Classroom Routines for Multilingual Learners

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)

Effective SDAIE content instruction provides multilingual learners with access to the core curriculum while concurrently developing their proficiency in academic English.

Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement strategies are essential tools to implement in your classroom to help students internalize language and get "miles on the tongue". Structured Oral Language Practice routines help students internalize academic language patterns and content-specific vocabulary. We need to provide students  multiple opportunities to practice in engaging and supportive settings.

There are a myriad of strategies for structuring interaction. Here are instructions for incorporating nine different routines in your classroom. These Structured Oral Practice Routines are designed for grades TK-6, but are suitable for all grade levels.

Structured Oral Practice Routines

Here are some templates for some Structured Language Practice Routines that assist in engaging your students in purposeful and extended discourse while also requiring students to turn in a brief written product to ensure individual accountability.

• A-B Conversations
• Clock Appointments
• Conducting an Interview
• Give One, Get One
• Send a Question
• Ticket Out the Door
• Weekly Agenda

Academic Response Frames and Writing Templates

Response frames and writing templates provide our students the necessary scaffolds they need for academic oral and written discourse. We must explicitly teach our students to recognize and utilize the distinct language functions they encounter in their daily content course work in ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The dominant language functions and text structures found in these academic core subjects include: Compare & Contrast, Cause & Effect, Description/Elaboration, Proposition & Support, and Sequencing.