7 Strategies For Supporting Ells In The Mainstream Classroom

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Oct 30, 2025, 12:26 AM

7 strategies for supporting ells in the mainstream classroom

As a classroom teacher, it’s likely you’ll always have English Language Learners (ELLs) present in your class. Whether teaching ELA and SLA in a dual language English/Spanish classroom, or teaching math in a mainstream classroom, you’ll always have the opportunity to teach students for whom English is not their native language. In a bilingual classroom, this is to be expected, but as targeted ESL pull-out programs are becoming less and less common, teachers are often required to meet the needs of ELLs within the mainstream... Here are some instructional and practice strategies that will help to provide ELLs at any level with the support they need to be successful (and benefit your native English speakers as well!). For English Language Learners, keep lectures to 5 to 7 minutes in length. ELLs are not only processing the content, they are also trying to make sense of the language at the same time.

This requires a lot of cognitive effort, so they need frequent opportunities to pause, reflect, and apply what they have learned. Longer lectures can deny students those opportunities, making it harder for them to understand or retain the content and causing frustration and mental fatigue. It's important to make sure that the language used in class doesn't hinder ELLs’ ability to access the content presented. Avoid idiomatic expressions and overly complex sentence structures. When planning lessons, think about different ways information can be presented to students. Just as there are many different learning styles in a larger class population, care must be taken to ensure that ELL students receive similar treatment.

Providing specific auditory and visual support increases fluency, communicates meaning by demonstrating accurate intonation, and aids in vocabulary development for ELLs. Get a year of membership🎃PLUS A FREE BONUS MONTH🎃 Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) can sometimes feel overwhelming, but with the right strategies, you can create a classroom where every student feels seen or supported. Whether you’re new to working with ELLs or looking to refresh your approach, these seven, simple, effective strategies will help you build a more inclusive and engaging learning environment. Visual aids, like anchor charts and labeled classroom items, help ELLs understand and retain information. Quick Win: Try adding simple labels to classroom objects using both words and pictures.

For example, label the door, windows, and supplies with visuals alongside the words in English (and students’ home languages if possible). This small change can make your classroom more language-friendly in minutes! Provide sentence starters that help guide ELLs to write more complete and detailed responses. This article provides classroom teachers with ideas for supporting their ELLs' language development. This article is part of our Strategies for ELL Success guide. If you are a classroom or content-area educator trying to figure out how to teach English language learners (ELLs), you are not alone!

You are off to a good start by looking for ways to support your students! There are many things you can do that will make a big difference to ELLs, and they often prove helpful for other students in the class as well. Here are some ideas to help you begin. Look for a few ideas you can try and one or two topics where you would like to learn more information. Note: This article also includes some research-based recommendations offered by Dr. Diane August in her 2018 American Educator article, Educating English Language Learners: A Review of the Latest Research.

You can and should use what you already know to be effective, research-based reading instruction to English language learners (ELLs). However, ELLs will need additional support in learning how to read, and the strategies here will help you to provide assistance in your everyday teaching, particularly for newcomers (students who have recently arrived in... Note: This article was adapted from excerpts of the ESL/Bilingual Resource Guide for Mainstream Teachers (opens in a new window), published by the Portland, OR Public School District. Teaching reading to English language learners (ELLs) may seem daunting, but the good news is that you don’t have to learn an entirely new method. You can and should use what you already know to be effective, research-based reading instruction. However, ELLs will need additional support in learning how to read.

The strategies below will help you to provide this much-needed assistance in the context of your everyday teaching, particularly for newcomers (students who have recently arrived in the U.S.). For more information, take a look at Colorín Colorado’s section on Teaching Reading (opens in a new window). Look for reading material for English Language Learners (ELLs) that contains some of these characteristics, especially at the beginning of the school year: With multilingualism on the rise in schools, you might be wondering: What are ELLs, and what do they need to thrive? These English Language Learners are tackling the challenge of picking up a new language while keeping up with grade-level academics. It’s a lot, but with the right support, they can succeed.

Read on to see what ELLs bring to your classroom and how you can meet them with strategies that work. Or explore the myViewBoard digital whiteboard, featuring built-in language support tools. If you’re teaching in a K–12 classroom, you’re likely working with students who speak one language at home, such as Spanish, Arabic, or Mandarin, while developing their English skills at school. These students are often called English Language Learners, or ELLs. The term is widely used because it’s clear and familiar. It focuses on a core need—learning English—without defining students by what they lack or reducing them to a single identity.

Still, it doesn’t tell the whole story. ELLs often bring rich language skills, cultural knowledge, and unique experiences that extend well beyond English development. Wondering how many students fall into this group? Let’s break it down. Discover how you can foster an inclusive, empowering environment for Multilingual Learners using these practical insights. More than 150 languages are spoken in Alabama schools, according to the Alabama State Department of Education.

Students whose first language is not English are referred to as Multilingual Learners (MLs). MLs are among the fastest growing population in U.S. schools. If you haven’t had MLs in your class, you will. These students need to simultaneously learn grade-level content and content language. To ensure they don’t fall behind academically, they must be learning both in every class.

Amanda Rodriguez, the Secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) Coach for Alabaster City Schools, believes English language development is the responsibility of all teachers, not just ESL teachers. Multilingual Learners come from a variety of countries, cultures, languages, backgrounds, education experiences, and socioeconomic statuses. Rodriguez emphasizes that being multilingual is a strength, not a weakness. MLs have the same intelligence and talent as other students; they just aren’t able to communicate what they know in English—yet. For teachers working with this growing population, Rodriguez shares seven strategies to enhance learning and foster an inclusive classroom for ML students. In today’s diverse classrooms, it’s important to implement strategies designed to support multilingual learners (MLLs), also referred to as English language learners (ELLs), in the general education classroom.

When considering instructional strategies to use throughout the day, choose the ones that engage students and leverage their strengths. Using a combination of whole-group, small-group, and 1:1 strategies to support MLL students creates a language-rich environment that encourages continued growth and builds an inclusive learning environment. This allows your MLLs to feel supported and confident in the classroom. To support MLLs in groups, it’s best to use simple strategies you can weave into the instructional strategies you’re already using in the classroom. These strategies shouldn’t be seen as “in addition to” or “in place of” what you’re already doing. The whole-group strategies below are simple yet effective ways to further engage all students in language instruction without requiring extensive planning time.

Visual aids, such as photographs, sketches, icons, data, artwork, and videos, are a simple way to make content easier for MLLs to understand. They help MLLs make connections between the English language and their native language. The wide range of ways that visual aids can be used helps ensure that your instruction doesn’t become too predictable or too boring for students while still providing them with engaging ways to learn... While you’re teaching each unit, keep your visuals posted around the room during your instructional unit so students can continue to reference and connect with the visual content. This provides students with a way to continue to reference language and access meaning without having to memorize everything in one single lesson. Example: The word “colony” has different meanings depending on the context, and it might be a challenging word for your MLLs.

If you’re teaching about colonies in social studies, a visual representation of the colonies or what a colony looks like allows your students to connect the word and meaning with their native language and...

7 Strategies For Supporting Ells In The Mainstream Classroom

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