say, “Maybe you meant…” or “Let’s try it together.”
Celebrate differences: Use maps, pictures, and student-shared stories to showcase the richness that different cultures and languages bring. Every background is valuable.
Assign rotating “Welcome Teams”: Each week, select a few students whose job is to help new students learn routines, understand directions, and feel included at lunch or recess.
Promote patience and wait time: Explicitly teach students to give ELL peers extra time to formulate responses before jumping in. Practice using “Wait and Breathe” cues in whole-class discussions.
Praise peer encouragement publicly: When you see students being supportive, call it out: “I love how Alex helped Emilio think through that answer. That’s real teamwork.”
Remember: Inclusion Isn’t Extra. It Is the Lesson.
Including new English learners isn’t about finding time for “something extra.” It’s about building a classroom where connection is the core, where every student knows they have a place, a purpose, and a voice.
When you structure your day with purposeful speaking opportunities, when you train your students to lift each other up, when you celebrate every attempt and every word, you’re not just teaching English. You’re teaching courage. You’re teaching community. You’re teaching life.
At Teach BIG, we believe that classrooms should be places where students don’t just fit in, they belong. And every conversation is a chance to prove it.
